September 7th: Stocking up the Etsy Shop!

After the wrap up of Market Day over the weekend, I was left with a few items that didn’t manage to sell on the day.

Luckily for my Etsy shop, this means a bit of a refill of it’s shelves! Yay!

In the shop today I’ve added a couple of new Little Wallets…

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And then later on in the week I’ll be adding a few of the little Petal Pincushions I was making last week…

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…as well as some mixed FQ bundles…

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…along with one very special item that you’ll learn all about tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

(HINT: It’s a quilt! Ooo!!)

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To have more of a look at what’s in my shop, you can visit it by clicking here!

Can’t wait to share more with you tomorrow and later this week!

Happy Sewing, Friends!

xx

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September 3rd: Happy Birthday Mum!

Today, the 3rd of September is my beautiful mum’s birthday!

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Words really can’t express just how wonderful this woman is in my life as well as my brothers, my dads and our extended family and friends. I’m so proud to say that my mum really is my best friend. (Something I’ve only really noticed these past few months or so!) She knows everything about me, supports and encourages me and is always, always there when I need her for anything, whether it be big or small. She also always knows the right time and the perfect way to snap me back into reality when I’ve been in ‘the clouds’ too long, which is quite a regular occurrence I must admit! Put simply, life is better when she’s around and I don’t want that to change. Ever.

So today, we spent a lovely day together by going out local for lunch, laughing, chatting and being our usual nutty selves. Our dining table has been taken over by glittery cards, pretty flowers, chocolate cupcakes, oodles of strawberries and handfuls of crunchy caramel popcorn! Ooo, yum!!

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Tomorrow we’ll be extending the celebrations further when my brother and his family come by for an afternoon-tea-slash-early-dinner party! It’s there, when we’re all together, that the fun, laughter, chaos and big ‘happy birthdays’ are sung! It should be fun, I think!

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Also today I’ve been busily sewing away making some sweet little things for my stall at a Market Day the PWA are holding at my church this coming Saturday! (Actually, I should OUR stall as I’m sharing a table with my sister-in-law Amie, who makes the most adorable little baby accessories!) Ergo, the day has consisted of making the finishing touches to a few new little wallets as well as quickly stitching up some very cute petal pincushions and some tissue box fabric covers! Well, the tissue box covers have only been cut out at the moment. I hope to squeeze in some more sewing tonight and tomorrow morning!

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I’m so unbelievably happy with how these little pincushions turned out! The pattern I used was one that came in issue no. 52 of Mollie Makes. Once I read through it and saw how simple they were to make, I knew I had to get into it and make some to sell at the stall! Also, while we’re talking about them, hands up those of you who want a tutorial on how to make one… I’d be more than happy to share with you how I make them!

Until tomorrow…

Happy Sewing, Friends!

xx

An Update From My Sewing Room… #4

Woah! Talk about blog neglect! It feels like ages since I last posted! Safe to say, lots of busy things have been happening in this little room of mine and I’ve finally found the time to tell you all about it!

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First off, I took a day last week to finish one of the two baby quilts I’ve been currently making. It was this one with the little Pinwheels in the centre…

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Because of the design I chose to quilt, it only took me a few hours to get all of the quilting finished! Yay! And I just have to say, I absolutely love how it’s come together!

When I was quilting, I took the opportunity to use a special tool I had recently purchased to help mark and quilt straighter lines. It’s called a Clover Hera Marker. It’s an awesome little tool that helps to ‘mark’ or ‘bruise’ lines into the fabric so that you can either follow them, match them up with another point or sew over.

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Since using it, I’ve seen a definite improvement in my quilting and how neat my lines seem to be. If you’re having issues with quilting straight lines, I would 100% recommend you to use this tool to help you out! It’s brilliant!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to retreat back into my room and get the second baby quilt finished! This is the one with all of those super-sweet Granny Squares blocks that I’ve fallen head-over-heels for! It’s such a cute little quilt and I can’t wait to see what it looks like once finished!!

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During my ‘down-time’, I’ve been very patiently unpicking the horrible FMQ mess I made to my ‘Like Diamonds In The Sky Quilt’ sometime last year.

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When I posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook, I had so many lovely comments from you asking what was wrong with it as you all thought it looked okay… Well, that was so super-nice of you all to say that, but to me, the stitching just doesn’t suit at all! It’s way too busy and ‘messy’ looking for the overall feel of the quilt. The squiggly stippling line clashes with the already busy layout of the quilt top and geo-print fabric I used and I now can’t stand the floral fabric I used as the backing! Urgh, what was I thinking! Nah, everything about it I just hate and it absolutely needs to come out!

So almost every night for the past week or so, I’ve been unpicking, unpicking and unpicking while watching either Game of Thrones or Studio Ghibli movies like Laputa: Castle in the Sky, The Wind Rises and Kiki’s Delivery Service! And even now as I write this, there’s still more to unpick! Phew!

But with patience and a good cuppa to the side, I’ll get there and I’ll be so much happier with it once it’s free and can be made into the beautiful quilt that it is! And also, in a bit of an odd way, I’m finding unpicking the stitches quite relaxing and strangely hypnotic… It gives me a chance to just sit and think about things while keeping my fingers busy… So it’s not all bad! 😀

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Another thing that happened last week was the opening of my Etsy shop! Hoorah!!

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In there at the moment are a few Little Wallets that I always love making and usually sell the best, plus a sweet baby quilt perfect for any new little girl in world!

I have a few new Little Purses that are almost ready to go on sale and another little quilt that I only just started yesterday afternoon.

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I’ve even already got a name for it: “The Stash Quilt’, as all of the 2.5” squares have come from my stash of scraps! There are fabrics in there that I had completely forgotten about and swooned all over them as I pulled them out! I love it when that happens!! So once I’ve got all of these little squares pieced together, I’ll sash it with either a white or cream homespun cut at 10″ or 15″ and then get quilting it!

You know, I just had a thought… This ‘to-be quilt’ reminds me so much of those I-Spy Quilts that are made for kids! There are so many great little prints to search for and discover! Love it!

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And finally, over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a video tutorial that seems to be taking forever to edit and perfect! It’s all about how to make one of those simple half-aprons using just one fabric.

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The bulk of the video has been edited, but it’s just the little cutaway parts of the finished project and my speaky-bit at the start and end that need to be filmed and added. I just haven’t found the right time to get it done! Plus our internet is having issues at the moment, so uploading a high-def 10 minute video will literally take the rest of the year to upload! That’s how bad it is!! And I’m still also tossing up whether I need to write a pattern for it, as it could be possible for people to get a little lost in what needs to be done, especially during the cutting step… But apart from all of that,  I should have it ready to go up by Friday! (I’ve decided to change my upload day from Sundays to Fridays. I’ll be posting another video soon explaining why this is!)

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Now, I think that’s everything up to date in what’s been happening in and out of my sewing room…

I’m curious (and nosey), what have you been up to in your sewing/quilting/crafting adventures?? You’re more than welcome to leave a comment letting me know!

Happy Sewing, Friends!

xx

PS. I can now finally share with you the little mini quilt I made using the block I made in my Diamond Square Block tutorial!

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During the past week I held a little giveaway on my YouTube channel as a thank you for 5000 subscribers, and this mini was part of the main prize! Sadly, the giveaway is now closed, the winners have been announced and all prizes are on their way!

Thank you to everyone who entered!!

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