Do you think I have enough now?

Regular readers will probably have guessed by now that I do love a bargain, especially a fabric bargain!

So when I decided to take my car out for a spin yesterday and just happened to find myself outside a quilt shop that I sometimes frequent, well it would have been daft not to go in :) When I then discovered that said quilt shop had had an Open Day last month, which I had missed, but still had some of the Open Day reductions available well it would have been rude not to at least have a look at them, wouldn't it?

Which is why the bundle of Grand Tour fabrics in my stash that used to look like this

Now looks like this!

At £2 per metre, I just couldn't bring myself to pass it up and even although there was over 6 metres of the top pink birds fabric up for grabs, I  could still justify lunch in the coffee shop next door!

A couple of other items might also have found their way into my basket whilst I was browsing :)

The graduated fabric in the back was also in the sale alas at £5 per metre rather than £2, but I have plans for it for one of my overdue Star of Africa Bee blocks, so it was more of a necessity than an indulgence.

The wavy stripe fabric and text FQ's are also planned for and had only been put out on the shelf the day before so was obviously meant to be. 

My car seems to have overcome its' tendency to cut out at random moments too, which was the original purpose of the exercise so, all in all, a successful day out ! 

Linking up to 

All the nice girls

We had a couple of long car journeys in the last week or so, which meant that I was looking for something to keep me occupied when the map reading consists of keep straight ahead for the next couple of hundred miles!

As you know from previous posts we have been redecorating our eldest son's now vacated bedroom with a seaside theme. So when the April issue of the Bustle and Sew magazine popped up in my inbox with a pattern for a cushion based on the song " All the nice girls love a sailor" well my travelling project was found :)

I used a piece of calico for the embroidery and then raided my son's wardrobe for the cushion fabric.

I should just say that I checked with him first before I ripped his shirts apart!

The embroidery was bordered with 2.5" strips top and bottom.

All the nice girls cushion 

I used more shirt strips for the back of the cushion and was also able to use the front placket from one of the shirts to make a button closure. I love it when that works out :)

So not only do I have another element of my seaside decoration, but it cost me next to nothing to make too. That's my kind of project!

And if you haven't come across the song before you can listen to it here. Needless to say since starting the embroidery I have been humming this ever since :)

Linking up this finish to 

Crazy Mom Quilts

 

Time for Tea

Kitchens are still top of my list at the minute, so even although my swap for the Crafty Cooks Apron Swap is complete I still had a kitchen project to tick off of my to-do list.

A few weeks ago Gemma at Pretty Bobbins asked for pattern testers for her new paper-pieced patterns. Rather foolishly I volunteered myself even though I was due to go on holiday in the next couple of days. Still, when Gemma sent me the pattern for her Very Triangle Teapot block I knew I wanted to have a go at it.

Needless to say it took me rather longer than I had wanted to complete the pattern, but it is now finished and ready for use.

As well as one layer of Insul-Brite wadding I also added a second layer of bamboo wadding so this teapot hot pad will protect my tabletop from the hottest teapot. The pattern was really straightforward to put together, although I did have some problems matching up the points on one row, but that was entirely self-inflicted :)

I thought I might have problems with quilting the pad through two layers of wadding, but it all went swimmingly. I quilted in the ditch around the teapot and then FMQ'ed swirls of steam for the background. 

You can see the quilting better in this photo.

The teapot pattern is available as a free download at the Pretty Bobbins Craftsy  pattern store.

Next up Kristy's Retro coffee pot pattern but before that I have some birds to sew for my day on the


I have a plan, I just need to get ahead and do it!

Linking up this finish to 

Crazy Mom Quilts