Not enough hours in the day

Hello Folks do come in and make yourselves at home.  How nice of you to drop by, let's put the kettle on and have some tea and some calorie free cream cakes!  I'll have two of those please, what about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has been such a hectic day and I am glad to get home to speak to you all.  Last night I went to my sewing class in Chester and had taken one of the tea towels I was going to make into a cushion for my lovely granddaughter's birthday.

However, when I was driving there I had a change of heart and decided just to use one tea towel to make a cushion and the other tea towel I was going to try and make a big case for her pens and memory sticks and all the other bits and pieces needed at uni.

I had some lovely vintage looking fabric with me do wanted to use this as the lining for the pen/pencil case.  Rachel, my lovely tutor from the class helped me to cut out a bag from the tea towel with the little birds on - I thought the Home Sweet Home one would make the nicer cushion.  I wanted to have the calendar on the front of the bag so that she could see her birth date on it. 

 

I had to chop the tea towel up a bit and unpick the top hem to give it more scope to turn a flap over. 

After cutting I was able to have a piece for the front made up from the calendar, the back had the bird view on  it which was quite pretty and I just had enough over to make a flap which had the year on it 1993.  It won't be a deep flap but sufficient.

Luckily I had also taken some wadding to class so Rachel suggested that I line it with this to give the whole bag some body.  I quilted the front of the bag using the lines on the calendar, never really quilted anything before so it was quite fun.  Rachel explained that we needed to make sure that the wadding didn't come adrift from the fabric at any time.  I probably wouldn't have done this by myself so this is why, for me, a class is so beneficial as you pick up so many good tips along the way as well as enjoying the company of the rest of the group.

 

Once everything was cut out the bag started to come together quite well except when I was trying to sew parts of it up on the machine it must have been too thick and the needle snapped in half, first time this has happened to me.

After replacing the needle the machine was still unhappy so I ended up hand sewing the flap to the main bag.  I was getting tired by this time as it was 9.30 and class was just finishing.  I had a 30 min drive home and had to have something to eat as I had forgotten to have tea.

 

When I got home I had a quick tea of a piece of toast and a latte I found my second wind and didn't want to go to bed.  My lovely husband doesn't understand this in me and says no wonder I get tired during the day!  I know that I set myself too many targets but I have done that all my life so probably won't change now at my time of life.  Rachel had suggested that I quilt the back of the bag as well to make sure the wadding stayed put so when I was driving home I was thinking about what I would do.  Beads I thought!  Lovely beads. 

This is what I started before going to bed - which was around 1.30, I know Folks not good enough when you are working the next day.

It took longer than I thought and I didn't manage to finish it all as I was getting tired around 1am.  What do you think Folks?  I want to put her name somewhere on the bag and am thinking about maybe using beads to spell out her name on a piece of ribbon and sew this on the top flap over where you can just see the faint light of the hem I took out.  Or, I could embroider it in the centre line of the calendar just under where the flap finishes - not sure Folks what do you think?  I would love some thoughts from you.

 

I still have the lining to finish as well as her name but I am so pleased with the studs which Rachel thankfully helped me to put in as I was terrified that I wouldn't get them even or straight.  We put two studs in as it is quite a long bag and the flap is quite narrow.  Do you think she will like it? 

 

I am going to fill it with some nice little goodies for her.  I notice that it is Cath Kidston's 20th anniversary this year - she opened her business the year my granddaughter was born and CK has just launched some new little bits and pieces for students such as pens/pencils and so on which would fit in her bag.  My granddaughter does love CK so hopefully she will be pleased with it. 

 

It is not finished yet but I wanted to write a post to you all to keep you up to date.  Hopefully I will finish it tonight after making tea.  I can make a start on the cushion then. 

 

It is all go - one last thing before I finish though I have nearly got everything together for the giveaway and hope to put it all together for you to see.  I have had a lot of names put forward, all of them absolutely super and we will have the grand draw next week.

 

I will hopefully speak to you all either later this evening or tomorrow depending on how I go with the bag.  Do take care and speak very soon.  Thanks for dropping by, it would be boring here without you all.  Lots of love, Dorothy :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxx