A shipping order..........

Hello my lovely friends, I hope you are all enjoying good health, loving company and fabulous weather today.  We are having a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK and I am not sure about everyone else but ours is a scorcher - not!  I think Noah is about to disembark anytime now as the rain has been persistent and steady throughout the whole weekend but maybe tomorrow......we can hope.  I hope you are all doing much better than we are.

 

 

At present I am still busy with my marking and work life but have some work in progress such as my crochet bag which needs some handles on and lining.  Also I have started a big shipping order - let me explain.  I have the most wonderful set of people who work with my on my programme at college and each year around this time I like to buy them all a thank you gift to show my appreciation.  Each one of them goes over and beyond what is needed in order to support our fabulous learners.  I have eight lovely ladies and three wonderful men and all the men are chocoholics so it is easy to give them a gift.  The women also usually get chocolates but this year I thought I would try and give them something a little more personal - a bag.  I am using my usual Lillyblossom design which I just love as it is so easy to use. 

 

I wanted to make the outer part of the bag with a tea towel just because I love using them and also because the fabrics are usually so robust and strong.  My plan was to personalise each one to make then unique.  Now, besides my eight lovelies I also have three very special friends who are leaving and I am going to miss them all so much so their bags will be a little different - more details to follow on those.

 

Now I have made only three up to now, working like Billyo to get them done.  I hope you like them.  Number one is for my wonderful colleague and special friend Mel.  As you can see I am using the Marks and Spencer tea towel for the outer part and a fabulous scrap which I bought from Rachel my sewing teacher last year.  It is all about Paris which is a favourite haunt of Mel and I know that she went on honeymoon there so I am hoping she will love it.  Do you like the flower?  The back part is felt and in beween the front and back I have put some netting which I got in a huge bag from Abakhan for only £1 - amazing.  I put a sparkly button in the centre of the flower to finish it all off.  My only disappointment is that I didn't quite have enough fabric to do the ties in the Paris fabric but I hope it looks ok?  

 

 

You cannot see it very well in the photograph below but the Eiffel Tower really sparkles well especially in the light - I love it and wish I could get some more of this fabric.

 

 

I decided to just sew her name straight into the fabric rather than putting it on an applique patch which is my usual way of doing things.  Do you think it looks effective?  I put some little buttons in to really brighten everything up.

 

 

Below is the other side of the bag which is very similar to the first side.  I tried to scatter her name in a few places - I hope she notices it.

 

 

Now the two below are made from a set of tea towels from Sainsbury's which were £4.00 for three - the third one was a waffle fabric so I used that one for a tea towel!  The inner fabric was some which I got in Birmingham's Rag Market for only £2.00 per metre so a good bargain.  Once I put in some iron on stabiliser it was just perfect and so colourful.   

 

 

The little boat bag is for Joy who is such a colourful and well travelled lady so I am hoping she will enjoy using her bag over the summer.  As you can see I have done my usual with applique patterns and of course all my buttons - I love using them.

 

 

 

 

This is the other side - the patch is slightly larger.  I have to watch myself that I do not overdo the embellishments as they can be a bit OTT.

 

 

The spotted bag below is for Dilys who is a very caring and quiet lady with a great sense of humour.  Do you like the brooches which can be taken off if they want.  I love making these.

 

 

As with Joy's bag I have used applique patches for Dilys plus all the buttons - maybe my blog could be called Dorothy and the Buttons - only someone got there before me - aka Tilly and the Buttons!

 

 

 

 

Which one do you like the best?  Only seven more to go.....................

 

The lovely Alison from Farmhouse Traditions has been in touch and been reading the blog - she is a fabulous lady - do pop and see her.

 

 

She pointed me toward the Cath Kidston Sew book for ideas of how I could use my wonderful hexagons which I bought from her shop.

 

 

Alison said that she has made quite a few of these CK knitting bags which I just love - not only for knitting but anything!  Do you like it Folks?  A big thank you Alison.

 

 

Now lovely People I hope you are enjoying a good evening/day and having some crafting time to yourself.  I am ploughing on with my bags to hopefully get them all completed and am enjoying the making process.  I am thinking of offering one as a personalised prize a little later in the year if you think it might be a good giveaway?  I would welcome your thoughts on this.  Do take care of  yourselves and I shall be back very soon to chat with everyone.  Big hugs, Dorothyxxxxxxxxxxxxx