A little bit of this.

Since Christmas I have had to make a number of little bags....

The Lined Drawstring Bag by Jenni Baker 

I don't have a separate play room for all the children's toys so I have had to improvise.  

Small toys aren't good for small hands and mouths so now we have a little bag for our Peppa Pig figures, a bag for the contents of a dolls house, and even a bag for the tea set.  

 Although it is great to keep them away from P they are also great to keep the one toy and all its bits together.

Thanks Jenny the pattern will be used over and over again.

Finish a Long 2016

Hello anyone out there that still might come and visit me...

As part of my new years resolutions, my blog is getting a bit of TLC and hopefully I'll get back to a few more than 1 post for the year.

Life is busy in my house with these two little rascals.

But over the past few months I have been able to drag my sewing machine out from under the stairs and got a quilt finished and a few other little bits and pieces done.

Which brings me back to my NYR's.... I have a number of quilts that need to be put to bed (so to say).
I really would be happy to even finish one off  for the year, but when I read Cindy's blog to say that the FAL was back for the year, I thought I better make more of an effort.

I seem to stall on my quilts when it comes to quilting them. So I have just one for the FAL to get off my list.

This is where I am at.....
My plan is to quilt but it will be quite dense
Wish me luck!

September already......

This is a quilt that has taken  half of last year to make and all this year to finish.

I know there are some out there that can blog and sew and blog and sew and blog and sew and keep the family home clean and tidy ( well I presume they do) and have all the children washed fed and in bed at a reasonable time but I can't and I don't try to. (blog and sew that is)

This quilt WAS destined to be in an exhibition mid year but I knew in January that I wasn't going to put myself under any pressure to get it done.

So a few weeks ago I finally said to myself that I was ready to get the sewing machine out and see what I could do.

I realised quite soon after starting how much I had missed my time at the table and before I knew it, my little quilt was done.

I used only one charm pack of Happy go Lucky..with white kona and a few ash and medium grey charms thrown in and finished off with simple straight quilting...I'm more confident to do this than FMQ. Navy Kona for the binding and excited that it I can say that I have finished something  and finally blogged for the year.

So a few things have happened since my last blog back in Oct of last year.......My goodness I have neglected my blog, haven't I.

I will admit that life has got very busy and the sewing machine has been put away since January and I don't know when it will be brought out again.  Hopefully soon but I am not putting any pressure on  myself to get anything done.

You see this little bundle of joy came into our lives arrived in February ( just a little early) and with Cora, life has got very busy.

As you can see he is not wasting away....

There has been a few makes before Padraig arrived  ( that knitted blanket in the background is one) but they can be for another day.  

So what I am doing when I get an hour in the evenings (not every evening) is a bit of hexagon making.  I thought this time around that I would be a little prepared for a good few months of not sewing on the machine, so this was organised and put in a bag with all the bits needed to hand sew.

Some of you have seen one or two photos on Instagram @erinbillybuttondesign

I have so much fabric that I could easily not buy anything for two years and still have enough wadding, batting and thread.

So my plan for the rest of the year is just to get a quilt or two finished, get a set of blocks done, but no pressure to finish anything.

I know it's very early...but

Well yes I know that it very early but seeing that I am so slow at sewing and getting anything finished these days, I decided to get some stockings for Christmas done as soon as possible.

And yes it was nice to do a little project rather than thinking and planning time for a quilt to be made.

I'm not a big fan of Christmas fabric but when Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting got this fabric in, I knew what I would use the fabric for and grabbed it with delight.

I did look around for some free tutorials for stockings but I ended up buying a pattern from Etsy.

although it was only pittance, it wasn't a great pattern and I did get frustrated with it and thought it  really wasn't written well at all.  (it didn't even have a list of fabric and supplies that are needed for that project.) but what attracted me to the pattern was the curly feet in the stocking so I kept with it and finished them over the week. 

There was only a few photos on IG of my progress, I find it difficult these days to be organised to have the camera out ready to show progress.

And yes you may be asking why there are two stockings made...well this little one will have first choice.... 

The other is for our next arrival...

 I am getting my hand sewing projects organised already.

Happy Sewing

Erin

Log cabins

I got a Jelly Roll in the mail one day after an  order went missing in the mail....I don't really buy jelly rolls but I thought it was probably the best time to try a basic Log cabin block.

Now again, I know some of you are saying 'um Erin we have seen these before,, didn't we?'  and 'Gosh do you not have anything new to show us?'  Well I'm sorry I don't but there were a good few quilts tops that needed to be finished as they are taking up too much precious room.  (Cora is really making her mark in the house)  I even had the binding done, why did it take me so long, I do not know.

So last week,  I pulled the backing out (after a trip to Ikea that day) and before I know it I had it on the machine and began to quilt it.  So each night when Cora went down to sleep I turned on the machine and got a bit more done, and with a little bit of handsewing the following nights, bit by bit I had it finished.

No real love for this quilt, and  think next time I will use log cabins I will try the wobbly look.

Its such a good feeling to get something crossed off the list.

But no rest, I have another ready to be tackled next week.

Another Swap

I signed up for The Big Stitch Swap that Sarah at Fairyface Designs and Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting had organised.

As usual time has flown by and I haven't even written a post that I had joined.  (Sorry mystery partner) but I did get my mosaic up as soon as I could.

Now really I do not know why I joined up.  I don't like hand stitching at all. I don't even have time to get my bee blocks done let alone a swap, but I always find that I am thinking that I am going to miss out on something.  Sucker!

I had spotted something on my secret partners mosaic that I really liked and thought that I would try, so I bought the pattern and I stalled even starting it.  Maybe I stalled for a reason but I then saw another two doing the same pattern so I went back to the drawing board.

I had decided to make a tote for my partner but I needed to practise so out came some cardboard and I played around with a few ideas.  French knots are not my forte and I did try but I had to go back to just simple stitching.

Yes she doesn't like being left out of a photo.

In return my secret sender packed this little parcel up and it landed at my doorstep about a week ago.

I lovely canvas bag of her own pattern (which is what I like to see) and as my other bag from a swap has outgrown my bundles of wool and all the knitting needles I have accumulated in the past year.

And a little treat.  Thanks again Kirsti.  The bag has been filled already with my little knitting projects that I have to do are in the bag and awaiting my return.