Crochet Bag

So you know I've been crocheting lately, right?

I do like the not having to concentrate real hard part of crocheting.  It's something I can pick up and put down easily and interruptions don't matter too much.  And I have a lot of interruptions.  That's why I don't cross stitch anymore.

I've had a bee in my bonnet about making a rainbow crochet bag.  There's a free pattern floating out there on pinterest but the instructions have been removed, so all it does is serve to annoy me that it's not available anymore.  But it's soooo close.... Just goes to show you can never remove everything on the internet.

Anyhoo....I found this delightful website:

http://www.vendulkam.com/

And she has this wonderful bag:

http://www.vendulkam.com/

Which is nothing like the original idea in my head, but so cute anyway.  So I thought I would have a go at my own version.

You have to buy the pattern but it wasn't expensive and I really did need instructions.  And despite English not being her first language (Vendulka's words, no mine) they were really, really easy.

So do you think I nailed it?

As typical with cheap computers and camera phones, the colours are not exactly true but I was very, very pleased with the result.  It's tiny, and really only good for little girls, but it was the best fun!

I may have another go with different colours later on today.  

Hope your day has been filled with lovely, craft things.

Suzie

2015 Mystery Quilt Part Three

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28th October Update:

Okay guys, I’ve found the error.

It’s in step three.  I’ve reversed the colours used.  You’re supposed to have flying geese with yellow wings and a blue base, not the other way around.

I’m genuinely sorry for the error.  I don’t know how it slipped through.  I know it means you have a whole swag of flying geese in the wrong colour left over. Again, I’m so sorry.  I hope you can use them on the back, or perhaps in another project.  I’ve now updated all the instructions so hopefully the only ones you will need to reprint are the ones from Step Three.

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How’d you go with parts one and two? Ready for a bit more sewing?

From blue fabrics, cut (196) 4 ½” x 2 ½” rectangles.

From yellow fabrics, cut (392) 2 ½” squares.

Make 196 flying geese using the following method:

Draw a light pencil line across the wrong side of the yellow fabric.

Lay over blue rectangle, right sides together.

Stitch on pencil line, and cut away excess. Fold back and press.

Repeat with another yellow square.

Trim and fold back, pressing into place.

When complete this unit should measure 2 ½” x 4 ½”.

Place in a ziplock bag and mark as Unit C. You should have 196 of these units.

Unit C – Make 196

That’s it!  See you next week!

Something a little different

One of my daughters is seven and is in junior primary at the moment.  Her class is filled with many lovely, little personalities.

Her teacher is very, very pregnant, and had her last day yesterday.

Have you noticed when it’s known you’re a quilter, people ask you to do things?  It was my pleasure to be asked to help comprise a quilt for the lovely mother to be.

We had a vague plan – the other teachers organising it had no training in quilting at all, but they had the idea to have each child draw a picture on a square.  The rest was up to me.

We handed the quilt over yesterday.  There may have been tears.  They may have been mine.

I found this fabulous binding fabric from Spotlight a year or so ago.  It’s so perfect for this kind of project, I will have to try and source some more.

They all did rainbows.  No one told them to do rainbows.  But rainbows are lovely.

So there you have it.  Picture heavy, but how could I cut some of those precious little pictures. I’m thinking that I may do a tutorial one of these days (please don’t hold your breath, it may never happen!), so we shall see.  Not rocket science in any stretch, but I did do a couple of tricks which made the whole thing run very smoothly, and smoothly is what you’re aiming for with a class full of seven year olds.

I am about to go to bed now – my all day sewing day was a great success.  Of course, I packed way more than I managed to do, but I had a lovely day filled with lovely friends, and that’s all you can hope for, really.

Hope your day was quilty!

Outta here....

Sewing machine is not there...

Nothing on the design wall.....

Oh, what a lovely pile of assorted sewing products....it must be Sit and Sew day at Quilt Group!

Eight hours of uninterrupted sewing?  I'm not excited at all!!

Blanket is Done and DUSTED

And on her bed, and she’s sleeping under it.  Which is a good thing because the weather has turned from a lovely spring, short sleeves kind of week to a put the heater on, it’s freezing kind of week.

She’s told me it’s very lovely and she likes it very much on her bed, and thank you very much Mum.  I will say one thing for my children, I did raise them polite (mostly).

 

Not the best of photos there, I did try hard to take a picture that made it look like it was straight.  It is a straight blanket, I promise.

 

 

I had a very limited amount of wool left, and I am not a very good guesser when it comes to how much I use in a particular step of the process.  Consequently I went ‘round the blanket too many times and I had to unpick a few rows so I could finish the border.  Which curls dreadfully but I think a good blocking will help with that.
 

 

 

 

She’s ten, and I’m waiting for the day when she decides she doesn’t like pastels any more. That’s going to be an expensive day, I think.  Everything in her room is pastels.

Thankfully she’s still happy to let her mother choose the decor.  Hopefully it won’t change too much in the near future, I do love her room in the colours that I’ve used.

How’s your week been? 

2015 Mystery Quilt Part Two

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28th October Update:

Okay guys, I’ve found the error.

It’s in step three.  I’ve reversed the colours used.  You’re supposed to have flying geese with yellow wings and a blue base, not the other way around.

I’m genuinely sorry for the error.  I don’t know how it slipped through.  I know it means you have a whole swag of flying geese in the wrong colour left over. Again, I’m so sorry.  I hope you can use them on the back, or perhaps in another project.  I’ve now updated all the instructions so hopefully the only ones you will need to reprint are the ones from Step Three.

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Welcome to step two of my 2015 Mystery Quilt.  Hopefully you are keeping up.

That last step was easy, wasn’t it?

This week’s step will be exactly the same, we’ll just be changing the colours.

From yellow fabric, cut (36) 4 ½” squares.

From blue fabric, cut (144) 2 ½” squares.

Draw a light pencil line across the wrong side of the blue fabric squares.

Lay this square, right sides together, over the corner of a yellow square.

Stitch on the drawn line, and trim excess away.

Repeat with remaining cream squares, until you have stitched all four sides.

Unit B – Make 36 blocks.

When complete, these blocks should measure 4 ½” square.

Place in a ziplock bag and label as Unit B.

That’s it!  See you next week!

Mystery Quilt = some questions answered.

Hi everyone,

I've managed to pick possibly my busiest week this year when I posted my first installment of the mystery quilt - isn't it funny how that works out!  So bear with me if I'm a little slow in answering your questions.

Someone asked - should you choose light, medium and dark fabrics?  I'd say no - I'd say pick either light/medium or light/dark.  Light/dark is what I have chosen and it's not a shy quilt (it's strong and bright), so if you're into soft and muted, go for the light/medium.

The one hint I will give you in regards to the design style is 'think tiled cathedral floors'.

Someone asked I would post PDF instructions - I'm most happy to do this but I need to sort out my google doc's page, passwords have been lost and my time is limited today.  But I will most happily email you the PDFs if you send me an email.

Finally, someone was concerned about missing out on the steps - I'd strongly suggest you sign up to the right over there and get your posts delivered via email.  That way you won't miss out at all.  I don't send out masses of posts so I won't clutter up your email with rubbish, and you can always opt out once you've completed your quilt.

Any other questions you may have, please send them through and I'll do my best to answer them.

Happy Quilting!

2015 Mystery Quilt Part One

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28th October Update:

Okay guys, I’ve found the error.

It’s in step three.  I’ve reversed the colours used.  You’re supposed to have flying geese with yellow wings and a blue base, not the other way around.

I’m genuinely sorry for the error.  I don’t know how it slipped through.  I know it means you have a whole swag of flying geese in the wrong colour left over. Again, I’m so sorry.  I hope you can use them on the back, or perhaps in another project.  I’ve now updated all the instructions so hopefully the only ones you will need to reprint are the ones from Step Three.

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Okay. Are you ready? This part is easy. Trust me.

I’m just going to assume you’re making the two colour quilt for the sake of brevity – if you’re making a scrappy quilt, just substitute random colours when I use the blue or yellow, and still keep your creams as they are.

From Cream fabric, cut (196) 2 ½” squares

From Yellow fabric, cut (49) 4 ½” squares

Draw a light pencil line on the wrong side of the cream squares as shown:

Lay this square, right sides together, over the corner of a yellow square. Stitch on the drawn line, and trim excess away.

Repeat with remaining cream squares, until you have stitched all four sides.

Unit A – Make 49 blocks.

When complete, these blocks should measure 4 ½” square.

Place in a ziplock bag and label as Unit A.

That’s it!  See you next week!