This is a filler post because I don’t really have anything to share with you today.
Dealing with the leak and going to the physio were the only things I had time for today. So I’m leaving you with a curious cow. Why? Because I can!
Category: Blogtoberfest
Middle Ages
Oh no, I’m not talking about myself, I don’t quite fit in that category yet. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway.
I found this book in the charity shop for £1 and just had to buy it. I studied Medieval English language and literature and love everything about the Middle Ages. Furthermore, I enjoy a little embroidery from time to time and some of the projects are quick and very cute.
My main reason for buying it, though, was that I could see some lovely quilt blocks in the making; the spectacles case above, for example, or the heraldic roll below.
I have absolutely no time to even think about another project but I just couldn’t leave the book. I suppose it will be popped on my long list of future projects.
Ornament Swap
The Mouthy Stitches Swap hasn’t quite finished (I’m due to send my tote off on Saturday) and I’ve already signed up for another one. This time we’re swapping Christmas ornaments.
This swap is organised by the lovely Christina who made the beautiful cushion I received a while ago in the Cushion Swap.
Would you like to join in? Hop on over to Christina’s blog and sign up.
Mine
I’ve been working on my bath mat today but didn’t really have the time to take pictures while there was still enough light so I will show you my progress tomorrow.
For now I’ll just show you what awaits me most evenings when I try to go to bed.
Now if I’m really lucky the dog will have snuck in too. And then they wonder why I’m grumpy in the morning…
Japanese Charm Swap
A couple of months ago I signed up for a Japanese Charm swap. The aim of the game was to buy one metre of Japanese fabric, cut it into 56 charm squares and send it to Sarah. The lovely Sarah would then sort them all out and send us 56 charms, one of each, back. Checking the fabrics that were being posted in the flickr group’s pool made me very excited about receiving my charm pack.
Well, this morning the charms arrived and they are just as colourful, fun and original as I thought they would be. I’ve looked through them all a few times already and I keep finding a new “favourite” every time.
Be prepared to see quite a few projects using these charms. Little Miss Bossy-Boots has already picked a few that I will turn into something for her. A cushion cover maybe or a mini quilt for her wall. We’ll see. first I need to start and finish (!) my bath mat.
Quick, get out of the water!
I love sharks. The name of my blog might have given that fact away already. I’m in awe of their beauty and my dream would be to go diving with them.
When I first decided on the name “Shark’s Dinner” I designed the little logo above that I put on the bags I was making. Bags were my passion before I discovered quilting and now I love both. Anyway, this morning I suddenly thought that I should make a bath mat using my logo. Sadly I didn’t have the time to start cutting or sewing but here’s a quick peek at my pattern and the fabric I’ve chosen from my stash. Hopefully I’ll be able to start cutting tomorrow as I’m really excited about this project.
You don’t see a pink shark every day, now, do you? The reason for this is that our bathroom is all white with pink accents (soap dispenser, toilet brush, beakers and baskets are all pink). Little Miss Bossy-Boots was allowed to choose. No surprises there then.
TTFN!
Hoop!
Many moons ago I embroidered a little bunny rabbit called Hester designed by the lovely Jo Avery from Bearpaw. She then stayed in the hoop I used while embroidering her. The hoop was a bit big but when I saw Nicole from Follow the White Bunny’s little tutorial on how she frames her embroideries in hoops I decided to give it a go. Far too impatient to go and buy a smaller hoop I used the one I had.
Sorry for the dark photo. It was taken at night seconds before I took Hester out of the hoop.
Poor Hester looked a bit lost. So off I trundled and bought a smaller hoop. This afternoon I re-hooped (is there such a word?) Hester and am so pleased with the result. Now all I need is a little nail to hang her on the wall of my sewing room.
And the back:
A Pocket
When I first thought about the Mouthy Stitches tote I pulled some fabric from my stash, ordered the Essex linen from the lovely Justine from Simply Solids and panicked. As you might remember I changed my mind twice before settling on the colours and the “Fleeing the Nest” block.
Now that I had the outside done it was time to think of the lining. At first I was going to use the aqua as the lining but then quite a few people on flickr mentioned that it was a bit too much blue for their liking. Back to the drawing board and back to stalking I went. Lo and behold, I found a little sentence on my partner’s blog which stated that her favourite colour is purple. In my stash I have this lovely lilac/purple polka dot fabric which I thought would be lovely to use. After all, the bag is reversible and should look as pretty on the inside as it does on the outside.
To break up the purple I made a nice bright and fairly big pocket which is practical and pretty. I used some of the rainbow scraps and aqua fabric from the front to tie it in and I love it.
I forgot to show you the back of the tote yesterday. Just in case you were wondering what it looks like, voila!
Now I just have to make a key fob and I’m sorted. Way ahead of schedule. Must be a first.
Blinded by the light
isn’t it strange how sometimes you can work on something and not see the blatantly obvious? I’m talking about the picture of the block I posted yesterday. I was thrilled to sew the border on, ironing it flat and then photographing it. Not for one second did I notice that not one of the corner pieces had any points whatsoever. Yep, I was blind. It wasn’t until I checked flickr to see if my partner had commented that I noticed it. Mortified I ran upstairs, got the seam ripper out and took the border off.
Here’s the new and improved version. As a bag.
I love it and I really hope my partner will too. This isn’t, of course, a practical tote being made in Ivory Essex linen but I still hope that my partner will get some use out of it.
The Geese are Fleeing the Nest
Monday = school day = sewing
The front of my Mouthy Stitches tote is finished! I love it when a project that was on the verge of disaster turns out to be lovely. I’m very happy with how this tote is turning out and I really hope my partner thinks so too.
This is one of the blocks from the “Shape Workshop for Quilters” by the Fat Quarterly team and was designed by Brioni Greenberg. It’s called ‘Fleeing the Nest’ and I think it’s fabulous. Now, I have to admit that quite a few swear words have escaped my mouth while making this but then it is for the Mouthy Stitches swap and it was totally worth it….
What do you think?