Gift bags

I love making little gifts such as pencil cases and bags but don't always remember to record them here. I thought I'd share these ones as the tutorial I used is so good I thought it was worth sharing again. The elephant drawstring bag was made with some scraps of this organic cotton from M is for Make. I bought this fabric years ago to make curtains for my son's nursery.  They didn't fit in our new home so I washed the fabric and unpicked it all.  It was used to make this quilt and bedding for a dolls bed but I still have plenty left.

This was a present for the son of one of my best friend's so it's nice to use special fabrics for special people!  I chose this book as it was one of Harris's favourites when he was 3/4 years old - we now read the Jolly Rodgers chapter books but he still likes the picture books too of course.

So lets get to the tutorial! It is called the Kids Washbag Tutorial from Handmade Jane.  Obviously it is meant for waterproof fabrics but the tutorial works just as well to make bags for all other purposes.  The one I made for my son is used to transport Lego, cars and other toys when we go on holiday.  The elephant one was used as a book bag but with the intention it would work as a toy bag too.  I've made some before and will definitely make them again!  I made my son's one to match his pencil case but now he's asked if he can have another pencil case so that he can have one in his school bag and one at home so maybe I'll make another drawstring bag to match a new pencil case. This time he's requested superhero fabric so I'll need to do some shopping for this one!

As an aside, I'm not sure how many people still read blogs. I mean I know I do but I definitely don't comment nearly as much as I used to, mainly because the Bloglovin app was so terrible on my phone and I never really got round to looking into a replacement.  I hope people still read this but when I was thinking about whether or not to post I realised I post here as much, if not more, for me than for anyone else. having this reminder of everything I've made together like this is very good for me. Whenever I feel anxious or stressed about what I am doing, or not doing, one way I can cheer myself up is to look at my blog and remind myself of all the things I've created. So that's me up to date with finished makes, now it's time to get on with some of those unfinished ones - cushions, quilts, EPP project etc etc!

Modern fans quilt

You'd think I hadn't been sewing given that my last post here was in June! I haven't finished many projects but I have been sewing over the summer, quite a lot of EPP work on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt as well as a drawstring bag for toys for our holiday. The last big project I finished was this gorgeous quilt made using Suzy Quilts Modern Fans quilt pattern.

I bought this pattern for the sew-along which Suzy Quilts hosted but then of course didn't get round to it at the time. Plus I couldn't really have posted about this on Instagram during the sew-along as I was sewing it as a surprise for a friend's new baby!

The starting point for this was the Moda Yucatan fabric with the cactus. I bought it from M is for Make last summer and had been saving it.  When I saw this pattern I thought it would be perfect.  The gorgeous limey yellow colour is Cirrus solids in Sprout, also from M is for Make. I've had the green and pink fabrics for ages and they worked well with it.  The blue is a Cotton and Steel fabric but I can't remember which one.  The backing fabric is from the Wonderland range of fabrics by Rifle Paper Co. and is the most beautiful quality fabric with so many lovely details in the illustrations.

I was a bit apprehensive about all the curves but Suzy's tutorial is so good I needn't have worried.  I also found using my walking foot helped, both to keep everything together and also because I don't have a 1/4" foot so the walking foot is the only 1/4" measure I have. It definitely meant this piecing was more accurate so I'm using my walking foot for piecing all the time now.  I enjoyed the piecing on this one as it was a bit more involved than the last few quilts I've made.

I did my usual binding method, machine sewing to the front then hand sewing it to the back.  The quilt pattern is just a simple grid and I'm really pleased with how it looks with the curves. I really love the colours in this and think I'll need to buy some more of the Cirrus solids in Sprout, in fact the quality of the Cloud 9 Cirrus solids is lovely and looks a bit linen-like.

My next plan for this quilt pattern is to make a cushion for our house and I'm sure I'll use it to make a quilt again in the future.  Right now though I'm starting to think about Christmas sewing, anyone else?!