Liberty Tana Lawn Patchwork Needlecase

So here are a couple of the things I have made so far with some little pieces of that lovely Tana lawn.

(Yes - I do struggle to cut into it, but I steel myself as otherwise I couldn't justify having bought it!)

Some little, patchwork-y, ricrac-y needlecases.

I learnt a new technique for piecing small patchworks, courtesy of Very Berry Handmade's Rainbow Coaster tutorial.

It's so much easier than the way I would have done it before and ends up so much neater, even though the pieces are so small and fiddly (only 1" square in the finished article).

Here's how I made the needlecases...

Next on the list, a coordinating scissor case...

Fabric-alicious friday

Work being finished for the time being, I felt I could treat myself to a little bit of fabric indulgence.  

Liberty Tana lawn indulgence!

Some patchwork is planned, so lots of little bits were required.

Pinks and turquoises...

And then LOTS of purple-y hues, to go with a suitcase I plan on doing out as a sewing basket.

I tried to be clever putting the names on the photos, but it was impossible to choose a colour that showed up for some.  

This one is called Poppy and Daisy, Petal and Bud.  

It is the same print as Poppy and Daisy but on a smaller scale.  I am very taken with this one, which I hadn't seen before, and feel a tunic might be required!  Tana lawn may not be the cheapest of fabrics, but I know that it lasts and lasts, so it is worth the investment.

This is the Poppy and Daisy that is normally seen...

'Pepper' is the first Liberty print I ever remember buying - from 'Galeries Lafayette' in Paris when I was eighteen!  Ooh la-la! 

Wiltshire

Thorpe

Today I will be working with the one and a half inch squares I cut yesterday. Back with the results soon!

If you like Liberty prints and want small pieces to work with, I can highly recommend the following two links, both of which have given me super fast service.

Very Berry Fabrics 

Alice Caroline

And if you're after metres of the lovely stuff, it's worth visiting

Shaukat

for discounted prices (just remember the price on the website is without VAT).

Off to do some stitching!

What's-on-my-bookshelf Wednesday

Ah! Bliss!  

Today I finished at school for the time being, and though I actually had so much fun that I will be missing it, I am enormously looking forward to my days of freedom before my next stint!

There will, most likely, be a few more books notched up as the days pass.  I haven't done too badly recently, as with Mr U-t-B away, I can read late into the night or early in the morning if I so choose. 

So I managed to get through 'The Misbegotten'...

Photo courtesy of Hachette.com

This was not at all the story I thought it would be from the atmospheric cover, and I was a bit disappointed with it. (Actually, quite a lot.  Sorry!) Serves me right for being charmed by the cover, my constant failing.

Luckily I then went on to 'The Book Thief' which I absolutely loved!

Definitely one of those books I didn't want to end, and now I am looking forward to the film which I believe is released at the end of the month.  I know some people think there are better books of this genre but I haven't yet read the ones that are mentioned in reviews as superior (on the list now though!) and I could not put this down.One very late night and one very long lie-in were needed once I'd fallen for these characters, but then I was bereft that it was over...

Next came another disappointment in the form of 'The Witch's Daughter' - just not my kind of tale, probably pretty good if you like that kind of thing.  And so horribly long...

Then came 'When God Was a Rabbit' which I really liked even if there were all sorts of things left unfinished at the end (I don't think intentionally).  

And now I'm really enjoying 'The Secret Life of Bees' which I have seen recommended on blogs written by people whose opinions I value!  Definitely a better reason for a choice that a front cover!  Maybe I'm learning! 

What book do you recommend I add to my increasingly long list of must reads?

The hardest thing in Blog-land...

...is coming up with a suitable title!

And when I can't think of a title, I can't write a post!  Hence the reason for the pause.  

(Call it excuse no. 42, if you like.)

Anyhow, life has been chugging along!
Leaving me trailing in its wake, it sometimes feels.  
But next Wednesday I finish my stint at school, so I'm hoping to be able to catch up and then forge ahead.  Well, I like to be optimistic!

I have managed to squ-eeeee-ze a bit of stitching in, and I also had my first grown-up, wannabe stitcher for a bit of private tuition.  

After much deliberation, Miss U-t-B and I came up with a name for my new venture and here it is...

I had fun embroidering those letters, even if they do look a bit wonky now they are unevenly stretched in the hoop!   The flower's petals are all tiny Liberty scraps and the bee is my special favourite to add onto things! 

I even put together a Facebook page to start to advertise my classes. You can find it here.  (I'm not ashamed to say that the 'likes' put a smile on my face!)
Miss U-t-B was pretty impressed that I managed that all by myself - not so much because of the vaguely technical side, but because I'm not very brave and putting myself 'out there'.  Once I've finished my school teaching, I hope to set some more dates!

I made a second cushion to fiddle with the proportions...

...but prefer the first one, maybe because I love the red 'Claire-Aude' of the garden and the 'Tatum' of the windows so much...

I also had another go at making a patchwork, padded runner for under a sewing machine.

This time I put the little cut-thread bin at the front but kept the integrated pincushion (with its super-strong hidden magnet for keeping hold of stray pins and needles) right next to the machine. 

I love the Riley Blake 'Little Red Riding Hood' fabrics by Tasha Noel.  I think I might have to buy some more before stocks run out!

In a bold move back to my sewing roots, I did a bit of dressmaking too!  
You see I love to wear smocky-tunicky type tops but hadn't seen any nice ones recently in the shops. I'd been looking on account of the fact that the linen blend ones I mostly have had worn through and were no longer wearable!

I bought some Valori Wells 'Wish' voile in the sale at 'Guthrie and Ghani'  (that's Lauren from 'The Great British Sewing Bee's shop).  It's a lovely soft, fluid fabric and I thought it would be perfect for this Simplicity pattern...

No 2696

I didn't take too long to knock this up, though I was glad I wasn't a complete beginner as some of the instructions were a bit vague.  

I made some self-covered buttons  and tried to do my neatest top-stitching...

And the most remarkable things are, it fits and I like it!

A certain amount of busy-ness...

...has actually been going on around here!

Hence the protracted silence on the blog front, of course.

But now, with Mr U-t-B away for quite a few days, he has said that he likes to see what I've been doing on my blog, so could I please?

So here we go again, with a bit of a catch-up.  

First, I was whisked away for a few days in the mountains. Lucky me!  

My camera has taken to imprinting an upside down smiley face on my pictures!

We met up with Mr U-t-B's niece and three of her friends, as well as his sister and brother-in-law and had a great time.  (Miss U-t-B was, somewhat reluctantly, on a Spanish Exchange, so couldn't join us, sadly.)  The weather was mostly sunny and there hadn't been enough snow for us to range very far, but it was perfect for the five days we had.  It started snowing the day before we left which resulted in a somewhat hairy journey away from the mountains - I'll save you the details of the near miss!

Me on the left looking like I've had my legs chopped off at the knees...

Once back home it was a mad dash to be ready for the festivities.  We were having a big family meal on Christmas Eve, as is our tradition.  Miss U-t-B and I had fun with our annual Gingerbread House making and she came up with a brilliant idea - about which I am sworn to secrecy!  If it ever comes to fruition it will be plastered all over here, don't worry!

We experienced all kinds of construction problems with this and quite lost our patience with it, so in the end only one photo was taken!  There was meant to be a balcony and all sorts, but our biscuit was too soft, our icing too runny and everything kept falling over!  Never mind - it tasted delicious once we got round to eating it!

Our Christmas meal wasn't quite as we had hoped it would be as poor little Dylan (Mr U-t-B's grandson) was really unwell, so there were three empty places at the table.  The food was good (if I do say so myself!) - the surprise star being the 'Salmon en Croute with Ginger and Currants' I had made as an alternative to the beef.  So good was it, that I have made it again since Christmas - an unexpectedly good combination of ingredients.  

(I will share the recipe next time I make it.)

On Christmas day itself, we spent the day with my parents and their guests, enjoying a delicious meal and the company.  Boxing Day was meant to consist of a dash up the M1 to Sheffield to spend the day with much of Mr U-t-B's side of the family, but about three-quarters of an hour into the journey our car started playing up, so instead of joining the M40 I did a huge U-turn and limped home with the car threatening to give up the ghost all the way.  

As we were unexpectedly home, we were invited to a friend's house for a drink in the evening.  We climbed into our other car and drove off - only to have that making the most horrendous noise.  We stopped and looked under the car to discover that the exhaust had broken into two parts - what luck!

So not quite the Christmas we had in mind.  But in view of what so many others went through this year, nothing to be too upset about, once little Dylan was on the road to recovery.

Post-Christmas saw us in the mood for emptying out cupboards, de-cluttering and re-organising.  Very therapeutic and a perfect springboard into a new year!  These sort-outs seem to leave me in the right frame of mind to embark on things I have been procrastinating about which have absolutely NOTHING to do with how well-organised my larder or present-wrapping cupboard is... Strange how it does that!

So what have I been putting off that I am finally getting on with?

I have recruited some guinea-pigs and am going to start teaching some sewing!!!  No, not ACTUAL guinea-pigs!(They're renowned for their inability to thread a needle, and don't get me started on how dangerous they are with scissors in their paws!) 

Real people, even some who aren't already my friends and colleagues.  I say guinea-pigs because to start with I am doing a couple of freebies to see if I can actually teach sewing.   

Here's what I'm planning to do.

Learn to doodle-embroider...

...and make a hoop picture or a needlecase.

Or    Get to know your sewing machine whilst making a cushion maybe a bit like this...

This cushion is an enlarged version of one found in the lovely book 'Everything Patchwork' by Corinne Crasbercu which you can buy here

Or    Make a sewing suitcase whilst learning a range of sewing techniques...

So my days have been filled with making the things I intend to teach the making of, looking for the pitfalls and working out exactly what is required.  It's been fun, and I hope that that is just the beginning of it all!  I will let you know how it progresses!