Pincushions & Bee Blocks!

So I've managed to get a little more sewing completed on my ever expanding 'to do' list!

As some of you may be aware I am taking part for the 1st time in the 'Scrappy Pincushion Swap' which is a great little swap that happens over on flickr. Here's my finished pincushion::

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So what d'ya think?

It's totally hand sewn and I love it. However, I have learnt many lessons for next time:: 

Choose a closer weave linen as when you stuff your pincushion a more open weave gives too much - obvious now I've made the mistake!

Make your stitches much tighter and closer together so they cannot be seen when the pincushion is stuffed!

I love the pincushion but am undecided whether because it's hand sewn it's up to expected standards - Mmmm. Do I make a machine sewn one???

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I've also completed another bee block for bee quilted, quilt as you go. This one has been pieced for a while and just needed quilting, I'm no longer taking part in this bee and will now be concentrating on my Fresh Modern Bee 2 commitments (Lynne, your block is next I promise!!).

Finally, remember these beauties Jo showed off on her blog::

photo courtesy of Muddy Puddle Crafts

I loved loved loved them and simply had to have one! Can you guess which colour?

Hooray for red and aqua!!

Anyway must dash just taken delivery of something really special (Yep, Katy if you're reading this she's arrived!!)

Promise I'll share soon.....

Sewing Yay!!

Well after the huge moan on my last post I have at last some sewing for your perusal! Well this is meant to be a sewing blog after all.

A little bit of hand sewing done yesterday. 

A cute red felt needle book complete with teeny tiny hexagons and two felt flower brooches. The hexagons were made out of the scraps of fabric I won a while back from Kerry. Cath Kidston's Stanley dog looks very cute, don't you agree?

The cute pink and red polka dot material (I should've ironed it!) is Lecien and is part of a FQ bundle I got from Kerri on Etsy.

I'm also quickly (thank heavens!) catching up on my bee block commitments. Here is my final block for the bee quilted group.

I've only completed two months in this bee as I'm trying to reduce my commitments. 'Little Miss H' is struggling at school and needs more of my time and I need to spend more time keeping an eye on school! Sounds strange I know but I have a gut feeling I'm going to have a fight on my hands to keep her in mainstream this year. Anyway, enough. That's a whole different issue!

I've received my partner's details for the scrappy pincushion round 2 swap so I'll be getting started on that mini project this week too, pictures to follow I promise.

Finally a little fabric splurging! I got a FQ bundle of Far Far Away 2 again from Kerri! 

And I also got this::

This is from another Etsy seller called Fresh Squeezed Fabrics. I got this 0.5yd bundle in a 24h sale they were having last month! It's clearly Christmas fabric and is all from Michael Miller. 

There's a good selection of funky Christmas fabric cropping up here in the UK at the moment, my favourite currently is this::

image courtesy of Seamstar

 If you're in the market for some Christmas crafting you should check out Seamstar, Courtney has a great Christmas section on the site!

Giveaway.........

over at 'The Quilted Fish'.

Fabby prizes including FQ bundles, quilt kits with patterns and buttons for your stash all by designer Riley Blake.

Head over there NOW. Closes soon.

Long time no blogging.....

I cannot believe over a week has passed since I last blogged. Seriously I haven't got time to grab a coffee at the moment let alone have the luxury of spending time with the laptop.

Something weird must be happening, honestly! My time management has gone out of the window, my poor sewing machine thinks its been put into early retirement and all I seem to be doing is housework. Poo. I can't understand why this has happened all in the week when the kids have gone back to school???

I was so looking forward to much time with my sewing machine and my blog, free days with no little people. HaHa. Someone else had other plans, the voice in my head said 'NO'. You cannot indulge yourself in your hobbies when your credit card balance is so high and it's going to be Christmas soon. You cannot allow poor 'Mr. G' to work 7 days so you can sew. You must do extra shifts at work. You must work many hours to clear the balance on that credit card. You must kill yourself and work days and nights in the same week!

So that's what's happening around these parts. Work Work Work. I know I'll smile when I can clear the credit card. I know it's a temporary glitch but I still don't like it. 

However, I have done a few things to make me smile this last week. I have signed me up for a few swaps. Hooray! I have ordered fabric. Hooray! (Don't tell 'Mr. G')

My 1st swap is:: 'The Christmas Stocking Swap' and here is my inspiration mosaic. You can visit my flickr for more details on the mosaic and click on the icon in my right hand column for details of the host, Selina.

Now the 2nd swap is a Flickr swap:: Scrappy Pincushions (round 2). Again we had to do a mosaic of our inspiration, here's mine.

And the 3rd I'm very excited about! It's the SavVy {Seasons} swap hosted by Heather and Kerri. Here is my inspiration mosaic, it's yummy isn't it?

This swap is going to be twice yearly I think and have a seasonal theme to it. Heather and Kerri host lots of amazing groups on flickr and if you don't know them already, why not? Go! Now! Check them out, you'll be glad you did. Lots of lovely homemade eye-candy!

That's it for now, got another hectic few days ahead of me work wise. Gotta grab it while I can I suppose.

Hugs to you all!!

From this.....

A lovely stack of fabric waiting to be made into something beautiful! Any guesses?

Into this.....

In a mere couple of hours. Bliss. Uninterrupted = fewer mistakes (notice I didn't say no mistakes!)

From left to right we have:: an iPhone pouch for one of my lovely friends in Anna Maria Horner 'Good Folks - Fortune Sun Sea'. A pirate jewellery pouch for 'Master M', he's getting quite a collection the little fashionata!! And finally a glasses case from the Echino Spring 2010 range - 'Glasses in Pink' for a special bloggy friend who'se having a hard time of it.

If you hadn't noticed I'm loving these pouches, the tutorial is from here.

Now that the summer holidays are drawing to an end (yay!) there are a few swaps popping up on blogs out there. I've signed up for the Christmas stocking swap from Selinas Vintage and the Pumpkin Swap from Crafty Helen @ Home.

I've also at last found a use for those hexies I've been making!! Texas Freckles is hosting a hexie charm quilt along so I've joined in!! There's no time limit on this one though thank heavens!!!

Patch Fabrics Giveaway!!

Photo courtesy of Patch Fabrics

Just a quickie to let you know that Patch Fabrics is have a little bundle giveaway of some new fabrics just in. The above picture is a line called Avalon from Clothworks, its my favourite of the bundles offered and would be my choice if I do so win!!

Head over to Patch now as there are other designs on offer too!!

Also check out my side bar as I've joined in an Xmas stocking swap being hosted by Selina's Vintage - check it out it looks like fun!!

Justine xxx

Echino How I Love You So.....

Earlier this week this cute little FQ bundle arrived from Seamstar for me.

Now though I was trying to be a good girl and not spend any more money on fabric this month, Courtney had a little offer on this bundle that tempted me. Hmm, don't they all?!

Now I love Echino its so fresh and modern, some of you may remember this post from earlier in the year? I've still not cut into the 3m I bought for this pattern, but am aiming to make the tunic over the next few weeks.

So what to make? Well I'd seen this pattern a while ago and it was just perfect! So I adapted the pattern slightly and made me a pouch for my beloved iPhone!!

I used the Echino Spring 2010 - Bicycles in Purple. I just love it, it keeps my iPhone nice and safe and looks good too. What more could a girl ask for?

Now for the inner I used some lovely pink check fabric that I was given in the Fabric Addicts swap by Blueberry Heart. Its the same weight as the Echino (linen blend) and complimented the design perfectly.

So that's it for today as I have two little people desprate to take their bikes to the park!