I seem to be in bag making mode.

I really enjoyed making this little bag yesterday morning before work. I used my seam guide for the first time to quilt lines accross the bag rather than meander all over it.

I started at one end and worked my way along the length. Making forst narrow then wide stripes and back to narrow. On the whole I'm rather pleased with what I did.

I folded my quilted piece in half, then stitched diagonally from the bottom to the top before 'cutting the corners' to make a smaller base.
When I turned it out here's what I had. I used the outer fabric to self bind around the rim and stitched on some handles.
Which I adorned with buttons. I bought a bag pattern the other day. I'm beginning to wonder why. The fabrics used for this one are some of those I've recieved from my scrappy club.

Have a great day.

Goodies to play with

Yay! Some of my goodies have arrived. Including one I'd forgotten about! LOL

First up the fabrics I ordered from a shop here in GB. DS1 said he wanted a nautical quilt. I've played about with a few ideas and didn't really settle on anything, so decided to get some fabric and kind of force myself to make a decision. I'm still not decided, but my options have narrowed now that I have some fabrics.

In the lower half of this picture you can see two 'coffee and cream' charm packs, they are the beginnings of another plan don't hold your breat though, it may take a while. And finally a 'special stash pack' all in blues. I know it doesn't look it in this picture, but that batik is blue! That was a freebie cause I spent so much money.

Next up is a little roll of fat eigths, all in pretty spring yellows and greens. This is the one I'd forgotten I'd ordered. I have a distinct lack of these colours in my drawers, plus I have lots of lovely fabrics which I just had to have, but nothing that will blend with them as I discovered when I went looking to make a 'Spring' quilt.

I thought I had uploaded three pictures? Hmm, well you know me and pictures. LOL I'll save the last one for another day. I'm off to play.

Happy stitching.

Lots of news and pictures.

OK, so I've done it again and all of my pictures have uploaded willy nilly! I really have to practice at getting my pictures sorted out.

Yesterday was rather eventful and I took loads of pictures, here they are .......... in no particular order!

I finished the binding on the Scrappy Dresden plate. Here it is modeling on Grandads chair. Some of you may remember Grandads chair from an earlier post. You'll meet it again, very soon.

Next up is my niece Lala! She came to visit, she asked if she could come as she had not seen my new house. She used to visit with me a lot but we've not spent much time together since she started at school in September. Is that the toothiest smile you have ever seen? She was very proud to show off her tidy writing. Thats not her real name I hasten to add, I'm not sure how it came about, but it's a nick name which has stuck.

Lala is my sister Moyas little girl. You remember Moya, she's the one who collects huge themed piles of fabrics, like 20 sunflower fabrics or 25 Russian Doll fabrics! Yep, she brought them all to see me! I wonder why?

I think she was hoping I would inspire her. Huh! Instead of inspiration she found yet more Russian Doll fabric on Ebay. My internet connection is faster than hers, so I think really she comes to browse, while I get on with my sewing! LOL We do have an S&B sometimes though. LOL I have to say I really wasn't inspired and was not much help to her. I'm sure she will think of something.

I promised you I'd get back to Grandads chair, and here it is. It struck me yesterday that although I had told you the story behind the chair, I had not actually shown the chair behind the quilt.

It's a very comfortable seat to be in, especially when my back is sore, easy to get out of too at those times. I think thats why dad likes it too, aside from the obvious. Now it has two small lap quilts adorning it. I'm sure there will be more.

Finally, I've made another bag. While I was sorting strips for the binding on the little Dresden quilt I came across the strips left over from that log cabin quilt I made. I had cut far too many and had stashed them away for 'another day'. Well their day came. I fastened them all together like this. (Sorry these pics are a bit dark, I hadn't realised how dismal yesterday was.)

Then I tidied the edges and closed up the bottom and sides, I made a tuck at each end of the bottom. I also made a lining and put in a little wadding, though I didn't quilt it.

I then bound the top, like the layers of a quilt and added tabs to hold some handles. The ticket peeking out of the bottom of the tab is my 'made with love by Loulee' ticket.
Voila!! One shopping bag for our baby sister.

And now I don't know what to do with myself. Lisa suggested I do a tutorial for my little book bag. I'm waiting on 3 parcels to come from the States, and another parcel from the UK mainland. I'm itching to get on with all of the things which are in said parcels, but not really interested in anything which is to hand. Isn't that just typical?

I could always do some cross stitch. LOL I keep threatening to do some of that, but never seem to manage more than a few stitches. I'm sure I'll think of something. Have a great day all.

Two things.

Phew! I got my life back. LOL Things have been pretty busy here for a few days, this is the first chanceI've had to get near anything quilty. I did manage a quick blast through my bloglines and do a bit of reading, but no time to stop and comment. The Easter weekend meant that Hunney was off work and we've had visitors everyday.

So, onto things quilty.
The Dresden plates got this far on Thursday, then stopped. I'm not overjoyed with my efforts at quilting this one, but it will do. The sashing went on ok, I'm pleased with myself for that much, but the corner stone which was supposed to be in the centre......... Hmm, see the blob which is there instead? It speaks volumes. LOL Never mind.
I have some strips of fabric out ready to start binding this today. Hunney thinks I could do something really fancy with the binding, personally I reckon I'm better off just sticking to my scrappy idea.
Here's a pic of my not quite perfect quilting, at least it's better than my last two efforts. :-)
I also stitched in the ditch along the sashing and around the blob!

Finally an appeal. Does anyone know what this fabric is called and where my sister might find some? I had a fat quarter, don't know where from. We've trawled through all of my usual haunts and can't find it anywhere.
You can just about see on this pic that there is a very fine glitter over the fabric. It really is a very pretty.

I'm off to put my binding together and attach it, then I can watch a movie this afternoon while I close it up.

Have a great day.

Maxine, if you're reading this. Come back tomorrow!

Maxine is my penpal. I'm not sure if she reads my blog or not. I have invited her to do so several times, but........................

Anyway, on to the quilty stuff. I spent yesterday morning procrastinating, and doing nothing very much. After lunch I got my backside into gear and started producing. In true Loulee style I've uploaded my pictures in reverse order, so these first pics are from the evenings efforts.

I had a sort through my scrap basket and was wondering what I could use all these bits for, I thought about chopping them all into squares as I've seen some of you out there in blogland do.

Then I thought if I do that I can only ever make scrappy square or triangle based quilts, so I started to play about and came up with these!

The white background squares were a find next door in the Hospice shop. Two packs of 12 mens white cotton handkerchiefs. Just great I thought. The piece of pink lying underneath is auditioning as sashing, there's just enough for that, I'll have to find something else for borders though and I've already sorted some strips for binding. Maybe it doesn't need a border? I'll see how it feels later once I've got it all together. There is still loads in the scrap basket, and I even managed to keep some useable sized scraps from these scraps! LOL

Now for the bit Maxine is not allowed to see. LOL It's her birthday soon, and this little number will be on it's way to her later today.

I took two fat quarters, and chopped them around a bit. Added a little medium weight interfacing and some rickrack.

And came up with a little reversible grocery / book bag.
To be honest it wouldn't hold much in the way of groceries, so I think I'll call it a book bag.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I may make some more of these and experiment with a larger size.

I'm outta here, got to go to the post office.

Have a great day.