Last minute gift making

I have just finished a couple of small gifts for my girls. The littlest blossie has claimed this hexagon purse.

It was a kit from Hatched and Patched. As usual, their fabric choices were perfect! How I love piecing hexies - very relaxing.

The eldest blossie requested a charm square backpack. She rummaged through my stash of pre-cuts and emerged with a charm pack of  'Hello Luscious 'by Basic Grey for Moda.

Never one to be bound by convention, she decided she wanted one side pink, the other blue ;) And a zippered pocket on both sides if you please! Happy to oblige.

Charm square backpack PDF pattern

Whoever dreamed up the idea of fabric charm packs was a marketing genius ... and the nemesis of every fabric addict! The addict enters a fabric shop, and no matter her level of determination to resist, those little sample packs just draw her in. And she says to herself, "If I just buy one of these, it's cheaper than yardage, and I'll have a little bit of every fabric in the range. Win, win!" And so I have an untold number of random charm packs in my stash. 

I set myself a challenge to come up with a pattern to whittle down this collection. Something practical, something quick to make, and that can make use of a single random charm pack. I'm happy to say that I have written up a pattern for my Charm Square Backpack.

I have designed a drawstring backpack, made from a single charm pack, combined with a half metre of lining fabric.

At approximately 18" square, it is a perfect size for that quick trip to the shops, or a swim at the beach. It would also be great as a kid's library bag, or for their next sleepover with friends.

The backpack is fully lined, has an external zippered pocket for safe keeping of valuables and a loop for hanging.

I've made four of these backpacks now, and I confess they are quite addictive! But then it seems I'm prone to addiction :) The backpack on the left is made from Bonnie and Camille's 'Happy-Go-Lucky' range, while the one on the right is Zen Chic's 'Sphere', both by Moda of course, the leading culprit in charm pack world domination.

I also made two backpacks for some entomological friends of mine, using 'Bee My Honey' by Mary Jane.

I was lucky enough to find some fabulous braided cord at one of my local quilt shops. It is apparently an 'end of line' item, so is not readily available. If you find some, I suggest you buy it all (like I did). It just seems to blend with any fabric combination you can think of.

The Charm Square Backpack pattern is available as a PDF download in my shop.

If you happen to subscribe to my Newsletter, you will find a discount code for this pattern in your inbox. If you don't subscribe, but would like to, there is a newsletter subscription link at the top right of this page.

Little hexagon purse

Today I put the final stitches in my version of Brigitte Giblin's Little Hexagon Purse, made at the request of my eldest daughter. That a seventeen-year-old would want to wear anything made by their mother is special enough, but that she still loves it (and me!) many months after it was requested is remarkable!

Self imposed deadlines to have this little purse finished came and went with monotonous regularity.

But today it is done! The colours and fabrics were chosen by my daughter to coordinate with her wardrobe, as described previously.

The hexagons are 1/2 inch, and hand pieced. I very much enjoyed my first hand piecing project and have a small insight into the addictive and therapeutic nature of this technique. I detailed some tips and tricks that I learned in this post.

And now there is nothing to wait for but a lift to town to christen the new wardrobe addition :)

A special gift from Grandma

My Mum stitched this sweet little zippered pouch as a special gift for my youngest blossie. The design is from Anni Downs' book, 'A Simple Life'. Anni's books are always packed full with gorgeous projects, and are great value for money. I think I own almost all of them! The fabric kit was purchased from Anni's shop, The Home Patch.

I love the boots on the end of these skinny, stripe-y legs, scooting through the blooms ...

... and what's not to love about the plump pooch?!

Even the pouch lining is delightful. Anni has a wonderful eye for colour and print.

When my daughter was so unwell last year, my Mum spent a lot of time with her, willing her to be well. They have an especially close relationship as a result, and this little gift is treasured.

Adventures of a paper-piecing novice

My heartfelt thanks to everyone for your thoughtful and supportive messages on my last post. Olivia continues in pure, unbroken, glorious good health and happiness. I am touched that so many of you sensed and shared my palpable relief and wonder that she is again well. I am still breathing in the peace and relief ... in enormous, deep gulps!

And so, this week I picked up needle and thread again, to revisit my Little Hexagon Purse. This is my first serious attempt at paper piecing, and I thought I'd pass on some things I've learned.

The finished hexies have 1/2" sides - I know, what was I thinking?! For the majority of fabrics, I trace around an acrylic template with a pencil and cut out the hexagon with scissors.

For fabrics pleading to be fussy cut, I made a 'window' template from light cardboard, and use this for tracing the shape onto the fabric.

I am using Sue Daley's method to temporarily glue the fabric hexagons to purchased hexagon papers. When I'm feeling diligent, I use a Sewline glue pen specifically developed for fabric. When I can't find the Sewline, I just use an ordinary old glue stick. Both achieve the same end.

After experimenting with various threads, silk and cotton of different weights and colours, I have settled with using this Aurifil 50 weight in a neutral beige (#2314). The colour blends sufficiently across the fabrics I'm using, and the thread is fine enough to sink nicely into the seams.

After stitching the hexies together, the papers are supposed to 'pop' out quickly and easily from the back of the work. I have obviously been too heavy-handed with the glue as there's no way my papers are 'popping' anywhere! I solved this dilemma by moistening the seams (on the back of the panel) using a small, soft paintbrush dipped in water. This diluted/softened the glue enough that I could quickly remove the papers. 

This purse is for my eldest daughter. It was supposed to be finished for a School Ball a week ago. Knowing full well that I was not going to get all those teeny tiny hexies pieced in time, I offered to make up a quick, 'one fabric only' substitute. 

This offer was duly accepted by said 17-year-old on the proviso that the 'real' hexie purse be completed by Christmas :) Deal!

Mission complete

Our aim to finish Mum's bag before she returns home is accomplished. She did a wonderful job of it.

And if she happens to leave it behind, I wouldn't complain!

The details:

The pattern is Monica Poole's 'Spice of Life', a well-written pattern for an easy-to-construct, very stylish bag.

The main fabric is an Echino cotton/linen, purchased from The Home Patch, with a plain linen trim.

The star of this design is the spring-loaded handbag frame, which allows the bag to 'snap' open and closed. It works like a dream, and is good quality hardware. The frame was also purchased at The Home Patch.

Mum's bag is lined with a bird print fabric that my beautiful blogging friend Janelle sent me a while ago. It was just perfect for this project - thanks Nellie! 

The pattern has wonderful instructions for incorporating a zippered pocket, and a really sturdy, removable bag base.

I think there will be more of these bags made, I love it!

Mum's bag progress

I have returned from the netball run to find Mum sewing madly. I fully expected that she would not have progressed at all considering that when I left her, she had her brain fully engaged with a Sudoku! She has a thing for Sudokus!

But as she often does, she proved me wrong. She has the bag exterior together, the linen handles constructed and the lining completed. Alright! The lining even has two pockets, one of them with a zip closure. Legend!

Progress is likely to slow as it is approaching wine o'clock. But I will be back when there is something blog worthy to report.

Raw materials

Mum is visiting, which meant our inevitable visit to Anni Downs' lovely The Home Patch store in Bathurst today. We boldly declared as we walked through the front door that 'we really didn't need anything today'. An hour and a half later we exited sheepishly, with a brown paper bag full of lovelies. We now have a busy weekend of sewing ahead of us!

We are hoping to transform

a stunning piece of Echino linen ...

... plus a lovely pattern 
from Monica Poole of Moonshine Designs ... 

... plus a very cool handbag frame ...

... into something beautiful!

Productivity is likely to be 
inversely proportional to consumption of this:

We will keep you informed!

A new Frilly Dilly for a winter’s day

I put the finishing stitches on my winter Frilly Dilly last night, in time for a very wintery day in town and a visit to the local art gallery (more on that in my next post).

The fabrics are a muted (not mutant!) hybrid of French General and Barbara Brackman I think - I don’t have the fabrics at hand right now, so I will check that and be back with more detail.

I have used an interesting brown herringbone-weave linen as the base of the bag. I found this fabric ages ago in a remnant bin at a furnishing fabric store. And I used an old wooden buckle that I picked up on my travels. Both have been waiting patiently in ‘the abyss that is my sewing cupboard’ for just the right project.

I tend to live in jeans in the winter, and this frilly dilly just feels like it was made to live with comfortable, old denim. And comfortable, old me as it turns out!

I barely need to say it, as I have made so many of these bags, but the pattern is Janelle Wind’s ‘Frilly Dilly’ bag. You can find availability details for her patterns on her blog.

Chalk and cheese

I am working on two very different bag projects at the moment. I have been bitten by the paper piecing bug, and am playing with some little shapes. I have an idea in my head for these pastel lovelies. Whether the idea translates to reality remains to be seen!

I am also in need of a new Frilly Dilly. My favourite one is sadly a little worse for wear, so I am working on a replacement, using some very muted, wintery fabrics. 

My favourite part of constructing these bags is when I gather up the frills. The gathering transforms the fabric into something entirely different, and it is always a surprise to me.

Winter has definitely arrived here. My brother snapped this shot at the farm this week - brrrrr!

I will be rugging up for the round of kids' sport tomorrow. Stay cozy warm and have a great weekend. Bloom x

Free to a good home

Just popping in briefly amidst helping my kids through what seems an insurmountable stack of homework and projects. If you want to know anything about the themes of the graphic novel 'Maus', or anything at all about the South China Karst or even the Taj Mahal, well I'm your girl!

Driven to drink, I am sipping a half-glass, late evening tipple of sauv blanc, and having a 15-minute surf before bed. I happened upon this little lovely:

The uber-talented Aussie stitchery designer Bronwyn Hayes of Red Brolly, has designed this very sweet Easter project, and has generously released it on her blog for FREE! Run, go get it here! Thank you Bronwyn, for such a perfect project just in time for some holiday stitching ... if I can just get these teachers to stop giving my kids homework!

A quick fix

There is such satisfaction in finishing a quick project. I made this little iPod case today.

It is from Janelle Wind's lovely book, 'Pieces of Me'. (There is a list of stockists of Janelle's patterns on the left sidebar of her blog).

I have used some precious scraps of Denyse Schmidt's 'Flea Market Fancy', a cobble stone print from 'Flights of Fancy' by Paula Prass, and an XLN Basics orange dot. Oh, and a very old, worn button, which I thought just sort of worked.

Now the only argument to be won is which of the three girls in the house this belongs to. I am betting on the oldest and most persuasive one - ha, that would be me!

In the nick of time

Having promised Janellybelly way back in the year that we would do a bag swap, she has finally received hers, just in time for Christmas!

In a deal that works well for me, Janelle chose the fabrics and I made the bag up for her.

She chose a gorgeous range of fabric called 'Zest' from the Stonehill Collection by Donna Wilder for Fabric Traditions. The pattern is 'Frilly Dilly' bag by Janelle Wind.

I hope your Christmas preparations are fun and stress-free. I have finished my shopping which is always a relief.

Things are otherwise a tad stressed in the Bloom household right now. Our harvest is not in yet. And there is a lot at stake financially for us. However, I keep reminding myself that we are in a much better position than many other families.

We are supposed to have Christmas with my husband’s family on the South Coast, but that is all hinging on harvest happening in the next few days. We have a contractor lined up, and providing he doesn’t break down, or get bullied into harvesting someone else’s crop instead of ours, and it doesn’t rain, he will be here very soon.

Hopefully, I will be in a better place for my next post!