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Lynette Anderson Designs has just announced her new mystery BOM, called George and the Donkey. Initially I wasn't going to take part in this one, however it's official - I absolutely have no willpower when it comes to Lynette's BOMs! And to prove it, I signed up last night with Poppy Patch here in the UK! 
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As you know, I've been making some beautiful projects as part of the Poppy Patch Posse. For my next project, the lovely staff at Poppy Patch asked me to review a festive project. There were 2 patterns that I absolutely loved, both by Australian designers. Well I just couldn't decide which one to choose so I decided to make them both! Anyway, this SUPER parcel arrived in the post last week, and the Poppy Patch ladies really have put 2 absolutely fantastic kits together...  ...the first one is a tree skirt by Natalie Bird of The Birdhouse Patchwork Design, and is called the Very Merry Tree Skirt. The second one is a festive cushion by Claire Turpin, and is called Elfie Jiones and his Christmas sleigh. I'll be reviewing these in a few weeks time, so if you'd like to join in too there are kits available for both of them on the Poppy Patch website.
After a week away on holiday, follwed by a few days away with my daughter and grandson, I finally made a start on block 3 - Wild Dog Flowers, the next part of Say it with Flowers, which is this year's mystery button club BOM by Lynette Anderson Designs. I'd purchased this BOM along with a fabric pack from Coast & Country Crafts and Quilts. For the applique flowers, I decided to use Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Quilting Products Perfect Circles. Although they are a bit fiddly, there were only 3 flowers to make, so didn't take too long. While they were "setting" I was able to complete the background embroidered flowers...
...the hand painted wooden button will be stitched into place once the quilt has been pieced together and quilted. I've used a selection of variegated Valdani embroidery threads, the subtle shading of these threads works really well with Lynette's fabrics...
...and here's Block 3 completed - this really is so pretty. As you can see, I've embroidered a J for my black lab Jasper. I can' wait to see what the final block will look like - thank fully I don't have anymore holidays planned yet so I'll be able to start that one as soon as it arrives!  Another ByAnnie pattern, and another kit from Oh Sew Sweet - this one is Easy Does It - a boxy, quilted, zippered pouch. The kit included everything needed, including the fabrics for the outer, the lining and the binding, soft and stable wadding, interfacing and a zipper. All I had to do was choose which thread to use for the quilting! Anyway, after much deliberation, I picked this variegated Gutermann Sulky thread...
...this was a quick and simple project to make, and the soft and stable wadding adds structure, making a firm bag that stands up on it's own. The colours of these batiks perfectly match the colour packaging of some of my favourite Sanctuary Spa toilettries. This bag is ideal for putting some travel-sized toilettries inside ready for holidays...
...I managed to get a couple of pictures of this outside in the garden. There is a handle at each end of the bag to make it easy to carry, and a smart fabric tab has been added to the zipper pull...
...this is such a simple bag to make, and having everything supplied in the kit made it such a quick and easy project to sew.  Have you seen these printed panel kits by Lynette Anderson Designs? All the fabric swatches are printed on one large panel - including the pre-printed stitchery design - which you simply cut apart! This one is My Floss Organiser and has been provided by Oh Sew Sweet here in the UK. Now I just need to choose my embroidery threads and I can make a start on this pretty project.  While I was on holiday in Scotland, we had a trip to Oban - which resulted in a purchase of this beautiful Harris Tweed from The Wool & Needlecraft Centre - there was a super selection of fabrics there, it was so difficult to pick just one. This particular Harris Tweed is going to be used for another Bowl Me Over 2.0 bag, maybe teamed with some denim.  I managed to get a picture of my tweed Bowl Me Over 2.0 bag "in the wild" while I was on holiday in Scotland with the beautiful Inveraray Castle in the background. I absolutely LOVE this bag and will definately be making more of these - especially as I've bought a gorgeous piece piece of Harris Tweed as a souvenir of my holiday which will be perfect for one of these bags!  I'd recently made a tote bag using this fabulous British Wool Tweed, and I managed to get a picture of my bag "in the wild" at the Falls of Dochart while I was on holiday in Scotland. It was such a useful bag to take with me, especially as it seemed to get filled with Mr F's wallet and glasses and phone and water bottle AND his sweeties. I really need to make him a tweed "man bag" ready for our next holiday!  Another tweed bag to add to my collection! This pattern is Bowl Me Over 2.0 by ByAnnie.com and Patterns By Annie and is a great size for a handbag, with lots of details that I really liked. Both the pattern and ByAnnie mesh (used for one of the pockets) were purchased from Oh Sew Sweet at The Hut and this beautiful British wool tweed was bought about 3 years ago from Quilting Antics as part of a kit. I didn't like the pattern they came with but LOVED the wool tweed! I instantly knew which fabrics to team up with this tweed - a gorgeous turquoise batik fabric purchased from Sew and So's of Bungay, and some fabric that was left over from a quilt backing. As usual, the continuous zipper by the metre and zipper pulls are from Zipper Station. My top tip for making ByAnnie bags is to read all of the instructions - twice - and watch the add-on video tutorial if available. The instructions are very well written, and easy to understand. As I was using 2 different pieces of tweed, I made the back, front, pockets and pocket flap all individually. A cheeky little lable by Kylie and The Machine, purchased from Tangled Yarn wa sstitched to the front pocket and will be hidden by the front flap, which closes with a magnet...
... Both the front and the back of the bag have got pockets on the inside - one is made with ByAnnie Mesh and opens with a zipper, the other is an elasticated pocket. Rather than use the ByAnnie fold-over elastic as per the instructions I stitched a large channel in the top of the pocket fabric and inserted a wide strip of elastic. This is machined down to make 3 smaller elasticated pockets which is useful for storong smaller items. I used ByAnnie soft and stable wadding for this bag, and it quilts beautifully, although I only added the lining fabric prior to quilting as I didn't want to quilt the tweed - this was simply spray basted to the right side of the bag front and back once the quilting was completed and the inside pockets were constucted. The front of the bag has a pocket on the front covered with a flap and 2 smaller pockets eother side for ppens. The back has a large zippered pocket, again which is really useful...
...here you can see I've added a tab with a clip for keeping my keys on, which has been positioned above one of the elasticated pockets. All of the inside raw edges are covered with bias binding which emsures the bag looks neat and tidy and gives a very professional finish to it...
...there are D-rings on both the front and back of the bag enabling a carry strap to be clipped into place, although I didn't have time to make one - I may add this at a later date. I chose to use a light grey zipper tape for the bag as it blended well with the colour of the tweed. All the zipper tabs have fabric pulls attached which have been made with the same batik fabric that I used for the outside bindings...
...here's the cheeky label, machined into place on the front of the bag, and will be hidden by the front flap. I managed to take a few photographs outside just before it got dark, as I was definintely working all hours trying to get this bag finished before I went on holiday...
...and here's the front - I'm so pleased with it and really looking forward to using it while I'm away on holiday in Scotland. Hopefully I'll be able to buy some Harris Tweed while I'm away to make another one! I've definitely become a ByAnnie addict!  |
 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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