BQL October Bag!

Well, I am still in this challenge - just! - with only 2 more bags to go to complete the full twelve for the year! I didn't think I was going to get this one done and I thought it looked as if it was far too complicated.
Anyway I am so glad I did because it really is a lovely bag! I used some UFO blocks to make the QSTs - they were originally HSTs for a 'dinosaur' quilt for DS2 that I had 'fallen out' with. This means the colours are quite drab and you will see a few fossils in there but I think that it has made quite a good looking bag. All the better for using up some forgotten blocks.

Patches just checking the points before layering and quilting!

The quilting was difficult because of all those points meeting at each corner - so I aborted my first attempt and did parallel lines which missed most of the bulk and gives quite a pleasing quilting design.

Gizmo was very unimpressed with the finished result when I photographed it this afternoon but I am very pleased with it.

Happy Halloween to everyone - I have made 3 pumpkin pies this afternoon and we are just about to go to my friend Caroline's Birthday/Halloween Party. (Yes we do suspect she may be a witch!!)

BQL AUGUST BAG

I did actually finish this last week but have only just got round to posting!
Very quick and easy to make - not really my style but will make a great Christmas gift. Used shiny fabrics from my stash so even better!

BQL JULY BAG!

This bag was started on July 3rd and finished on July 30th! You know how it goes - the more time you have the longer it takes! Anyway, I used my hand dyed fabrics in my favourite colours and I am pleased with the result. It was a great bag to practise quilting on. This is not actually free motion quilting - I drew on the design and quilted over it. There are flowers on one side and stars on the other.
This is a close up of one of the flowers - I have used buttons to embelish the centres.
I found the star pattern on the internet - it is one of those continuous line designs which I had always wanted to try. They are actually quite fun to do.


Here is a close up of my quilting!

Another bag completed!

I am so behind with my blogging! Its not that I haven't being making anything - I've just been so busy. I have been teaching almost full time for the last three weeks so it has been really difficult to fit everything in. Also my eldest son has been busy with exams and has been giving me a lot of stress! Thanks to everyone who has sent me messages of support - the exams are over now but the stress still remains!
Anyway one of the things I have been doing is my BQL June challenge bag. I really enjoyed making this - the colours are not my usual choice because I have made this for a friend who is 83 today! This photo shows the detail - I decided to echo the triangle shape in the quilting rather than doing the free motion stuff. Leaving the 'geese' unquilted has made an interesting effect.
I really love this cute inside pocket made with a couple of left over geese!

I still have loads of City & Guilds work to post which I am hoping to get on with - the course finishes on Saturday (until September) with our open day and Exhibition.

A New Bag and a Birthday!

The month has passed from May to June without recording two important events! Friday 30th May was DS2's 14th Birthday. I did buy him a cake but he thought it was more amusing to have his candles in his spaghetti!
I also managed to get the May BQL challenge bag completed on Thursday - so a couple of days to spare there then!.
I did enjoy making this bag and the bow tie blocks which are of course just the same as the mock cathedral window ones I did for my City & Guilds but without the added centers. I'm afraid that I used ordinary wadding so it is not a cool bag as it should be but it is a perfect fit for my A3 folders - so that is how I will use it.

BQL CHALLENGE APRIL BAG

Managed to get the April bag completed yesterday with just two days to spare. I am pleased with the results but I did not enjoy making it too much as I was using the wrong instructions - to cut a long story short - there was an error in the instructions but I did not realise until I had cut out my pieces - the error had been updated on BQL but guess who had printed the instructions on April 1st! That will teach me not to keep up to date with the BQL digests!
Anyway the bag is a gift for my friend Cathy - we share our birthday on May 7 - and as she has admired the BQL bags I decided to make one for her. Only problem is it is quite a big bag and she is quite a small person! The colours are chosen for her as she loves blue. Hope she does not read this blog!

BQL March Bag Challenge

I knew I had to get this one done early as we will be away on holiday for most of March but I am pleased and proud to report that I have done 2!
One was completed on Saturday and the other yesterday which was my mother's day treat - to sew for most of the day with a short break to go and see my own Mum. As you may be able to recognise I have used Rowan fabrics for the strips as this is my favourite fabric at the moment and I bought loads of packs of strips at the NEC. I am collecting Rowan fabrics at the moment and have lots! The reason that there are two bags is that I cut far too many strips.
Anyway it has worked out well as the first bag with the green lining had handles which I thought were a bit too short so that one will be for MILs birthday in May.
The one with the grey lining will be mine as I made the handles slightly longer . They are really easy and enjoyable to make and are a really good size for the shopping.

BQL February Bag Completed

The February bag is now completed and I am so pleased with it!
This first photo shows Patches making sure the mice do not escape! There are 5 mice on one side and 4 on the other. All the tails are crocheted and then stitched onto the bag along with the mice. I then randomly quilted the bag in a swirly pattern.

So what a great day it has been! The photo below shows fabric I received from Brenda this morning, in a black and white swap.
I also attended Doughty's roadshow in Huddersfield this morning and bought 11 metres of Rowan fabric for £3 a metre. I have a very large collection of Rowan fabric following an irresistible sale on equilter.com at Christmas!

And last but not least my sewing this afternoon has been accompanied by DH shouting as he watched the football on the internet - Barnsley has beaten Liverpool in the FA cup!

BQL February Bag

After spending most of last night working on my Feb bag I thought I would share my progress. Most of what I did last night was unpicking - although I did get some inspiration this morning. Which of course we all know - if things are not working out when you are sewing late at night, leave it, go to bed and you will probably have it figured out by the morning.
Anyway I had already decided I wanted to use this orange and black cat fabric for my bag. I also decided to adapt the hearts and make them into mice, this I managed without much problem. Last night it was the tails that I was working on. I tried the bobbin method as suggested with a thick gold thread and then a thick black thread - both were not heavy enough for the mouse tails - hence all the unpicking.
When I woke this morning the solution came to me - and it seems to have worked very well. I took the thick gold thread and crocheted a tail by combining it with black cotton knitting yarn. I am really pleased with this result. I am going to use gold sequins for eyes and then I am going to stitch the mice onto the bag with either orange or black top stitching. Can't decide which looks best so if anyone is reading this out in blogland - what do you think? - outline mice in black or orange?

Well I'm off now to crochet more tails!!