Quick, get out of the water!

eli # # #

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!

Categories: Blogtoberfest, Home Projects1 Comment

Hoop!

eli # # #

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:

Categories: Blogtoberfest, EmbroideryLeave a comment

A Pocket

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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.

Categories: Blogtoberfest, Mouthy Stitches2 Comments

Blinded by the light

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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.

Categories: Blogtoberfest, Mouthy Stitches2 Comments

The Geese are Fleeing the Nest

eli # # #

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?

Categories: Blogtoberfest, Mouthy Stitches2 Comments

New Geese on the Block

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I’ve unpicked the block that I made for the Mouthy Stitches tote as I really wasn’t happy with it.

This time round the points on my geese have a better chance of survival and the secret for that is starch. The Essex linen is very floppy and I think that was part of my problem. That and the fact that the fabric is cut on the bias. So this time I’ve sprayed so much starch on my fabric my little sewing buddy left the room!

Categories: Blogtoberfest, Mouthy Stitches1 Comment

All I want for my birthday…

eli

…is a ticket. A ticket that will give me access to three days of bliss, three days of chatting, sewing and meeting new people and ‘old’ friends. A ticket that will take me to London for three whole days. A ticket that is for sale today at noon.

Guess where I will be at noon today?! Oh yes, in front of my computer with my credit card and a cup of tea (I would love to say a stiff drink but alas, it would be a lie). So if anybody needs me they will have to wait until I get my ticket.

I think he might have to walk himself today.

 

Edited to add: Hurrah, I got my ticket. Happy birthday to me!

 

Categories: Fat Quarterly Sewing Retreat5 Comments

It’s Time to Start

eli

Ok, I’ve had a bit of a rethink and gone back to my original idea of using a rainbow of colours for my mouthy stitches partner.

Today I made a start.

I really like the way it looks. However, some of the points went missing and even though the seam ripper has been out numerous times I haven’t been able to find them again. The centre square was too small the first time I cut it out so I winged it and cut it a little bigger. Now it’s too big and doesn’t want to lay flat. I’ve used up all of my Good Fortune fabric (they were only charms) and will have to replace them with something else.

The good news is that I will make a new attempt tomorrow and as I now know where I encountered problems I should, hopefully, be able to fix them.

 

 

 

Categories: Mouthy Stitches1 Comment

Charles and Aron

eli

I’m a cat person with a dog. Master is a dog person with a cat. The cat and the dog aren’t the best of friends but have accepted that they have to share the house and us.

Charles brings me mice in the middle of the night, curls up on the sofa next to me or on my lap and generally makes this house a home.

Aron looks at me adoringly, ignores me when I call him and curls up on the sofa with me when I watch tv in the evening. He also gets me out of the house twice a day.

Of course I’ve made beds for both of them. Actually that’s not quite true as Charlie has a little quilt I made a long time ago while Aron has a nice fleecy bed in the living room. However, Charlie has decided that the Swoon cushion is his bed now and sleeps on it every day. Fine by me, it’s nice to know that things I’ve made are being used.

Yesterday Aron hijacked the bed and Charlie was not happy.

At least not until I gave him some rubs while sitting on the sofa.

I think I need to make Aron a new cover for his bed. Another Swoon? Stars? Stripes? Decisions, decisions.

 

 

Categories: Blogtoberfest, MusingsLeave a comment

Goosey, goosey, gander

eli

This is the pattern I’ve decided to use for my Mouthy Stitches tote:

This block ‘fleeing the nest’ is from the really fabulous book “Shape Workshop for Quilters” by the Fat Quarterly team and was designed by Brioni Greenberg. I really like flying geese and I think my partner does too. My biggest worry at the moment is that I have posted my fabric choices on flickr and the response has made me quite nervous about it. My partner isn’t very vocal so I have no clue as to what she likes or doesn’t. Therefore I’m starting to think that maybe I should go down the rainbow path after all as there were so many in her mosaic.

I’ll keep you posted.

Categories: Blogtoberfest, Mouthy Stitches1 Comment