...a purple stripy quilt cover (and pillows)

This is one of those jobs that I thought would never be finished.  For such a simple project it has been a bit of an epic but all done now and looking mighty fine.

You would have every right to ask why the heck make a quilt cover and pillows when you can buy perfectly good ones for not too much money.  Well, this quilt cover is all to do with fabric weakness. 

The cover and pillows are actually made from other quilt covers that were not the right size but I found on sale (seriouslty reduced) one day and just fell in love with the fabric.  I knew it would look stunning in our purple bedroom.  So a seemingly simple task followed of remaking them.  Not so!  They sought to challenge me in many and various ways and therefore continually got left as I found myself getting frustrated with them.

However now they are done and looking lovely the pain of making them is fast melting away and will soon be forgotten.  I have a lovely quilt cover, 3 sets of pillow cases nd some fabric spare for a future quilting project I have brewing in the back of my sewing brain. 

Just for the record I have learnt one important lesson from this project.  I am never, ever, ever sewing those damned poppers on anything ever again.  They are truly evil.

(this does leave me however with an issue - I hate sewing in zips, I can't abide making button holes and now I hate poppers too - I am fast running out of fixings available that i can tollerate sewing.  Could be a problem!)

...a needlecase



Some things you plan to make, some things just happen.  One of the best things about being on annual leave (which I have been for the last week) is that there is time to grab hold of those moments where you think "oooh, that's a good ideas. I'd like to make that..." and actually do it, not just think about it and then realise you have something else more practical to attend to.

This was born of one of those moments.  It was Earth Day on Friday and one of my favourite websites Burda Style challenged it's members to make something small from all those left over scraps of fabric that most sewers have.  As admitted previously I cannot throw anything away which in this case is a good thing as it means I have some lovely scraps of fabric left over ready for these moments!  Everything on here is leftovers from something else or free cotton I was given so no cost.  I know, I know, Earth Day and all that and I have machine sewn some of it.  What can I say - my hands ain't up to hand sewing the whole thing and I did quite a bit of it by hand! So in reality a bit of cost (both financially and ecologically) for the time on the machine. 

I have thought about (but never actually got round to) making a needlecase for ages as I am lacking anywhere for needles and pins etc when I am working downstairs.  Like most people who undertake craft involving pins and needles the odd one goes astray (or two or three).  My partner is suprisingly tolerant of this but nevertheless it doesn't hurt to try to keep better tabs on the sharp little things.  Having read the article about Earth Day I was inspired to get sewing and now I have a needlecase.  Hooray.

(Also may have been an attractive project to make as the other thing I am working on is a duvet cover which is massive and I quite fancied sewing something that was not 4 times my size!)

...Orange Lavender Bags

It is amazing how often you make something for someone else and don't get round to making things you want for yourself.  I have wanted lavender bags for ages for the bedding which lives in boxes under the bed.  Despite growing lavender each year and having numerous ways at my disposal to make the bags I have never got round to it. 

I have no real idea what made me make them this way but I suppose like many ideas it just sort of grew.  I wanted to crochet more things with the thinner cotton that I refound when making the bookmarks and have fancied making some square motifs from one of my books for ages.  Put the two things togther and we are half way there.  All that was left was to choose some fabric to set them it.  Easy.  When it comes to choosing fabric I will always go for orange if it is available!

It seemed nice for the lavender bags to have vents to let more of the lovely lavendery smell out.  A lot of smell there is too which is impressive as the lavender has been drying out in the shed since last summer!

So now I have 5 bright lovely smelling bags and next time I change my bed it will smell gorgeous.  Delighted!

...bookmarks for Mums

So, here they are, the last of the March Madness makes.  These bookmarks were sent to our Mums for Mother's Day.  Strangely I made these out of some thin cotton I bought ages ago which I found really hard to crochet with when I first got it so it got abandonded and worked it's way to the bottom of my wool box.  For some unknown reason I decided it would be perfect for the bookmarks I wanted to make and so liberated it.  I really enjoyed making them and found it fairly easy to work with this time round.  I guess my crocheting fingers are getting smarter.  Good on them!