A few years ago I bought a Swedish quilting magazine called FatQuarter as I loved the Klädnyps-strut  (peg bag to non-Swedish speaking quilters!) that was on the front cover. When I went to the Autumn Quilt Festival at Duxford, I bought some super fabric from the Cross Patch stall. This fabric is from the "Washday" range by Makower has a wonderful retro feel to it, and it's just perfect for this peg bag pattern. I also bought a few reels of beautiful Aurifil threads in a selection of colours from the quilt show, and the grey coloured thread that I'd bought blended beautifully with this fabric. This pattern is available from Lappe-Elisa in Sweden, and although the instructions are in Swedish, the photo-style diagrams are really easy to follow. I used Pellon wadding for this project and this is fully machine washable - the design also has a clip so it will hang on your washing line and can slide easily along the line. An ordinary washing line will look SO posh with this pag bag adorned on it!!

Well the day finally arrived - the Christmas Shopping Day at Orford, and I was finally having my first ever stall selling my crafty goodies and quiltystuff. I was incredibly nervous first thing this morning as I packed my car with stock and props, but needn't have been - as soon as I arrived at Orford Town Hall, I was given a very warm welcome by Alison - and she had very kindly arranged for my stall to be next to hers so she could keep an eye on me, and I was very grateful for her kind words as I set up my stall. In no time at all, the first customers arrived, and I'd made my first sale (thanks Alison!!!) and I was enjoying every minute of it! I was inspired by wonderful pictures I've seen on my Norwegian friends' blogs of their stalls at craft fairs, and hoped that mine would look as good as theirs. The other stall holders were all really friendly and incredibly helpful, which was very much appreciated. It was lovely seeing lots of friends there today, some who came to buy my quiltystuff and some who'd just called in to say hello. Well the day flew by, and I arrived home tired but VERY happy, and I'm looking forward to taking part again next year!

Using the pattern "Anna's Sminkepung" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa and a selection of Lecien fabrics (this time purple and green) from Sew and So's of Bungay and some lace trimming from Little A Designs and I was all ready to get creative! This time I made a matching set that can be used a toiletry bag and a cosmetic bag. I've quilted these very simply using a cross-hatch design and a straight-row pattern too. This time I used olive green zippers to match the binding along the edges of the bag. The pink lace and velvet trimming is used on both bags - and each bag has a small label sewn inside too.

Well it's been all go here at Foreman Towers - I've been sewing like a woman possessed, and there is now only one day left until the Christmas Shopping Day event at Orford. This is the first time that I've had a stall at anything like this, so I'm a little bit excited and a little bit nervous and a lot nervous!! Will people like my work? Will anybody buy anything?? Well here are a few more toiletry bags ready for my stall...

...I've used my favourite pattern, "Anna's Sminkepung" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa, and a selection of fabrics from my stash. Mostly these are Lecien fabrics, but the cute fabric with the owls on is by Timeless Treasures. I'll share all the excitement of the day along with lots of pictures later in the week. Now to get back to that sewing machine for a few last minutes quilty bits and bobs ;)

A few weeks ago, I bought a selection  of half metres of fabric from the "Flower Sugar III" collection, from Sew and So's at Bungay. I've been really busy stitching several cosmetic/toiletry bags using the pattern "Anna's Sminkepung" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa and some ric-rac and lace trimmings. These bags are quilted very simply in a cross-hatch design, using white Mettler quilting thread...

...these bags look just as pretty on the inside as they do on the outside, and all the seams are neatly bound and hand finished. I love these scarlet bags with the turquoise polka dot binding...

...once I'd made a couple with mostly red fabric, I changed to using the turquoise fabrics with red polka dot binding. A selection of white lace and ric rac adds a finishing touch to these bags, and I've added my labels into the side seam, just below the zipper for these ones...

...these really are very quick to make, and I can practically make these in my sleep. These will be on my stall at the Orford Christmas Shopping Day, along with lots of other quilty goodies that I've been busy making over the last few weeks. Hope to see you there!

I needed a thank you gift for my friend Wendy, (she'd given me a huge bag of cushion inners, which will be REALLY useful!) and what better gift than a toiletry bag - the pattern as usual is "Anna's Sminkepung" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa and the fabric is from the Pastel Floral collection by Lecien. I added some delicate pink lace, and a pale pink zipper. This was quilted very simply in a cross hatch design, and I used a pink variegated thread by King Tut.  I made one with the same fabrics a few weeks ago with an appliquéd vintage-style picture and that was pretty too, but I rather like this one as it shows off the beautiful roses on the fabric. 

Well I was really supposed to be making some peg bags with some gorgeous laundry-themed fabric that I bought from the Autumn Quilt Festival at Duxford last week, but I was rather distracted by this gorgeous pale grey Lecien fabric, which looked just perfect teamed with some velvet ribbon and lace trimming - and so I abandoned the peg-bag plan (I'll make those next weekend!) and made a pair of cosmetic bags, using a Norwegian pattern "Anna's Sminkepung" by the designer AnnAKa. The velvet and lace trimming is always a little bit tricky to sew into place, and I usually add a few drops of Roxanne Basting Glue to hold it in place while I secure it with a blind hemming stitch. I'm having one of those weeks where nothing seems to go to plan, and of course I couldn't find the glue so had to resort to using pins instead which are much more prickly...

...the top edge of the velvet ribbon is what I stitch along - this is done REALLY slowly so I don't wobble and veer off the edge! Well the pinning-method worked just fine, and there was enough fabric for two of these cosmetic bags - I don't normally make these bags the same, as I like to keep each one looking different, but this was such pretty fabric I thought I'd make an exception!...

...as you can see, one of these bags is quite "square" in proportions, the other is more "rectangular". This Lecien fabric has been in my stash for a couple of years, and was from Sew and So's in Bungay - their range of Lecien fabrics is simply GORGEOUS!! These will be for sale at the Christmas Shopping Day at Orford - if you're coming along, you'll see all sorts of my quiltystuff on display!

Well I really don't like fabric going to waste, and as I had a very small piece of Lecien "Flower Sugar I" left over from previous projects, I decided to mix it with some "Flower Sugar III" - and I think it works! I love the bright red spot that I've used for the binding and instead of the usual prarie points, I added one of my labels on one side of the zipper and a loop on the other so this cute little bag can hang from a hook in your bedroom or your bathroom. The pattern is "Anna's Sminkepung" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa, and the "Flower Sugar III" was purchased from Sew and So's of Bungay. I'm going to make several ore of these bags this week in a mixture of scarlet and turquoise -with a variety of trimmings and I'm going to try out a new Norwegian pattern too!!

Well this weekend is flying past and I'm a busy as the busiest bee that ever was busy - and all because I'm having my first EVER stall at a local Christmas Craft Fair at Orford. I've been making bags and table runners and bags and place mats and bags and quilts and bags and guitar straps and bags and more bags!! And I've just realised that the craft fair is only 2 weeks away which only gives me 4 more sewing days - including today!! My sewing frenzy wasn't helped by my computer crashing yesterday with no internet access and having to spend an hour and a half on the phone to the BT helpdesk and even THEY couldn't fix the issue so luckily I've got my eldest daughter's "old" laptop which means I can check emails and blog, but it won't upload any of my pictures from my camera so I can't tempt you with my wares - yet! As soon as normal service resumes I'll post lots of pictures of all the goodies I'm making and taking!

Last week my friend Helen contacted me and asked if I had any plans for weekend - well apart from a trip to London on the Sunday with Alice and Mr F to see "Dirty Dancing" at the Piccadilly Theatre (the final part of my BIG birthday celebrations!!!), I was free on the Saturday, so we made a plan to go together to the Autumn Quilt Festival at Duxford, in Cambridgeshire. There was a large display of quilts, (there are so many more quilts on display here than when the festival was held at Chillford Hall which sadly burned down last year) and it was really hard to pick one that was my favourite so I've chosen TWO favourites and here they are. Firstly this bright and beautiful appliqued quilt, called "All Things Bright And Beautiful" which was made by Elizabeth Bulbeck, Cornwell. This really is bright!!...

...this shows a close-up of the needle-turn applique and the beautiful hand quilting too - it really is fabulous! I've never really mastered hand quilting, but I can really appreciate the amount of work that went into quilting this - it's an absolute work of art, and the applique is really ...

...and secondly, this absolutely stunning "New York Beauty" quilt made by Sue Davies, Buckinghamshire - I have wanted to make one of these quilts for a very long time, and this has inspired me to make one even more than ever!! I have never tried foundation piecing, and as soon as one of these classes is on at my local quilt shop I'll be the first to book a place!!...

...here are a couple of close-ups to show the incredibly precise foundation-piecing and also the beautiful free-hand machine quilting. (Click on the pictures to enlarge them- this work is stunning - Sue if you're reading this you are a VERY clever lady). Ohhhh if only I could make a quilt as beautiful as this!...

...as you can imagine, there were also lots of wonderful stalls selling all sorts of wonderful fabrics and threads and fabrics and patterns and fabrics - well I'm sure you get the idea!! Anyway, I'll take some photographs of my shopping at the weekend and share on my blog then! And I didn't QUITE spend out - I needed to save a few pennies for my trip to London the following day!