Bendy Bags Plus!

 No, I haven't made three Bendy bags, not yet anyway! ha ha ha
It's just three pictures from three different angles.
I'm still  finding that I get enormous pleasure in making them... even after all that I have made previously.
There's a large triangle of wadded fabric left over from making each Bendy Bag.... it's the bit you cut away to make the "Bend"
I have made small purses with them. Coin purses.

Coasters... and now...
Look look look
I used the triangle as a template for doing Quilt-As-You-Go Bendy Bags!! It's a bit silly really because when I did the 'Bendy Bit' I still had the triangle left... all over again, ha ha ha
Maybe I should call it the never ending triangle Bendy Bag?
I am very please with my 'zip putting in' skills now so I might venture into something a little more challenging.

Doesn't this lovely.. and made from spare strips, Bendy Bag look very comfortable and cute next to the great Juki Beast.... All of Juki's feet will be kept in the QAUG Bendy Bag... but first I will take it to my very own shop tomorrow so every one can see how very happy I am with it!!!

Stitching News

Annbacan has her snow in place... it's always tricky stitching with white fabric as the colours underneath show through it... not for Ann, she backed her snow with Thermolam.. very white and rather fluffy... time to embellish those trees now. 

Just Jan has started to join her block into rows.
Classic blues and white is always a winner. I think Jan was wiggling that iron, with some speed... see how it's blurred! ha ha ha

All Day Di came to class for a rest! She's been moving her whole world to a new home... with a sewing room!!! It's been a long process but, I think you will agree... we will put up with a lot to have a 'very own' sewing room!!
Di started working on her Uncle Joe's Quiet book.

PM Pam started quilting her 3D quilt. It's having simple lines stitched following the patchwork design... they will hold everything in place very well and technically, it's just enough... then, after Pam trims and binds the quilt, she can start to add more quilting if she still wants to.

Just Edna made a huge, round sandwich with this play mat then spent the day quilting it... she had planned to work on her large Hexagon quilt but had forgotten to take it to class... she's not the first lady to forget her project!

Lady Judith has all of her blocks made now, she's done a lot of homework! Joining them into rows, Judith's being careful to follow the pattern as alternate rows are a little different... so far, all is good.

And right now we need a toot toot toot fanfare for a fabulous and finished cushion made by Steph, a beginner who, I have to say, has already joined us on the 'dark side', he he he... she has another cushion and two lovely lap quilts almost finished... already!

Stitching News

What a fabulous picture!!!
PM Pam came to make sandwiches on Saturday
This bright and beautiful Hexagon sandwich will be hand quilted in the fabulous Big Stitch style. Oh my goodness... what fun it was choosing the thread!!
I love this picture!

PM Pam also sandwiched this 3D quilt. The pattern was in Love Patchwork And Quilting magazine recently. It's Pam's retreat quilt... this one will be machine quilted with a YLI variegated thread.

This is turning out to be a PM Pam Post!!! ha ha ha
Pam has a friend who's husband uses a wheelchair. It can be tricky pushing a wheelchair and holding on to your handbag so, Pam invented a wheelchair friendly Handbag-Bag! What a great idea...

Marilla came to show us her almost finished and totally fabulous, Stargazy Daisiez quilt, it was professionally, long-arm quilted. Marilla needed to choose the binding and, you know what??? I had the perfect fabric so Marilla went home happy.

Stitching News... Bumper Edition!

New Sue very proudly held up her quilt top with a yelp of excitement about it being finished. For Sue this is a very liberated project... the colours are not her usual bag and there were mathemisms to do... It's looking amazing, don't you think? The pattern is Green Tea and Sweet Beans by Jen Kingwell, and they'll be back in stock very soon!

Rose grabbed the opportunity to make a sandwich with her latest finished top... What Colour Is An Elephant, also a Jen Kingwell pattern and, once again.. back in stock very soon... this is a lovely and simple to do pattern

Early Arty Sue is on the final straight with her quilting. The design is very sweet with loops and hearts and Sue is doing them quite close together... she was surprised at how much thread she's needed.

Princess Jackie is adding the embellishment detail to her Santa quilt. She's really enjoyed making the Log Cabin blocks... they are very small with logs finishing at 1/2" ... this is one lovely book that, unfortunately, is now out of print... it is still find-abubble though!

This is also Princess Jackie's project... remember she's our first prize winning quilter!! She loves to stitch applique... now designing her own it seems... just look at those beautiful borders and corner stones... this has also been sandwiched.

Jean Bean continues to make the lovely houses in readiness to take for the Linus Charity stand at the Festival Of Quilts, only two weeks away now... We're trying to encourage Jean to produce patterns for her house blocks.. don't tell her that I told you though eh!!

New Sue finished her Kaleidoscope blocks, more yelps of joy were heard!!! ha ha ha well, not actually finished but all to this point. There's half square triangles to be added to the corners yet, but the mathemisms are done so it should be easy enough.

Time for a toot toot toot fanfare for Rose's fabulous and finished, quite large, Nautical cushion... With a zip concealed in the back. Such lovely colours and fabric choices...
Well done Rose we love this cushion! Don't we?

PM Pam also needs a toot toot toot fanfare for her fabulous and finished cushion. It's another huge one, Pam made it with the left overs fabrics and the pattern is from the Quilt Lovely book...Pam's booked to make two sandwiches this weekend so I will snap a piccy of the quilt for you then. 

Tadaaaaah I need a toot toot toot fanfare because I have a fabulous and finished cushion!!! I love this project... there are mistakes because it was a prototype/tester project for a customer. I couldn't tell her any top tips having never made it but BOY am I better informed now... the top tips are ready!!

Here's the back with a concealed zip... ie.. you can't see it!
using little strip scraps I made it look wonderful...
even though I do say so for my very own self!!

My Mum Gwynneth Can Free Motion!

This is what My Mum Gwynneth worked on during our recent retreat. She had prepared all of the fabrics and most of the background before we went so it was mostly the applique she was doing. She enjoys doing the blanket stitch... she was OK with the raw edge stitching with straight stitch

But, after sandwiching it when we got back... panic set in, ok, well... maybe not panic exactly but... the veins on the leaves were a bit wiggly and she wanted them just like the picture in the book so... on went the darning foot and away she went!! Didn't she do a great job!!! They do look just like the ones in the book!!

She continued and will continue to free motion embellish/quilt her leaves and, after seeing it here, she will see how good it really looks, maybe she will say I CAN DO IT.. and we might see more beautiful floral wall hangings?... lots of ends need to be tied and threaded through... but that's no problem when you can free motion embellish and quilt, is it Mum? See... You Can Do It!!!

Stitching News

PM Pam came to shop... lots of people do that but, I don't take photos of everyone's shopping bag! Now, apart from the fact that the bag is lovely, the Art Gallery fabrics are fabulous and the workmanship is great... Look at Pam's buttons!! I sell Prym self cover buttons so your tiny scraps can make beautiful buttons to match any project... just like Pam's!

Kate arrived with the pile of fabric she purchased last time she came to Friday Quilt Club... She cut, she sorted, she stitched... she purchased border fabrics, cut, sorted and stitched... A fabulous quilt top in just one day!

Kate's Lynda is having a Bendy Bag bonanza... She's making lots of them and is determined to get the pattern and method fixed in her head. I love this this purple fabric (yes I have it in stock!) with the red zip, don't you?

Sporty Sue brought this project to Friday Quilt Club to choose the perfect binding fabric... of course we had just what she needed! It's on and some of the hand stitching is done too, just a few more miles to go! I'm thinking of doing this festive table topper as a workshop in the Autumn.

This is a quilt top made by Kate's Lynda. It is rather lovely, I will admit that... but I don't want to talk about it any more as none of the fabric is from My very own, beautiful, and extremely well stocked, Patchwork and Quilting shop... ha ha ha

Sue's Sewing Bee, The Results

Stitching News

Fran Cupcake needed a little help 'mathemising' to join her different sized blocks together. She had acquired a very old book about drafting blocks then purchased a book with 'inch-y squares' (yes I sell books of inch square graph paper too!) and set about drafting her very own blocks. Now I know that they are not original blocks but Fran didn't use a pattern book... so really, I guess we could say that she re-invented them! I think we cracked the mathemisms in the end.

New Sue needs a toot toot toot fanfare for her fabulous and finished cushion made with the help of Jen Kingwell's book, Quilt Lovely. Sue did Big Stitch Quilting... can you see it... it is lovely!

This is the back of Sue's cushion... Under that colourful flap of Gardenvale fabric is a beautifully positioned cushion zip perfectly executed with top tips shared by me, my very own self... who would have thought that zips could be so exciting?

Gail arrived suspecting that she had almost made the 42 blocks she requires for this gifting project. I set about counting them for her then, unfortunately, had to announce that she was only 20 short! ha ha ha... but then the count went down, she was only 14 short by the end of class.

Rose's elephant quilt is ready for sandwiching... all the applique stitching has been done and those strips have had a little fancy stitching added to their edges, they are meant to be a little frayed, according to the Jen Kingwell pattern... We all love this quilt, it has everyones creative juices flowing!

Maggie popped in to purchase a little grey fabric as she's decided to add a 'flange'  before her binding, to give a 'woooomph' to her quilt. This picture isn't showing the green very well, it's much more beautiful and bright... it shows off the fabulous long arm quilt design though eh!

Milly's made her quilt sandwich and brought it to class to get help choosing the right colour thread... Yes, the customer service is excellent in my very own shop, we can help you choose threads too!! ha ha ha. She chose a lovely variegated pink-y toned thread

This is the back of Milly's quilt, the variegated pink-y toned thread will be great for the back too! There have been lots of scrap strips used up for both sides of this great quilt. On to the quilting then Milly...

Sister Sue and Fiona Too had done lots of stitching at home so arrived for class ready for binding. See how neat they work in the confined space of one table each... most of us spread all over the place when it's crust trimming time eh!

Steph on the other hand, spread... as we mostly do! She's making a garden inspired lap quilt for a special friend. Ohooooo those Beautiful Batik fabrics look great together... I have an amazing selection of Batik fabrics, did you know that?... I know they are not everyone's cup-o-tea but I love them!

Dilly continued choosing perfect fabrics, drawing pattern shapes on freezer paper and cutting all the little pieces for more of the wheels on her Jen Kingwell quilt. There's a lot of very accurate cutting that needs to be done, and even more accurate stitching is necessary.. It will be worth it!

Milly has enough blocks now so she's going to start stitching the rows together. There is sashing in the original pattern but Milly is going to please her very own self and not use it... it will create a fabulous secondary zig-zaggy pattern between the main blocks, can you see it?

Fran Cupcake made this lovely little lady Angel as a prototype for an upcoming workshop. She can be made as a Garden Fairy or a Gypsy... the doll not Fran! The workshop will be in November, I'll update the workshop list page details soon!