The "Bia Bag" =)

During this years quilting retreat I made myself a much needed bag. Since I couldn't find a pattern that suited my needs, I made it up as I went along. Customizing my design for my needs perfectly, resulting in my most loved bag to date! It's just perfect and as it's made from oilcloth it is therefore rather waterproof, it can just be wiped off when it gets a little dingy or gets salt stains from the sea. =)

It has a zipper that extends beyond the edges to allow me to fully open it up and see what's inside while still providing theft protection as no one can simply slide a hand into it while closed, nor will stuff fall out if it tips over.

The insides are perfected for keeping all my junk in check, specialized pockets for phone, lip gloss, pens, nose spray, compact etc ^^

It also has many pockets on the outside for easy access to necessities. I also love the handles I found at Ankis, they had the perfect length to keep my stuff safely tucked under my arm, and as the whole bag is rather thin, it doesn't get bulky despite their rather conservative length. Just the way I want it!

I also made a matching wallet and little zippered bag, but I'll show you those a little later along with the other stuff I made during the week ^^

This years quilting retreat with my mother, was for the first time held by the lovely Anki from Kinnas Sy. There were 10 of us there and we had an absolutely lovely time, thank you so very much Anki and everyone, I had a blast! The only problem was that 1 week is much to short! <3 Love you all!

Modern Baby Boy Quilt

I've got a few baby quilt in the works, and due to workload they've been in the works for quite some time...
This is one of them being laid out. It's based on a quilt pattern made by Oh Fransson. I started with these squares which I thought worked quite well. I looks nice, happy and I thought it all worked quite nicely together.

But as I was adding the missing squares I realized that the green stripy fabric from the Twirl line didn't work at all, there was too much white in it as you can see when it's all laid out. So I'm currently in the process of unpicking those and replacing it with something greener.

I'm also sketching on an applique, I think I might have something that will work. It's a little crazy but might go over, do you think adding a little red to this in applique form would be really weird? Maybe it's better to stick to blues and greens?

And yes, I really, really do need a design wall again!

My Mom Visited!!

My mother and step dad (feels so wrong to call him that, he's awesome!) Hasse visited us for week a short while back and not only did we have a lovely time (despite a rather intense sand storm for a few days) but she also taught me how to crochet! I had no idea how fun and relaxing this activity was (relaxing after I'd learned not to grip the needle like my life depended on it, I bent it a couple of times actually ^^ ).

We made flowers!! Lot's and lots of flowers! Mom made the hearts for me and a few of the flowers but I did make quite a few of them myself =)

My first flower to the left and to the right of it, my most advanced one so far ^^

Mom also brought a fantastic gift! A Gutermann thread set, which is pretty much the dream to own! =D

Behind each of the threads is the color number, so you don't even have to save the old spools, you can just look at the number to replace a color or buy more, super handy! 

Today's confession: Sometimes I open it just to stroke the pretty colors for a while, really makes me happy and calm =) Thank you mom and I miss you already! <3

Tova Has Finished Elementary School!

My sewing student Tova, who's become a really talented little seamstress during our 3 years together is finished with elementary school. But sadly for me, this means that our sewing classes also have ended. I couldn't be prouder of her and we've learned so much together!

She finished with a bang and we made a really cool sweater for her and of course the final thing we made for her class was a sami bracelet. =)

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The Jacket

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Tovas super cool jacket, made from this Simplicity Pattern: 1940 Misses' Jackets Designed with Love By Sara :

We decided to skip the shoulder decorations as we felt it would be too much, and I'm really happy with the outcome. Look at those pretty seams! I couldn't possibly be prouder of her work! =D

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Sami Bracelet

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 Then she also made a sami bracelet which turned out beautiful!

Needless to say, she got the top grade, an A in her sewing class! I couldn't be prouder Tova, keep on creating! <3

Stash Stack Club and more fabric!

It's Fashion Week here in Malta which means a lot of work for me (yay!), it's a really fun week but oh so exhausting on top of normal work! =)

It was my birthday a while back and my lovely mother sent me the most adorable packet with this inside: 

It's Keep Calm from Timeless Treasures, I LOVE IT! I bought a pattern just for it so I hope I'll have time to make something out of it soon ^^ 

I've also received 2 Stash Stack Club packages which I haven't had time to blog about yet, March and April. Let me tell you, it was fantastic to receive the full pack of 12! I loved the amazing range of shades and styles I got now, I'll never be able to stop this club, it's such an amazing addiction! =D

Look at it! Isn't it glorious! <3

My favorites in the yellow are many but the top two has to be the Flora Dots in Saffron from Free Spirit's La Dee Da and Leafy Stripe in Mustard from Moda's Simply Color line. So pretty! Had no idea I was such a mustard loving girl ^^

And I also bought some Noteworthy by Sweetwater, love their lines so much! Got it from Fat Quarter Shop whom I love for their fantastic customer service, always so helpful and kind!

And I've even found time for some quilting! Isn't that amazing! Diana isn't a fan of midnight quilting so she fell asleep, she knows she's not allowed on the project so she snuggled up right next to it for her nap. ^^
I'm remaking an old pattern of mine, will share it with you after Sunday =)

Basket For My Clothespins

My washroom is in the process of receiving an overhaul and much needed face lift. I've got some nice new shelves for this and that, a really nice cabinet from Ikea for dirty clothes and such so I felt I really needed something prettier than my current zip lock bag for my clothespins.

I've had my eye on this adorable basket pattern from Sweetwater for a few years but never really had any use for such a pretty basket until now =) So I happily purchased it and used some leftover jelly roll strips of Twirl by Me & My Sister combined with some black Kona. I think it turned out really sweet.

Instead of  putting the batting on the outside pieces through I put it on the lining to get a less baggy inside and make it easy to get to the last few pins at the bottom. I also used Pellon Thermolam instead of the suggested cotton batting for a smoother look and feel. I'm really happy with the outcome! Really fun basket to make and I'm once again back to my ruffle obsession I fear...

Baby Boy Baby Shower Gifts

One of my friends is having a little baby boy and the baby shower is today.
To start with, I made a little quilt of course! I made this top at a quilt retreat a few years back and it's been lying around as an UFO ever since then. It really was perfect for this gift! It was meant as a wall hanging to begin with - as it's still today the most advanced thing I've ever sewn with those Y seams! But as I don't have much space in our little apartment - I figured I'd better put it to good use as a baby blocks quilt where it will be used and hopefully loved then to leave it waiting for more wall space to hang it. I cut it down as it was a bit to long and then added the border for a little width and framing.

I free motion quilted the feather borders and I really love how it came out, feathers are so much fun to quilt! I wanted badly to add more quilting, outlining of the feathers, a little embellishment in them and more quilting in the cubes but I didn't want it to feel stiff so I refrained, after a long discussion with myself.  =)

I also made a Sushi-Roll Changing Pad and Diaper & Wipes Pouch, tutorial can be found here. Really awesome little kit I think, perfect to keep packed and stacked near the door for when you're just going out for a little while and don't want to bring the whole changing bag maybe?  Or to keep as a pretty kit in the changing bag? Sandra, my friend have a lovely and quite romantic style in the summer so I hope she'll like the fabric I chose for the outside. However, as she is having a boy, I had to choose a more manly spot fabric for the inside of the bag and the upside of the pad =)

It felt really weird to go shopping for diapers and wet wipes to fill this with XD

All wrapped up and ready to go!

Easter Eggs Become Quilt Inspiration

Easter passed by in a scary blur of work combined with more work. But I did have some time to play around and color Easter eggs for the Easter lunch at our friends house. I was in charge of deviled eggs among other things, so I ended up spicing them up a little with fancy patterns. Found the tutorial for them here, very easy to do and such a fancy result.

I felt that the combo of yellow-green, dark blue and white in that bowl was so pretty that I just had to go and pick out fabrics for a quilt in the same color scheme! It's for a baby quilt I'm planing on doing. =D Inspiration comes from the weirdest places doesn't it? Had some help from my trusty sewing student Tova with the choices, she's been here and sewed her final item for year 9 which I will blog about shortly.

It was an amazing feeling! This was the first time I've ever been able to choose all the fabrics for a quilt from my stash, and I've never been so excited! Such an awesome thing that I immediately decided to gift myself an increase in my Stash Stack Club subscription to 12 FQ each month as my birthday present this year =D

FMQ Feather Border & Stash Stack Club

I have been quilting a little when I haven't been able to sleep from cough. A very special little quilt this, but since it's going to be a gift, I don't want to show the whole thing until it's been gifted. But I'll tell you I'm loving this quilt and it will be really hard to part from it. After some practice I decided to go for FMQ feathers for the borders, all thanks to the help of the December tutorial from the FMQ Challenge, by Patsy Thompson.

It's not perfect but 100% freehand, the only marking I did was a line for the start and end and middle where the feathers meet and I'm super happy with the result of my first FMQ feather border =)

The brilliance of painters tape when quilting borders!
The painters tape was a new thing on my side, I hate quilting the borders because they tend to bunch up, get stuck and just be generally tricky to hold down nice and flat. With the tape I could mark off what would be hidden by the binding and at the same time tape the top to the batting to ensure I could easily quilt it all while it stayed in place. I will always tape the outside edges of my quilts before doing border designs from now on, makes life so much easier! =)

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A little belated but I naturally received my Stash Stack Club for January & February =)

January was purple and all the fabrics where just so yummy! Delish! <3 My favorite is the second one from the bottom, Orchid Citadel - Cuzco by Kate Spain tightly followed by the top print, Leafy Stripe in Eggplant - Simply Color.

For February there was blue on the menu, some where oh so lovely - but I wasn't a fan of the bottom two. They felt like "grandma fabrics" (not judging my grandma here, she has fantastic taste, just your "typical grandma") with the yellowish white contrast and washed out look, not my cup of tea. I have to say, after 8 months I've receivd 2 fabrics that I didn't really fancy - this club is awesome! =D

Interfacing Free Storage Basket

After our IKEA order I need storage baskets for our new shelves in the bathroom (sadly only half of the shelf was in stock so it hasn't been assembled fully yet, but enough so I could try out baskets ^^). After looking at a number of different options I found a tutorial one over at Jezze Prints that sounded perfect, no interfacing needed and still washable as the cardboard was removable. Brilliant!

I cut into some of my beloved Tula Pink the Birds & the Bee's fabric for this as it was the perfect shade of purple/plum for the bathroom decor and I just LOVE the outcome!

I had some small difficulties knowing what was what in the tutorial so if you want to make your own, the small piece (at the top in the pattern piece image) is the bottom piece, which is dark gray in my version and visible here. The Bee fabric on the outside is the rectangular piece.

And the Lazy Stripe is the middle (biggest) lining piece in the pattern. 

I also wanted a cardboard bottom for mine to make it perfectly rigid. But I wasn't interested in adding even more pieces to this so instead of sewing the bottom piece (grey) to the lining piece around the top as suggested in the pattern, I sewed it only in the seams at the sides as suggested in version two. Then when all was stitched together (as you can see I did the side seams as in version one anyway) you can measure your bottom (mine was 15x15 cm) and cut a piece of cardboard that size. Fold the cardboard once in the middle, stick it in between the two lining pieces (this will make sense once you have your own basket before you) before adding the edge cardboard, unfold it and have a hard, cardboard bottom too, not just sides. The bottom piece  is removable too - just like the sides for washing. =)