Kawaii Halloween Swap

Hello!

Since it is Halloween tomorrow I thought I would share with you the items that I sent and received in the Kawaii Halloween Swap! This was a swap organised on Instagram a few months ago and I couldn’t resist signing up! Halloween is my favourite holiday and I cannot resist anything Kawaii so it was the perfect swap for me! Thanks to a drop up shortly after sign ups I manage to steal a last minute spot for the swap and I was thrilled! It was the first Instagram craft swap I had taken part in and it was a great experience – I’d definitely get involved in another one in the future!

Here are the items that I sent to my partner Snow:

As usual, I had planned to make loads of stuff that I didn’t have time to complete before the shipping deadline! But overall I was pleased with everything that I put together for the package and Snow really seemed to like everything which was great. I’m always anxious my partner will be disappointed with what I send!

Here is a closer look at everything I included:

The Yorkshire Spoolettes Blogger Meet Up!

Hello! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week? I know I have because on Wednesday I went to my first ever blogger meet up! When I lived in Hull there didn’t seem to be much of a blogging community, so I was thrilled when I heard that Ali from Thimberlina was arranging a sewing bloggers meet up in Dewsbury…just ten minutes down the road from where I now live!

And look how many people turned up! At various points throughout the day there was a total of 15 people there which was wonderful! It was great to be introduced to a like minded community of sewers…I learnt a lot from them! In the photo above we have, left to right – Margaret, Katrina, Corrine, Rachel, Amanda, Ali, Jeanie, Katharine, Nee, Me, Fiona and Dee. Not all of the ladies are bloggers but for the ones who are I will link up the blogs below…make sure to check them all out!

Thank You To Secret Garden Quilting

You might remember that as part of my 23 Before 23, one of my goals for the year is to make a quilt. The quilt that really captured my heart was this spools quilt from the Liberty Love: 25 Projects to Quilt and Sew Featuring Liberty of London Fabrics book. I have been busy collecting the fabrics for this quilt, as I now have all of the 100 squares for the spool centres, and three of the 5 fabrics for the spool ends, but I still have to choose the rest of these, pick 5 different white on white fabrics for the sashing and get the backing and binding fabric.

Because I’ve spent a lot of time (and money!) choosing, buying and cutting this quilt, I am worried that I may spoil it by using it as my first ever quilting practice! Because of this, I have picked out an easier quilt pattern that requires less pieces to practice on.

The quilt that I have chosen is from Material Obsession: Contemporary Quilt Designs by Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty.

Just Too Cute!

 

The other day I received an email from Cloud 9 Fabrics showing a preview of some of their new releases. The preview featured these adorable little foxes, which I had to explore further! After nipping over to the website, I discovered that the foxes AND some equally cute raccoons were due for release shortly. When I checked back on pay day…they were available! It was a sign surely?

The Vintage Fair…Mark Two

If I hadn’t learnt the first time I visited The Vintage Fair, I paid it a visit this weekend on its latest visit to Hull and, once again, my fabric stash has grown and my bank balance has shrunk! This trip was a much speedier visit though, as the fabric stall was right where I walked in this time so I picked up my piece as I had just stepped through the door…the second fabric stall was just two stalls away then I was spent up! It was worth it though, I got some great vintage fabrics at great prices!

The first piece that I bought was a piece of 1980s Laura Ashley fabric that I had no idea what I would use it for but I couldn’t leave without it!

Hobbycraft Fabric Sale!

Yesterday I made a trip to Hobbycraft to buy some embroidery threads for my Woodland Sampler. I’m still busy stitching away at the frames in an attempt to catch up since I started three months late and I didn’t have any of the threads I needed to fill in the designs. Writing this at James’, I haven’t got the sampler with me to photograph it, but you can see the first three blocks in it over at Finally Waking Up…who is making quicker progress than I am! If you want to join in the sampler stitch-a-long, you can join at The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

Anyway, when I was at Hobbycraft buying threads for the January block, I happened to look down the fabric isle after feeling inspired to sew by The Great British Sewing Bee, and my friend Charlotte had been asking about their prices. I’m happy she did, because, when I went to check, I happened to notice that there was a sale on! They were selling the last bits of fabric they had left at reduced prices, and I got some bargains!

The first fabric I got was this really cute London Building’s print by The Henley Studio for a fantastic £3 per metre!

Cutting the lining…

So it seems like making the bags from A Bag For All Reasons is going to be a long process since I’m pretty lucky if I can find a couple of minutes a day for crafting at the moment! On Saturday however, I did manage to squeeze in a trip to Boyes to buy some lining fabric for my Backpack, then I spent all evening cutting the shapes out!

This is what my lining looks like:

The Craft Stash is Growing!

I know I should feel guilty…but I don’t!

The last couple of weeks has seen a rather large growth in my craft stash with the addition of four new books, two fat quarters, some ribbon and some Mod Podge. Here is what I have got:

Making Some Bag Progress

A while ago someone commented on an earlier post about the bags I was planning on making from A Bag for All Reasons, asking about my progress. Ashamedly, I didn’t have anything to share except another rant about how university work had halted my crafts. Well, after feeling that my crafts had been neglected for far too long, I finally have a little progress to report on! While it is nothing particularly exciting, I have at least managed to cut out the pieces for the ‘Too Cool for School’ Satchel and the 3-in-1 Convertible Backpack.

Here are the pieces ready for the satchel:

 

And here are the pieces for the backpack:

Plenty of Parcels!

As I have mentioned in the past, there is nothing more exciting in my mind than getting exciting post and on Wednesday I can home to a massive pile of four parcels! As I was that eager to open them I didn’t get chance to take a picture but I thought I should share my goodies with you anyway 🙂

One parcel contained James’ 21st birthday present which I can’t show you until his birthday in April but I am really excited about it and I hope he loves it as much as I do! Another one contained the Stamped Metal Jewellery book that I won in the iMake giveaway for my mum so she was happy too!

The other two parcels were all for me though! After my trip to the quilting museum I had a mission in mind to track down some of the fabric I had seen in one of the bag making packs they were selling. While I didn’t want the pack, I knew that I wasn’t going to rest until I had tracked down the adorable fabric and I did!

Here it is: