Photo Update

Thought I'd post some photos of things I've recently finished, gets boring reading masses of text after a while so here are some photos I can use to look back on.

This is the planned layout for my rainbow solids HST quilt. It took an agonisingly long time to decide this! Unfortunately I tend not to start off on easy projects, so this is going to be for a double bed. 

I also screwed up the measurements as I've never quilted before and I'm not following a pattern - so my intended 3 inch squares are actually 2.5 inches once they have been trued up and sewn. Oops! 

Craig and I spent a good hour trying to decide on the layout, colour order and square size. We dithered between 3, 4 and 5 inch squares but thought 5 inches was a bit too big. I wanted a bright, happy quilt so we chose the 3 inch but should have gone for 4 really - less cutting out!

As mentioned in a previous post, here's the boxed out tote bag that I made in a masterclass at The Stitching Boutique with Tamzin using Lotta Jansdotter fabric. I used a mustard yellow from the same range for the interior, which you can just about see poking out (but my camera didn't handle the colour very well).

It also has a pocket inside. We ended up running out of time so I made this bag far quicker than I would have thought possible, but that did mean ignoring trimming all thread ends and unfortunately I completely forgot to shorten the handles a little. I would also like to sew down the pocket to divide it into 2 partitions if I make this bag again.

Speaking of bags... here's one of the two zipper pouch bags I am making for Sian & Mariam. Sian picked out this fabric and zip combinations - the side tag is made from the lining fabric. I bought it to supplement the HST quilt but decided to stick with bright solids rather than graduating the rainbow, and luckily enough it perfectly matches the pink of this exterior fabric.

I managed to impale myself on the machine needle when trying to ease a fabric jam out of the feed dogs - so I need to wash or replace the lining as I've bled on it! :S

I'd like to say I'm getting better at putting zips in but I actually messed this up a lot and I'm still not 100% happy with the topstitching. I'd like to get it a little closer to the previous red zipper pouch. This bag's zip was much harder to sew than the first attempt, which I made on my old machine. Unfortunately the zipper foot for the Janome is MUCH wider than the narrow zipper foot I used before and isn't compatible as the needle wants to strike the foot. I need to do some shopping for a similar version because I think it made quite a difference. Here's a picture of the red pouch for comparison:

Both used 7inch zips so the top stitching is definitely much wider on the brown & pink version. However I think the finish is neater overall, I've boxed the sides up and my corners are better on this version compared to the red pouch. One more bag to go so I'll have another practice.