BossyOz

 I do like bargain book stores! These four books cost £20 together! Gifts for baby, Quick and easy quilts, Kids' quilts in a weekend, and Sew liberated.

Scanning through the blog, I spotted my twelve aims for 2012 . Having delivered the five bags for the Easter fair two weeks ago, I have completed one of my aims, Number 10. As I used existing fabrics, Number 9 is also covered. The pattern for two of the bags were taken from one of my sewing books, hence a tiny tick for Number 6. Finish the 50 flags for the bunting Finish the hexagon quilts (children's fabrics and the pall) Finish the 'Smitten' inspired quilt Design and create one other quilt Make three things for myself Make one thing from each of the sewing / crafty books I have, purchase or am given Stock the Etsy or Folksy shop with ten items Set up PayPal and sell via my homepage / Facebook Use my existing stash of fabric rather than buy new Make and donate five items to charity Give away three hand-made items to friends or family Re-purpose or re-fashion something from my wardrobe I do have a PayPal account (Number 8) and with a skiing trip coming u...

The work with that pall for the Swedish Church in London is progressing and I believe we were 14 at the day-time sewing session this week! It was also delivery day for all our hand crafted items to be sold at the Easter fair during the next few weeks at the church. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take photos of all the fantastic things the other ladies had created. Perhaps Kikkan will publish some photos of all the lovely things she had made? If you live in London, do stop by the church and see if there is something that you could find a new home for. Remember, all the money goes to the activities of the church, including the much needed renovation of the facade of the building itself.

For the Easter fund raising at the Church I have managed to make five bags.  Four of them were made using the Retro Bag pattern from One Year Wonders, and one was made using the instructions on Knåpmodern for a nursery bag (dagiskasse).  Dagiskasse and one of the two almost identical bags made out of thick woven curtain fabric. The latter two bags feature a dark green lining and a pocket on the inside. Elephants with a large gingham lining. I am not actually sure what the character is called (any ideas???), but on the inside is a lime green fabric matching the sack on the front. Both the outer fabrics were donations to the church. Work permitting, it's time to meet up with the Sewing Grannies tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed we don't have a disaster on any of my projects!

During the last week I've tested a new pattern for bags. I am hoping to finish these off soon, so I can  donate them to the Easter fair at the Swedish Church in London. Both of the bags have a fixed shoulder strap, a small inside pocket, green lining and pleats on the front. The fabric is thick and was given to me by a neighbour and I believe it has been used for curtains in her house.

The work with the pall for the Swedish Church in London is progressing, slowly. I published a photo of the middle section, the road, in October ( click for entry ). At the moment we are working on the four areas around the road, each representing a season. As everything is hand sewn it is a rather slow process, but great fun! Our latest thinking is that we should try to focus the summer season on blue, yellow and red to make sure they all match each other. Some of the "flowers" in the picture above has therefore been moved to other seasons or been put in the "perhaps" pile. A rough count in the photos shows that we have stitched together a little over 500 hexagons, plus the road; someone mentioned that we probably need around 2000...

This is the pirate dress that I made for the little girl at her brother's pirate themed birthday party next weekend, or perhaps it isn't... my husband asked me if this was the mock-up when he saw it... not a good sign.