Woodland Friends

A few weeks ago I volunteered to test a paper piecing pattern for Juliet, The Tartankiwi. Juliet has designed a set of patterns on the theme of Woodland animals, and I volunteered to test the bunny pattern.

At the time I completely forgot that my fabric stash was hidden away in the depths of a storage unit somewhere between the NE of England and Scotland! I have some fabric with me in France but not much in the way of scraps, but fortunately I was testing a 4" block so the fabric requirements were not very large and I had the remnants of a low-volume scrap bundle from Plush Addict so it wasn't all bad!

I have to admit to having three attempts at the ears, making a different mistake every time but other than that and despite the size of some of the pieces it all went together fairly easily.


As all of my pincushions are also hidden away in that storage unit I decided to turn my pattern test block into a pincushion. He looks rather sweet don't you think?

Juliet is hosting a QAL for her mini Woodland patterns with some great prizes up for grabs, you can find out more about it here


Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Annex Double-Zip Box pouch revealed!

On Wednesday I teased you with this

and now I can reveal what this great fabric from Spoonflower was used for.

This lovely pouch is an Annex Double-Zip Box pouch from the new pattern, released today, by the very talented Sara of Sew Sweetness

I had been intending to make a Box pouch for my youngest son with this fabric when I ordered it, but never actually got around to doing anything about it. So, when a request for pattern testers for this pattern popped up in my inbox, I knew that the time to finally make one had arrived :)

The pattern includes instructions for three sizes, this is a medium sized pouch.

The pouch has two separate compartments, each with its' own zipper, so keeping things neat and tidy should, in theory, be a breeze for the youngest son. We shall see!

Using only one FQ of fabric for the exterior, these pouches are a great way to utilise some of those FQ's that you bought just because. Admit it, I am not the only one that buys FQ's that catch my eye with absolutely no plan in mind for their use :)

So, another gift added to the stockpile and a New to Me pattern tested to boot.

Head on over to Sew Sweetness to check out the lovely pouches that Sara's pattern testers have created. If you decide to make some of these very useful pouches for Christmas or Holiday gifts this month, don't forget to link them up to the Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew Link Party, which is over at Threading My Way

You could be the lucky linker who will win this month's great giveaway prize!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Family finishes

A while ago Leanne, who blogs at Devoted Quilter asked for pattern testers to test her forthcoming Friendship Galaxy pattern. Having previously tested a pattern for Leanne before, I was more than happy to volunteer.


Leanne's pattern is for a baby quilt measuring 45" x 45" and when I volunteered that is what I planned to make. Needless to say life got in the way a bit with late holidays and unexpected guests, so the original plans were scaled back. Fortunately for me, as well as providing the instructions for the baby quilt, Leanne also provided instructions for two smaller quilts so that is what I eventually came up with.

At 29.5" x 11.5" my Winter Stars mini quilt is destined to become a gift to my son and d-i-l as a Christmas Table Runner.

The fabrics are all from the Holly's Tree Farm range by Sweetwater, which I fell in love with as soon as I saw it in my LQS, and needless to say bought enough to make at least one more Table Runner for myself :)

As well as providing instructions for four different versions of the Friendship Galaxy quilt, Leanne also provides a colouring page to help you work out fabric placement, which is a really welcome addition to any pattern I think.

You can find more details about how to get a hold of the pattern here as well as see how the other pattern testers tackled the pattern too.

I am not the only one in the family to have a sewing finish to report though!

A while ago my d-i-l mentioned that she would like to try her hand at sewing, well you can imagine how delighted I was to hear that :)  Armed with fabrics from my stash she took to it like a pro and has since made lots of new clothes for herself and others (including me!) like this lovely sundress.

 

As if the dressmaking skills weren't enough to cause a twinge of envy, her latest venture ramps that up significantly - her very own Etsy Store https://www.etsy.com/shop/PeskyDesigns selling her own design purses!

Aren't they lovely, the button bow closures are inspired! Check out Pesky Designs for the rest of the range and send some sewing sisterhood love her way. I am so proud of what she has achieved. The early birthday present sewing machine is definitely getting well-used :)

Linking up to Sew Fresh Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts

Wallowing

Juliet, who blogs at Tartan Kiwi, is a phenomenal paper-piecing pattern designer. I had the privilege of testing her paper-pieced Falcon pattern a while ago, for her Birds of New Zealand series.

So, when Juliet put out a call for pattern testers for her latest Safari series of blocks I instantly put my hand up!

We had a choice of three patterns to pick from and as you can see I chose the Hippo pattern.

Those large pieces of sky were very unwieldy let me tell you :)

There were a couple of blips along the way, when I lost track of which tiny bump was hippo and which was sky, but apart from that it was really straightforward to put together.

You can see all of Juliet's patterns in her Etsy store.

I am debating what to do with this block now that it is finished, so if you have any suggestions I would be delighted to hear them :)

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

  

Testing, testing, 1,2,3

A while ago, Leanne, posted a request for pattern testers for her Spin Placemat pattern. Given that our kitchen placemats have definitely seen better days I signed up and then promptly went on holiday and forgot all about it.

Well, a very polite nudge from Leanne later, I finally got around to pulling out the fabric for the placemat and decided that the kitchen mats could survive a bit longer, what I really needed was Christmas placemats :) I had taken part in a Christmas fabric layer cake swap a long time ago and still had several of the layer cake squares sitting in my stash, and as Leanne's pattern called for 5" and 3" squares for the pinwheel blocks this was the ideal use for them.

Teamed with some plain red for the borders also from the stash, I was good to go.

The pattern was very straightforward and with a finished size of 12.5" x 18" the placemat is substantial enough to cope with the placings for a banquet never mind a casual kitchen supper :)

I found some Christmas fabric in my stash for the backing and some old Kate Spain  ( I think) fabric bought in Latvia for the binding, so it was a very economical project all round.

The pattern directions are for 4 placemats, but I am thinking of just making one more and giving them to our son and his fiancee who will be celebrating their first Christmas as a Mr and Mrs this year.

If you need to refresh your table linens or are looking for a quick gift to make for a housewarming, check out Leanne's pattern at her Craftsy store

As it happens, I have been taking part in an online discussion about using pattern testers and it has been an interesting topic. Long-term readers of this blog will perhaps remember the Zakka-style SAL that swept quilting blogland and the problems that we had with the number of errors in the book. Well, it seems that this was not a lone issue, as a couple of the participants in the discussion are taking part in the Gypsy Wife QAL, where it has become pretty obvious that the pattern was never tested before publication. You can read comments on the problems here and here One of the questions we were asking ourselves is "are quilters too polite for their own good?" Should we be making more of a fuss when we come across an expensive book or pattern that is littered with errors? If individuals like Leanne, can take the time to have their patterns tested before putting them up for sale, then why can't the great and the good of the quilting world do the same? Are we all so blinded by the reputation of the author/s that we are reluctant to voice a negative opinion?

I am sure you will all have an opinion on this topic, and I look forward to hearing it. In the meantime check out Leanne's pattern, which has been consumer-tested and passed with flying colours :)

Linking up to



 

Kennedy Bag

Recently the lovely and very talented Sara at Sew Sweetness put out a call for pattern testers for her latest bag pattern, which she had named the Kennedy Bag. Even although I had plenty of other projects on my to-do list, I was so taken with the photo of the bag that came with the call that I couldn't resist volunteering to be a tester.

At the same time I received a shipment of great home dec fabric from the nice people at Terrys Fabrics so it seemed only natural to put the two together and come up with this!

My version of the Kennedy Bag.

Because of an impending visit to something called Quilt Market (???) the turnaround time for testing this pattern was relatively tight, to give Sara time to co-ordinate the feedback before she jetted off to tease us all with new fabric lines and quilting heroines and heroes on Instagram!

Unfortunately I didn't pay a lot of attention to the hardware requirements for this bag until I actually came to put it together. I then discovered that despite having more bag hardware than I will probably ever need, I didn't have the correct size buckles for this pattern. A trawl round every haberdasher within a 10 mile radius failed to find them either. They were available, however, on the MacCulloch and Wallis website, so a few clicks later and I was ready to start sewing. I have visited MacCulloch and Wallis' bricks and mortar shop in London and it is a real treasure trove, so I wasn't surprised that they had the buckles listed that I needed, when nowhere else seemed to stock them.

Whilst the bag was fairly straightforward to do, there are a lot of layers at times to wrestle through the sewing machine. I counted 10 layers at one point and I could tell that my sewing machine was not very happy with it :) Still we both gritted our teeth and hoped for the best and, fortunately, it all worked out.

Which is more than can be said for my buckles order, unfortunately, one of the items in the order was out of stock and although the lovely lady who rang to tell me this could not have been more helpful in finding an appropriate substitution it meant that I wouldn't get the order in time for the deadline date for feedback to Sara.

Clearly drastic action was required!

A frantic rummage through my store of handbags unearthed this bag, which has seen better days.

Those buckles were exactly the size I needed, so some quick cutting and I was back on track.

You would think they were meant for that bag strap wouldn't you??

The pattern of the main fabric was perfect for some outline quilting, which was an optional step in the process. I did debate about whether to do it or not, given the time constraints but I was glad in the end that I did. I think it makes for a more sturdy bag and given that this is fairly large bag, I think a bit of extra sturdiness will be useful. Sara recommends using Soft and Stable for the interfacing, which I think would make this bag even sturdier but I have not yet tried this.

As you can see from the photo above the buckle straps are decorative, the bag flap is actually closed with a magnetic snap. I like the look of buckle closures but find in practise that they are slow and cumbersome to open and close, so I think this is a great compromise.

I forgot to take a photo of them but the bag also has a zipped external pocket on the back and a divided pocket in the interior. Sara has thought of everything!

If you would like to make your own version of the Kennedy bag the pattern will be available as a free download at Sew Mama Sew later today. The pattern is now available for download here

Details;

Exterior fabric - Verve in Linen from Terrys Fabrics
Lining fabric    - Happy go Lucky by Bonnie and Camille for Moda
Accent fabric    - Quilters Basic Dusty Style by Stof

I am delighted with my new bag and look forward to getting lots of use out of it on our upcoming trip to France.


If you are looking for more bag inspiration check out the great bags being linked up at Sew Sweetness' Purse Palooza

 

The link up is open till November 11th, so you have plenty of time to get your own version of the Kennedy bag made and linked up to be in with a chance of winning a great prize.

Linking up to

A sneak peek revealed and a Giveaway

It isn't in my nature to be secretive so I am happy to be able to share with you the outcome of one of the sneak peeks I posted about on Monday.

The vintage buckle slider - 

was part of the equipment needed for my bag pattern test for Sew Sweetness. The pattern is available for sale today so I can now show you the bag in all its glory. (Check out the end of this post if you would like to win some bag patterns!)

And here it is

I 

I used an embroidered wool fabric that I picked up in a sale in Riga for the exterior and the lining fabric is from the 1001 Peeps line, and was also picked up in a sale in Riga. I knew those fabrics would come in useful someday :)

The twist lock I used for the bag is slightly different to the one Sara recommends in the pattern, but as I had this one in my stock of bag supplies already it made sense to use it instead. This one is screwed together unlike the recommended lock, and is slightly bigger, but it worked out just as well. It is available here

You can see it more clearly here. I love these twist locks they definitely add something to a handmade bag, don't you think?

Sara's pattern was very straightforward to follow, so I really enjoyed my first bag pattern test. Check out her blog to see the wonderful variations of this pattern, and to see the rest of her brilliant bag patterns. She is really churning out patterns at a rate of knots! She is also such a generous soul that she has offered to giveaway a five-pack of patterns for one lucky winner on this blog.

So if you would like to revamp your wardrobe with some fabulous new bags, just let me know the best/strangest thing you have discovered at the bottom of your handbag!

Each comment will be entered into a random draw and the winner will get five patterns from Sew Sweetness' pattern range. The patterns will be sent by email so make sure I have some way of contacting you.

As ever tell me you are a follower for an extra chance to win.

The draw will close at 12.00 p.m (GMT) on Sunday February 24th, when the winner will be randomly drawn.

I look forward to reading your comments. Good Luck!