Will you join me???

(logo designed by gem, )

Patch Fabric and Haberdashery is a new website which will provide you with a one stop shop for fun fabric and fabulous trimmings.
you can find it here....and the website is open now selling fabulous ribbons and trimmings for all crafting purposes, with a shop full of fun fabrics following in May. Patch will be stocking fabrics by Michael Miller, Clothworks, P&B Fabrics and Red Rooster.
(Here is a teeny peak of some of the fabric....)



So how do I know about this new venture???? Well...Patch is my new baby!!
It was time for me to go back to work....time for me anyway, if not the rest of the family. It has all happened so quickly, the idea is not 'quick' thats been floating around in our conversations for the past couple of years...but I am still spinning a little!
I have stepped back slightly from plan A...which involved a pink painted shop with a huge pine table in amongst the fabric and trimmings, where people could come and chat and craft...but plan B is still a big committment for all of us, financially and time wise, but one I believe is worth it, thankfully my lovely husband thinks its worth it too, as did our bank manager!!!
My 2 eldest boys have agreed to share a bedroom for another year while we see where the business goes so I have an office......come store room!!
I have had a very unenjoyable few weeks choosing stock..purchasing stock...taking delivery of stock...as you can imagine lol!!! Unfortunately, the fabric takes longer to arrive than I anticipated, so I am just going to open for ribbons and trimmings until they arrive...of course you will be the first to hear!!!
But here we are...nearly...ready to rumble.
I have learnt more computer skills in 2 weeks than the last 2 years, I hope my website is straight forward to use.....
I'm going to be blogging over here too. And I would love it if you joined me.
I hope not to neglect DollyDollop too much!!! But bear with me over the next few weeks!! Of course I'll definately be back on Monday to announce the giveaway winner.........
I hope you'll come over to Patch and see what I'm up to...the champagne is on ice lol!!!
xxx

patchwork cushions

This weekend was all about making cushions!

The string patch cushion was made from the smaller (because I went wrong) patches from my first attempt!!

I then deliberately cut another couple smaller and made a cushion front (it has a white and multi coloured spot envelope back)

I decided to turn the hexes I had started to sew together into a cushion after all. I figured that if they bugged me now then I probably wouldn't be able to muster up enough enthusiasm to turn it into a big quilt...the big quilt will be more carefully planned.
I backed it with a dress I rescued from the to be ebayed pile.
In the meantime, I am getting organised. I will sew up all the hexagon patches before I arrange them in a 'random' pattern...and I am getting a lot of pleasure from seeing them in my new filing system (shoe box!!) Some of my new favourites, fabric gifted to me by Gem.

Thank you for signing up for the colour swap..if you haven't already...comment on this post by Monday 22nd.....if you are feeling particularly full of mojo, there is another lovely swap here.

Boys Toys?

Inspired by this post I decided to dig out the dolls crib of my childhood and make some new bedding, using the fab fabric given to me by Natasha for the Friends swap last summer.

I gave a sneaky peek in my last post......

As I have mentioned before neither mum nor I are great ' keepers of stuff ' but along with the appliqued bed throw, my dolls crib given to me for Christmas '77 or '78, survived our numerous moves. It wasn't new when I got it so I should think its 40 years old....

Mum kept it I expect for my children, and as we are all aware I got blue flavoured children, each pregnancy mum would say perhaps we'll get to have our crib out......

We did get it out for the boys, but I think certain things are programmed by nature and none of them have shown that much interest in it, after the initial novelty of something different being out to play with. My eldest (now 14) showed the most interest when I had just had his brother, now 12...he would put his stuffed teletubby in there to sleep and take Po out to breastfeed him....bless :)

(We do finally have a little pink baby in the family, courtesy of my sister in law -but they are a fan of the shiny new plastic stuff so don't think they will appreciate vintage!! Anyway tis mine!!!hehehe)

It took me a while to get round to finishing it...the patchwork was done last September...the binding last week!!!

tada....(I cut a piece of spotty fleece to make a sheet for the 1970's esque mattress in the crib)

Dolly has been named Harry by C. So he is now round at Grandma's having new pyjama's made for him...boy colours..it makes daddy feel a bit better!!! (not much though..but we are ignoring him!!!)hmm....not sure what daddy will think about me playing with this baby...oh who cares...dolly needs a kiss!!!!

The crib is in the little boys bedroom, I'm hoping they will play with it...but R (pictured above) is a bit rough, he wanted it downstairs the other day and chucked it...and C keeps saying MY dolly(no its mummy's)...so I'm being a bit precious and limiting the time its played with.
I enjoyed making the little quilt..well I say quilt its not actually quilted, it has a plain flannel backing and as I am chuffed with how it turned out I don't want to spoil it by messing upthe stitching!! The handmade binding is far from perfect, but for a first attempt I am very pleased with how it turned out, the mitred corners were easier than I thought...I am learning very quick that if I take my time things work..I know what a revelation!!
I think I am going to make another for my friends baby. Maybe 1 row longer and wider, then it will be just the right size for the moses basket.

a helping hand

As well as the fabulous fabric squares I received from Mary, I have been very lucky this week to have 2 more parcels in the post with a helping hand for my hexy quilt.

2 more fabric stashes for me to be envious of!!

Thank You Beki xxxxx the squares are ready to be turned into a hex and some of yours can also be seen in the string patches I blogged about yesterday!!

Thank You Mary P xxxxx I will be chopping squares later and also some string strips too.

So with the help from my very lovely bloggy friends, I shall be able to make a quilt big enough for a double or king sized bed rather than a cot!!!

I am having a wobble about the hexes stitched together so far. They are not random enough.

I should have pieced all my hexes, then laid them out, but I wanted to start sewing them together and then I made a mistake when I first started stitching and instead of unpicking I changed plans and went for a block of one colour. However I've started thinking that when the quilt is big it will be just that little bit too random and not what I wanted ...after discussion with mum (who was hexing before I was even born!!) she suggested that I add a few more onto the one's I have done and make a cushion and start again with the quilt (*sigh* had I mentioned how slow it is?!?!).

I think she is very probably right..I don't want to put all this effort in and then it bug me as its the wrong sort of random!!!

Does anyone else struggle with 'random' like I do??? Is random really a very calculated well planned thing??

(also did anyone else have to REALLY force themselves to chuck the offcuts from the string patches??? I did stare at them thinking I could reuse, but resisted and got rid!!!)

string patches

Friday found me with 2 and a half child free hours. I had prepared for them all week. I made sure I had strips of fabric and I cut squares out of lining fabric.

The sewing machine was dusted off after more than a months rest and brought downstairs.

I set myself up a little ironing station on the dining table next to my machine (saves moving you see!!), remembering why I ended up with new oilcloth in the first place I made sure it was well padded.

I'm not a tidy worker...

And I found them surprisingly easy. You see I am very untrusting! When somebody tells me something is very easy I tend to think - for you maybe!!! But it really was simple.

(thats not to say that a few weren't messed up......)

Once all the strips are sewn on - pre trimming - I have to say I wasn't overly impressed, as I don't have great vision! But once trimmed...

I began to be impressed!

I made extra work for myself by roughly trimming down with scissors first, Then using the cutting mat and rotary..and a new to me metal ruler....I made them all the same size - 6 inch squares .....

Like I said I know I didn't need to trim with scissors first but as I don't have a square template and I needed to see the grid on my cutting board, I found this an easier way of doing it. I'm not very confident with my rotary cutter and mat!!!

It was at this stage that I found a few that hadn't made the grade, I had not used long enough strips in a couple of places and there were gaps and joins......not the end of the world....meet the 5 1/2 inch squares :D

I am very pleased with how they have turned out. Even with the wonkyness of the strips in places (bottom right green paisley for starters!!!). Such a simple process, yet very very effective. Some of my favourites.....

Obviously now I have 2 different sized squares then I will need to find 2 different projects, and as I'm hoping that in round 2 I won't make mistakes, then hopefully all future squares will be 6 inches. The smaller squares I may turn into a bag front or something.....

patchwork

My latest ongoing project...my hexy patchwork...taking shape...v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y!!! I love doing it but it does take a while to look like its going anywhere when you are time limited like me.

I have lots of patches made up...I made a decision that no 2 patches on my quilt (yes quilt..I aim high!!) will be the same so I have made a good start cutting squares from my stash....
Some more squares ready to go....I still have a shelf left to snip from....but I have been greatly helped along on the no two patches the same thing by a lovely blogging lady who wanted to do a swap for her string patchwork (you have to scroll past Mary's simply stunning almost finished hexagon quilt to get to the part where you see her simply stunning string patchwork patches!!) I asked Mary if I could swap strips for squares and now I have a pile of fabric squares to play with and deep envy of Mary's fabric stash!!!!!Whilst cutting out strips (even with a rotary...most definately NOT my favourite job, the cutting bit) I decided to cut double and attempt some string patches myself...too late for this challenge...but I plan to make a few!! In the mean time...I found a way to keep a certain someone occupied for a whole half hour. (excuse the yoghurt coated jumper) Laying out the strips of fabric...and I swear I also saw him stroke them as he lined them up!!! I have high hopes for this boy!!