Hi all,
This is a catch up blog of things I have achieved while I have been quiet. Miss Four, my second grand daughter began Kindy this year, and she was a very happy little girl when she received her new kindy bag for Christmas. It was supposed to be for her 4th birthday, which was in February this year, but she needed it before her birthday - hence it became a Christmas gift. The photos of the bag show Miss Four and Miss 20 months. This bag is adapted from a pattern in "Kaleidescope" by Mellie and Me.
The following photos are of a denim bag I made for myself one day when I was feeling very frustrated about the style of bags available in the shops. I used a pair of old childrens jeans, and just cut the legs off and lined the end result. Pockets were added to the inside of the bag, then the strap was added - to the length which I like.
This is a catch up blog of things I have achieved while I have been quiet. Miss Four, my second grand daughter began Kindy this year, and she was a very happy little girl when she received her new kindy bag for Christmas. It was supposed to be for her 4th birthday, which was in February this year, but she needed it before her birthday - hence it became a Christmas gift. The photos of the bag show Miss Four and Miss 20 months. This bag is adapted from a pattern in "Kaleidescope" by Mellie and Me.
The following photos are of a denim bag I made for myself one day when I was feeling very frustrated about the style of bags available in the shops. I used a pair of old childrens jeans, and just cut the legs off and lined the end result. Pockets were added to the inside of the bag, then the strap was added - to the length which I like. 
This bag is the first of many bags that I hope to make, as I have many pairs of unwanted jeans, that will make interesting bags of varying sizes.
I have also begun to work on my uncompleted projects, so that I can get ready for new work. I have six projects on the go (not bad for someone who was only going to work on one project at a time)
The first project I am trying to finish is a quilt for Miss T - she has been waiting for this for 2 years. This will be the second quilt I have made, and it is harder than I thought it should have been. The pattern is the Irish Triple Chain - a very simple beginner level quilt - not! I ask you, why begin with an easy quilt when you can drive yourself crazy with a difficult one. The fun is obviously in the challenge - but once begun, it has to be finished, and there is a lot of learning before the final stitch is finished.
When I began this quilt, I bought the material then had to go and buy more, because I didn't get enough. Then it took me a while to get the courage to cut the pattern, as there were so many different patterns for the Triple Chain, and they are all done differently - so that made life real easy for the novice.
Well Miss T still hasn't got her quilt - her birthday is today (24th July), but it is closer to being finished now.
I have progressed from having separate squares of Irish Triple Chain to having the main front panel completed. The next step completed was securing the panel to the wadding and the quilt backing, and now I have finally got the border of the quilt in place. The quilt was supposed to have two boardering colours, but there has been a change in plan and it now only has the one colour. I decided that there was plenty of white in the quilt already. There are only two remaining steps for the quilt to be completed, and they are for the edge of the quilt to be hand sewn, so that the black edging is completely connected to the turquoise (not teal) boarder, and then the addition of some free hand (machine) quilting for the finishing touch. I am hoping to have the final touches completed before the end of next week, show it to the ladies at Guild (with all the faults intact), then give it to my daughter on the weekend - and hope that she really does like it. The photos below show the quilt before the boarder was put in place. Completed quilt photos will be posted later, hopefully with other project work.Blessings to all, and may the threads be kind
Cheers
Ellice
