Fresh Sewing Day!!

How is it another 1st of the month already?! I know I said I was depressed last month because I'd hardly done anything; this month I've done even less! I don't think I've mentioned before that my partner and I were meant to be getting married on the 4th of August (as in 3 days away) but we had to cancel as we couldn't afford it :( So I took on some exam marking to try and earn a little extra money, so that kept me busy from the beginning of July to the 18th. I earnt £500ish after tax...then my car needed insuring...and servicing...and that was all the money gone :(

Anywho, that's why I've not got much sewing done, and when I have been sewing, I have been focusing on completing my project and tutorial for the 'Projects on a budget' with Lily's Quilts, sponsored by Abakhan fabrics. Instructions for the first part of the project are due to appear on Lynne's blog shortly, and I would be delighted if you would pop over there and then pop back and let me know what you think. Here's a sneak peak of the first part of the project:

Teaser...

Before Lynne gives up on me completely, here is a teaser of my project on a budget for Abakhan fabrics:

Now I've got the hang of the bunting, it's coming together quickly. As for the Union Jacks.... well, I'm a little stuck there, I keep ending up with my seam allowances to short, but I'm working on it!

Happy fathers' day!

This is the card I made for my dad. It was inspired by one I saw online. I usually make cards using Forever Friends cutouts and the like, so this was a realy departure for me. It was so fun to try something new. We had lunch out yesterday en famille, as my parents are at a christening today. My mum made this beautiful wall-hanging for the baby:

In other news, another part of my prize for the Popular Patchwork competition has arrived: a Lisa Lam bag and her latest book:

The book is great; there are a few things in there that I would never make, like bicycle paniers (sp?) but she takes you through all the mechanics of making bags, like attached hardware, piping the edges, putting in pockets, so it's a really useful read.

And my fabrics came from Abakhan. Remember I won the chance to make my idea for a jubilee project on a budget over at Lily's Quilts? Well now the fabrics have come, so I can make a start on putting it together. Here are the materials I ordered:

For just under £20 (well, I got them for free for my win!) I got 2 metres 4oz Wadding 137cm 54", 1 metre Sheeting Red 230cm, 1 metre Sheeting Royal Blue 230cm, 1 metre Plain Polyester White 185cm, 1 metre Plain Poly Blue 112cm, Snap Fasteners Nickel 15mm. So I am off now to go and design and make my little project, and there will be a tutorial at the end :)

I won, I won!

I won Lily's Quilts' competition to make a Jubilee project on a budget!!!! Now I get to choose £20 of fabrics from Abakhan Fabrics and make up my idea, and Lynne will put a tutorial on her blog so others can make it too!

My idea is to make a Jubilee-themed picnic rug that can fold up and be used as a bag too. Ideally I want the bag to be functional too, so you can carry stuff in it, rather than it just being a folded up rug with straps to carry it, but I'm not sure how possible that will be - I don't have much experience of designing stuff from scratch. So I'm going to go and have a pootle around t'interwebs and try and get some inspiration...