FO: Purses

Both kids were at school yesterday and I managed to do some sewing in the afternoon. I wanted to make something that I would get finished so had a little look for a quick project online. I decided to follow this Lil Cutie Pouches tutorial by Noodlehead after seeing a link to the tutorial on the Red Pepper Quilts blog.

I made two. The second one was better than the first and I think the reason for this was that I used a zip that was 'too long'. When I made the first one with a zip that happened to be the right size it made the ends a bit bulky but I didn't have the same effect with the second one where I had to use a long zip.

And, yes, the first one (the grey) I did manage to get my fabric upside down. Duh!

I'm also working on some Christmas quilting. I started making these at sewing group the other night. Basically it's 9 charm squares sewn in a 3x3 block. Then you cut down the centre in both directions and rotate two opposite squares by 180 degrees. Then sew it back together.

I haven't really decided what I'm doing with these. I was planning on just making simple mats with the but they're quite big on our fairly small table so I might end up making cushion covers with them. Whatever I decide on, I don't expect them done for this christmas!

Busy, busy. busy

Blimey, you can tell it's nearly Christmas by the amount of stuff there has been/is to do. I realised on Friday that I'd forgotten half the Chrostmas decorations. We'd done the tree and all the stuff that's packed in with the baubles but I'd totally forgotten about the quilted things that live in the wardrobe, including the advent calendar and the new wallhanging.

Both the kids wanted to write their own cards this year. Erin is doing really well with her writing so we basically made a list of who she wanted to write a card for and let her get on with it. Orla took a bit more supervision as she really wanted to write everything herself.

The baubles and stars they'd made using marbling inks finally dried so I added ribbon to the baubles and packed them into bags as presents.

Tonight is the fuddle for my sewing class. Basically everyone brings a bit of food to share. We're also doing secret santa so I'm looking forward to that.

It's the school fair tomorrow and donations of baking, etc are always appreciated so I've done some fudge hoping to use some for the fuddle and some for the fair. At the moment only one of the 3 trays is fully set but fingers crossed it'll be ok for tomorrow.

Then next week Erin has a party on Monday at school and Orla has one on Wednesday so that'll be more baking required.

Still here!

It has been a busy few weeks so my posting has been a bit sporadic. We've had family visiting for the last 3 weekends, including having Christmas dinner with my parents on Sunday. Along with that I've had an assignment due. It's actually due tomorrow but this course requires assignments to be posted so I had to finish it by the end of last week. It's a little odd sending assignments away to be posted, very different to the usual online submission. I even wrote the answers by hand as it's easier to sit writing by hand than be trying to type stuff on the computer with books open all over the place (the computer is in the corner so not much room to spread stuff out). It felt a little bit like being back at school.

Of course, I'd just got that assignment posted off and the course book for my next course were delivered. It doesn't start until February so it's a little annoying having it all arrive before Christmas. It's sitting there looking at me and saying "You know you should be reading me to get ahead", while I'm thinking "But there's so much stuff to do for Xmas". I have to admit, the Level 3 courses are far more work than level 2. They require more quiet reading time and the February starts are a real pain as they hit 4 school holidays (including the big 6 week holiday).

Anyway, hopefully tomorrow I'll have finished the bird for my wreath and I'll be able to show that off. Until then I'm off to browse for more Xmas craft ideas.