Celebration Bags

Amongst the many things needed as a guest at a family wedding is, most definitely, a new bag, which is why you would have found me last week frantically sewing away the day before we were due to leave for Dublin! As it turned out though the sewing was the easy bit. I had decided to make myself a small handbag using the Kyoko frilled pouch pattern from u-handbag.com that I have used several times before. With no time to visit the LQS before our trip, I was really pleased to find the exact shade of red in my stash, along with grey satin lining in the perfect shade, this bag was meant to be! Once sewn the pouch is threaded on to a metal frame, which is where I hit a rather large problem. I had, I thought, brought the frame with me from Riga, but I discovered when I went to assemble the bag, on the evening before we left, that, in fact, I had only brought half of the frame, the metal rods that the pouch is threaded on to were languishing in the cupboard in Riga.

Fortunately I remembered that I had made this bag a few months ago for my son's girlfriend, who was also going to the wedding.

So, one quick phone call later and the frame was travelling to Dublin to meet up with my pouch the next day.

And here it is. I really like this pattern, it is quick to make and once you have a frame it only takes a minute to change around your bag, which was just as well considering.

The theme of the week has definitely been bags, as not only did I get the bag for the wedding finished I also managed to squeeze in some sewing on the patchwork bag that I had cut out before we left Riga. On the face of it this bag looked to be as straightforward as the frilled pouch, but the instructions were rather vague and I had to work out for myself how to join the squares at the side without having the seam allowance on the right side, and I am not altogether happy with the corners where the lining and the exterior join, but that might have something to do with me rushing it to get another finish in time for my May  entry in 12 WIP's in 2012 ! Given the colours of this bag, I have christened it my Jubilee bag as it is finished just in time for the Jubilee weekend.

Having only just recovered from the extravaganza that was the SewMamaSew Giveaway Week, there are even more quilting and blogging delights to be had this week. First up is voting for the Play mini quilt challenge quilts, which closes on Friday at GMT 13.00. There are some fabulous quilts in the challenge so you will be spoilt for choice. Click here to vote for your favourite.

Also on-going is the Let's get acquainted Blog Hop, organised by the very efficient Beth at Plum and June This week's blog posts are from

May 29
    Heidi from Fabric Mutt

    Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans

    
May 31
    Jodi from Tickle and Hide

    Jennie from Porch Swing Quilts

They are definitely worth checking out! The Blog Hop will continue through till October so there will be lots of new bloggers to meet over the coming months. Check out too the guest blog and giveaway from Deborah at Whipstitch that's running this week.


As it is Wednesday again, here's how my current project list looks
Completed projects

• Shades of Green, Fleur Bleu, Checkered Heart, Orange and Reindeer cushions
• Orphan Block needle roll, Pieced Arc Tea towel, Purse and Padded Hangers Tutorial
• Sunflower and Sew Happy QAL quilts
• All blocks of FPPFTT
• Sibling Together 20 Blocks sent and received  
• First crochet project
• Play mini-quilt challenge quilt 
• Patchwork Block Bag 

Ongoing

• 3 blocks of In Color Order HST BOM (2 blocks behind schedule)
• (Almost) Irish Chain quilt basted
• 4 Zakka-style SAL projects completed (So many projects behind schedule!)
• First border of teatime quilt completed, blocks calculated and fabric cut
• 5 blocks of NY Beauty QAL completed and fabric cut for remaining 5 blocks
• 8 blocks of Craftsy BOM completed (on schedule)  
• Yellow rainbow cushion waiting to be appliqued 
• In the Bag Ugly Fabric fabrics sent waiting for swap fabric to arrive

Waiting

• Indigo and violet rainbow cushions
• Last block of Sampler quilt
• Amy Butler bag
• Bag Making Bible Fashionista Bag
• Dragon Bag
• Christmas mini quilts

The waiting list is getting smaller but that ongoing list doesn't seem to change much, I think I will have to do something about that in the coming weeks!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday
                     We Did it Wednesday

Giveaway Winner

We have just come back from the family wedding in Dublin, which involved several late nights so this post will be very brief!

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who entered my first ever Giveaway, it certainly sounds like I am not alone in my enjoyment of tea and cakes (especially cakes!).

I am delighted to announce that the random number generator drew the following entry

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The 128th comment was from

Hippie Housewife25 May 2012 07:15

Lemon squares are a must. :)

So  Congratulations Hippie Housewife  I will be in touch to get your address so that I can send your Giveaway Bag Package out. I hope you get as much fun from bag making as I have and I look forward to seeing what you do with these bag making goodies soon. ( I think you are right too about the lemon squares!)

If I didn't get around to replying to your comments whilst we were travelling please be assured that I enjoyed every single one of them, and will have no problem now thinking of suitable cakes for our next afternoon tea.

I am off now to catch up on some sleep :)

Time for Afternoon tea and a Giveaway

A weekend in London is the perfect time to savour the delights of afternoon tea, so when my husband and sons organised a sporting weekend for themselves, it wasn't difficult to work out where the females of the family would go! The opportunity for a peek inside the newly renovated St Pancras Renaissance Hotel whilst taking tea was also just too good to miss. So whilst the men donned their rugby shirts and headed off to Twickenham the ladies donned their gladrags and made their way to the more rarefied environment of St Pancras!

As well as beautifully cut sandwiches and scones with jam and cream we had 9 different, dainty cakes to consume. It was a challenge but one we all rose to! Sometimes life is just tough :)

A trip to London wouldn't be complete without a visit to the fabric department of Liberty, and thanks to Needles and Lemons guide to fabric shops in London I was also able to sigh over the fabrics in the many fabric shops on Berwick Street nearby.

How about these to brighten up your day?

Or this for inspiration?

Speaking of inspiration, the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day at the end of last year was so inspiring that I resolved when I started blogging that I would take part in the next Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, if I could. I am, therefore, delighted to be hosting my first ever Giveaway as part of this year's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. Prior to starting this blog and being introduced to the joys of quilting I was an obsessive bag maker. I started off making bags for the bridesmaids at my son's wedding and never really stopped. So, in an effort to introduce a fellow blogger to the delights of bag making I have put together the following Giveaway Bag Pack for my first ever Giveaway.

The Giveaway Bag pack includes;

1    Party Purse pattern from Nicole Mallelieu Designs (website)
1    FQ Cream/Blue swirl fabric
2/3yd Blue/Red Flower Zippity doo dah fabric by Sandy Gervais
1     Invisible Sew-in Magnetic Snap
1     Magnetic Snap set
1pr  Snap Hooks
1    Loop Handle Purse Frame
2     1" D rings
4      1.5" Gunmetal D rings

There are certainly enough supplies there to get anyone started on their first bag, but I must warn you you may well end up hooked!

To win the Giveaway Bag Pack all you need do is tell me which cakes you would like to have on your Afternoon Tea plate.

International entries are, of course, most welcome! The Giveaway will close at 12.00 GMT on Saturday May 26th, when the winning entry will be randomly drawn. If you are a no-reply blogger please remember to leave your email address in the comment otherwise I will be unable to contact you if you win!

For new visitors to my blog I hope you enjoy your visit and I shall look forward to seeing you again some time soon!

P.S. Don't forget that Beth at Plum & June is hosting the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop , which is for bloggers who have started blogging in 2011/12. It kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday 22nd May with Kelsey Sews & Billy Button Designs! I shall look forward to meeting you there.