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My favourite pattern for making quilted cosmetic bags is "Anna's Sminkepung" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa. I used a selection of cream and white fabrics for this one, and trimmed it with some cream and white vintage lace. This was a gift for a special friend, who's also very crafty - and she was thrilled to bits with it! AnnAKa patterns are only available from Scandinavian quilt shops, and there are links to both Lappedilla (Norway) and Lapp-Elisa (Sweden) on the right-hand sidebar of my blog.  Little House Block Book, by Lynette Anderson Designs, is an ideal way of storing quilt blocks before they're stitched together. The centre panel is appliqued and hand embroidered, and is trimmed with a row of 3" Ohio Star blocks. I've used a selection of fabrics also designed by Lynette for the block book...  ...I pieced the lower border and the backing, so I could use this gorgeous feature print from Lynette's Hollyhock Cottage collection. The block book has some firm card in-between the book outer and the lining to give it some structure, and is finished off with a pair of fabric handles which have been quilted...  ...I used some 80/20 wadding for the pages. Lynette suggests using layers of felt, but I found this was too thick. As you can see, this block keeper is great for storing my "Hearts and Happy Flowers" blocks!...  ...this one is by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley, and I've put all 9 of my prepared blocks in my new block keeper so they're all stored neatly, ready for the hand embroidery and applique of the last few blocks. These have been patiently waiting while I made a few other projects, and I'm looking forward to getting back to stitching these again soon as I haven't picked it up since I finished block 5.  This block had been prepared absolutely ages ago, and tucked away in a "safe place" - after weeks of searching for it, I found it safely tucked inside my box of Lynette patterns!! This morning the wool applique flowers have been secured in place with some blanket stitch using DMC embroidery threads...  ...once the appliqued block is pressed and trimmed to size, these 3" Ohio Star patchwork blocks will be added to the lower edge. I'd used a selection of fabrics designed by Lynette for these blocks, and love how these colours work well together even though they are from different collections. This pattern is "Little House Block Book" and will be a place for storing my quilt blocks - the pattern I've got is quite old, and the instructions are for machine piecing the Ohio Star blocks. A newer version of the patterns has instructions for constructing the blocks using EPP, and a set of acrylic templates and pre-cut papers is also available.  I like having a runner on my dining table, and have got quite a collection to choose from! I couldn't resist getting this kit from Cross Patch to make another one - This pattern is Tiny Town Tablerunner, designed by the Australian designer Anni Downs of Hatched and Patched, and I particularly liked this pattern as the runner can be made smaller or larger by using a few more or less rows to the middle section. I'm sure when Mr F sees this, he'll roll his eyes and mutter under his breath "she's got enough table runners to display a different one every week of the year" haha!  The EPP Storage Carry All (pattern by Lynette Anderson Designs) is filled to the brim with pockets galore, including lots of plastic ones with zippers. The original pattern uses continuous zipper, but as I didn't have any I used TWELVE separate zippers instead. I've already started sorting out a few of my EPP papers and templates - these plastic pockets are really useful, and the zippers keep everything safe and secure...  ...the Carry All opens out to reveal even more pockets, closed by zippers. The plastic pockets are all neatened by binding strips that are added to the top and bottom. I found using baking parchment underneath the plastic a great help as it prevented the plastic from sticking to the sewing machine. Also a really sharp needle helps, and I used a Superior Titanium Topstitch size 70 needle to sew through all the layers. The titanium needles keep really sharp, and it sewed through everything really easily. I also used a walking foot to sew the binding on the plastic as that helps, and Lynette recommends using a teflon foot...  ...anyone else making this please note there is a missing instruction in the construction of the pocket panel. The pattern says once the pocket panel is completed, attach it to the wadding and lining by stitching vertical dividing lines on the plastic through all layers but omits an instruction for sewing along the binding ABOVE the zipper to ensure the contents stay in the individual pockets. Lynette is aware and apparently this has been amended for the next print run. Also, some of the wadding for the pocket panels is missing from the cutting instructions (says cut x1 of each size and you need x2 of each size). Finally, there are instructions in the pattern for making the plastic pocket that goes on top of the slip pocket but it is missing from the cutting instructions. Hope that helps!  Drum roll please - the EPP Storage Carry All is completed! This pattern is by Lynette Anderson Designs, and I used fabrics from the Hollyhock Cottage collection to make this, also designed by Lynette. I'd had these fabrics for simply ages, saving them for something special, and decided it was about time I used them. The front of the Carry All has been hand embroidered using a dark brown DMC thread, and has been hand appliqued. Pictures of the inside the Carry All, showing LOTS of plastic pockets will follow tomorrow!  Eeekkk!! I had a disaster in my sewing studio last night - and chopped off my zipper pull! I thought 13 was an unlucky number, not 12. Thankfully 11 zippers have been stitched in place perfectly. This morning I'll be counting out all the IOU's I put in my swear jar when I realised what I'd done and doing a bit of unpicking ready to replace it!!  The next stage of the EPP Storage Carry All (pattern by Lynette Anderson Designs) is preparing for some hand embroidery. This design has been traced using a light pad and a fine tipped Micron Pigma pen (my favourite is a size 005 nib in sepia brown) with a lightweight interfacing fused to the wrong side of the background fabric. The applique has been hand stitched in place already, as some surface embroidery needs to be added...  ...once the three cameo sewing scenes had been hand embroidered using a dark brown DMC embroidery thread, they were hand appliqued into place. I'm using fabrics from the Hollyhock Cottage collection, also designed by Lynette, for this project. I just need to add a running stitch along the top and bottom of the row of hexies, and sew the handles in place, then I can finish the plastic pocket panels that were started a few days ago.  |
 About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! 
  
 
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