Ahhhhh!

And you thought you were doing so well when.....

Don't you hate that!

Sometimes when I am quilting, I have the 'Hope for the Best' attitude...and never look at the back in case you might find this!

Echo Quilt.

I'll just keep admiring the front while I finish off the other 100 rows of straight stitching.

When do I have to have this finished for Rhonda's Finish a Long?

Happy sewing!

Erin

Mouthy Stitches Part 2....

As you all know I have been joining in with the girls on Flickr in making a zippy pouch for my secret partner.

There have been some fantastic pouches made and love to see everyones ideas and designs.

I wanted to try something different but as I have a very experienced sewer, I have been a little scared that my skills at the good old zips would not be the greatest.

So this is my first attempt at a pouch.  

Front

Back

Now I  did get a response from her but it wasn't the most exciting response, so was a little worried that it was a bit to bold and .....pink.  I don't think I am that crash hot on it myself and then this happened....

The zip was a disaster. 

1. I had to cut a zip down to size to fit the pouch. 
2. I think I sewed the seams about 1/2 an inch so the bulk of the three fabrics and batting really is why I can't do much with the corners. 
3. The pouch looks a bit silly as both ends at the top are not square.

I've had a good few responses letting me know that there is nothing wrong with it. But when you are not 100% happy..........

Maybe this is why I have never put anything up on my etsy store that I make as I always find something that may not be perfect  with my quilts and would hate to think someone would not be happy with a purchase. ( I really need to get over this, don't I!!)

So yesterday after umming over it all week, I decided to make another.

Front

Back

And look I think I got it this time!

The new pouch came out quite large...I think about 10"x 9". I think you would be able to fit a kindle in it.

 I made it around my 10" zip that I had.  No messing it up this time.

 

My third pouch was another practise with a cheap zip.

Now my secret Mouthy Partner will have to decide which one she likes best. But as for me I'll be putting the zips away for a little while  and go back to making quilts.

Erin

Books Galore!

When I was home for Christmas, I was happily showing my sister L my new Japanese pattern book...remember this one I got from M is for Make.

'Oh... they are so lovely'

.....and so when she went home, so did my book.

But then my other sister B, popped up and said that you could buy some in English at Dymocks in town.  So off I went to see if there were any in stock.

And look what I found.....

(Oh that's another book in the background that my sister M gave to me and some fabric I found in a  market.)

All these patterns are in english this time and go up to a size 16 for us bigger busted gals out there.  Can't wait to try some out.

I've also ordered another copy of my first book that I bought at M is for Make again.  I couldn't resist!

 

I really must get cracking on these.   I have enough patterns for a whole new wardrobe!

Fugly Fabric Giveaway Winner.

Thanks to all that went into the Fugly Fabric giveaway

But there is one winner and that person is.....

Lisa CoxFeb 8, 2012 10:04 AM

Congratulations on de-stashing, LOL. Just gives you more room to go out and get more.
Thanks for the giveaway. And I love your blog so I am a new follower.

Yippee...I'm delighted that you have joined the others and hope you enjoy my blog.  

Look out for a wee parcel in the post.

I finished something.....

Do you remember this?

That I thought I would do this:

That came out like this!

And was finished off like this!

Horray...Finally a Quilt that I can put up on my Finsih A Long

I'll be linking up with Rhonda at Quilter in the Gap to show it off and on Flickr.

Update on the Pouch....... it's still going ahead but have started another one...photos later.

Have a great day.

Erin

Mouthy Stitches Pouch

I'm trying to get my Mouthy Stitches zippy pouch started and finished this weekend...really it will have to be finished today.

I had an idea and was hoping that things will just come together today...That's usually how life works for me.

Front and back of pouch.

I'm just not crash hot on these so I think I will start again....that and my zips that I bought are not going to fit and I do not have a store just around the corner from me.  What do you think?

Thanks to all that have entered in my Fugly giveaway,  

and taking all that Fugly Fabric out of the house. 

I was really happy that some one else can find a use for them.

Erin

My Fugly Fabric

All my fabric is gone!!!!! 

Yes thanks to Lucy's fabulous party of Fugly Fabric at Charm about You, It was great!

BUT I STILL HAVE A GIVEAWAY!!!!

OK. I have a little bundle to give to one lucky blogger who wants to leave me a message below.

No need to be a follower but if you want to you sure can...(as I do have another giveaway organised in the coming weeks)

Art Gallery FQ bundle.

International entries more than welcome.

Giveaway will be open until Monday 13th of Feb.

Winner picked by Mr Random Number Generator..

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT ENTERED.

Thanks for dropping by.....Erin

No 1.  1/2 yd of chicks 
Gone

No. 2   1/2yd of blue stuff...   Gone



No 3.  1 yd Anna Maria Garden Party.
Gone.  

I bought this quilters linen thinking it WAS linen....yea I'm dumb!

All the Robert Kaufman Quilters Linen is gone...Yippee!

Robert Kaufman Quilters Linen     1 yd each ( No.4)

No 5.  Tina Givens  1 yd each.

Gone too!

Now although I have got the pure Moda bundle (No.6) out to look at, I assure you that it is all there, I just have not put it back neatly!
Gone!

Sew Get Started.

At the start of the year, I joined in with Sarah at FairyFace Designs with her group Sew Get Started.

Although there are loads of great Bees and QAL's out there, I know that I will lag behind so I thought that it would be a group that I could join in without having too much pressure to finish things on time. 

Each week Sarah has a guest that has a  tutorial on making something small.  It has been great as I know that I can make them up and feel like I have done something for the day,  oh and brush up on some sewing skills at the same time.

So I have made myself a new pincushion out of some scraps from my Little Apples Charm Quilt.

And today I made some burping cloths, thanks to Irina at El Petit Taller for her great tutorial.

I had bought a hand towel from Penneys ( a wopping €2) last year for another project and there were a few big pieces left to use for this.

I decided instead of quilting the cotton and towel together I would sew around the fabric design to keep them together. 

Yep.  Little Apples again.  I have a good stash of it to use up.  I hope Sister K likes them for her new bundle of joy.

Sarah's Flickr group can be found here.

Now my Mouthy Stitches pouch,  I better get cracking on it!

A sneak peak of Fugly Fabric

Anyone interested in some fabric?

One's trash is another's treasure!

Don't forget to return on 7th of February.

Winter stitching recap or rethink?

I am back looking through my list of VERY wishful thinking that I was going to get ample amounts of sewing done each weekend....Ahhhh. No!  Sorry Sarah...I think I must have just hibernated instead.

I am not even going to embarrass myself in letting you know what I have got done as the list of 'have nots' is so much bigger....

• A Hexagon Quilt (from Fresh Quilting by Malka Dubrawsky)  What was I thinking, Let's scrap this as I have never even done a Hexagon let alone making 100 or more.
• A Simple Log Cabin Quilt. Just started this last week

• A Wonky Log Cabin Quilt. (from The Modern Quilting Bee Block Party by Alissa Haight Carlton and Kirsten Lejnieks)  Ahh no...let's just scrap that altogether.
• A Swoon Quilt Umm I am meant to have started this with all the other swooners two weeks ago.
• A Windmills quilt (by Moda) 

Well I did the HST's quilt instead so does that count?

• A Modern baby quilt (from Fresh Quilting by Malka Dubrawsky)  No!
• A Uneven Coin Block Quilt. (from The Modern Quilting Bee Block Party by Alissa Haight Carlton and Kirsten Lejnieks)  I have the fabric but ...ah No, not started that yet.
• Finish place mats...all 12 of them.  Almost ,just three left to do.

• 3 x A line skirts for myself, (two for winter and one summer skirt when I hit the land of OZ for Christmas)  1 Done but I think I will forget about the others...I'm back from Oz.
• A few mug rugs for practice.  No didn't do this.
• Some little dresses for my niece.  I still have something to plan for this.

So really I have done very little. 

I am currently trying to get some of these finished .... and am getting closer each day!

I am in awe of what sewing others can get done during the week. 

I don't think I will ever be able to keep up!