Espritpatch

I started the New Year with 2 Block of the Day (!) programs.... what was I thinking?? I guess it was almost obvious that I wouldn't be able to keep up... The Town and Country BOD, I have very quickly completely fell off the train... hopefully I will pick it up again one of these days, after buying the pattern and all the background fabric.... I have only made a handful of blocks. I fared better with the 365 quilt chalenge and manage to keep it up more or less for almost the frst part of the year but after that I completely fell off the wagon and never managed/tried to catch up again. The program is running again from January so let's hope it works for me as a 2 years project! Last week-end I decided to sew up the 3' blocks I had to add one more border to the medaillon. Lots of blocks to catch up with for the next 3 borders and I am hoping to work through these in the New Year. And I also have 3 tiny 3' blocks and 18 bigger 6' blocks ready for the next roun...

Last month, I played with a few ingredients to make 2 batches of soap using the cold process (my second try) and hoped for the best as with my first try, I had a volcano soap, which also it was usable and nice on the skin, it didn't look very good! Anyway, since I had ordered enough starting material to make more than one batch, it seemed like a good idea to try again ahead of Christmas. So mixed results this time as I had one good batch (the lavender one) but I am struggling to get them off the moulds and one explosion again (the peppermint one) - it looks awful but smells divine! Again I am not sure why this happened, but I suspect that covering it up while still hot might have contributed to the problem. One of my Q4 FAL  list. Celine

I haven't done much straight piecing work recently while I have been rushing to finish some presents but I managed 4 more log cabin hexies. And I also made these hexies for December for Debbie 6 more blocks for December taking my total so far to 18! Linking to  Building Blocks Tuesday Celine

My middle daughter is horse-mad so when I took her fabric shopping with me last month and she saw this panel, I knew I was going to go home with it. Now it is not a difficult make or a time consuming but it is a busy time of year so it could easily have slipped down the list. One big item on my to-do list is to finish my Fair Isle quilt so when we got the frame out for this one, I thought it would be good to start with the small easy panel. With a gentle curved line edge to edge, it probably took longer to prepare than to quilt! And then she choose a pony fabric for the binding so I just went with it! For the backing I had a piece of roses fabric that worked well and was just the right size! Quilt stats: Panel and binding fabric bought 20 November 2016, wall hanging finished 18 December 2016 Quilted with Superior Thread 901 on the top and 926 in the bobbin. One more OPAM and one finish that's not even on my Q4 FAL list! Linking to Sew Cute Tuesday  and Nee...

These 2 were not on my list but then one of my daughter's favorite teacher is leaving the school at Christmas (why are teacher allowed to leave during the school year???) so I made an open wide pouch for her. And I tried something new too! I tried lace zip for the first time and although it wasn't easy to sew, I love the effect! I have also used leather for the bottom of the pouch for the first time, and I just love how this turned out, it was hard to part with in the end! And for the inside, well I have to use some of the pony fabric that we had bought recently for a gift from my horse loving girl. And I am lucky and happy to be meeting with my BF who moved to Hong-Kong earlier in the year in just a few days so I made her little pouch too, this time with some orange glitter vinyl   2 more OPAMs this month, I can see more of the pouch with leather in my future! Linking to  Whoop Whoop Friday Celine

Along with the pouches I made over the last few weeks, I also made PE bags for the girls (that was the first intention when I initially bought the fabric!), nice easy drawstring bags using a funky cord. It was great to have a quick and easy project for a change as well as ticking projects off my list! And this makes 2 more OPAMs and 2 off my  Q4 FAL   list! Linking to    Needle and Thread Thursday . Celine

So this year I have finally made some hand-made Christmas presents. I have made some nice and easy open-wide pouches for some of the girls of the family. One with some make up brushes and one smaller one to hold some chocolates Both made with coated cotton and funky zips! That makes 2 OPAM for December and cross one item of my Q4 FAL list! Linking to    Sew Cute Tuesday ,  Let's Bee Social . Celine