PatchworkDelights

New name new horizons

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 19:54:00 +0000

Hi guys

I decided to give Patchworkdelights a facelift and a name change.

I am now www.craftyfrog.ie and you will find me over on Etsy as craftyfrogshop.

My blog is www.craftyfrogirl.blogspot.com

Instagram @_craftyfrog

Facebook: Craftyfrog

So if you could bear with me while I get my blog sorted, but in the meantime, my Etsy shop is working as before just with a new name.

See you over at my other blog shortly.

Signing off from patchworkdelights!

Fi

For those of us with long hair

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Wed, 06 Apr 2016 13:10:00 +0000

Those of you who know me face to face will very quickly understand why I put the title I did on this post.

I most definitely do NOT have long hair. Shaved around the edges with a spike on top, actually I am contemplating having it longer on top (but still short if you know what I mean) and the shave around the back.... watch this space (bits nails nervously).

But I do make clips for the ladies from 0-100. These went down very well at my last Christmas Fair and I have a craft fair this coming Saturday in Glasnevin so I thought I would add to my left over stock.

They are very simple to make, plenty of tutorials out there, no need I think for me to reinvent the wheel. I think what's important is what you make with them from there.

I am getting more brave each time I make these. I have now started adding "double" buttons.. check out the photos closely.

Ok back to work now. Enjoy your day!

x

Where has the time gone

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 13:18:00 +0000

Hi guys

NOVEMBER 2015??!!!

I have been so busy on Instagram that I have neglected my blog. I decided on the recommendation of a mate to start blogging again.

I sort of stopped blogging simply because there are so many great blogs out there and I felt that I wanted to be one of those. But I gave up because to be honest I am not that great at writing, it was always my weakest point in school, I enjoy reading but don't ask me to write an essay. Some bloggers are so witty with their writings but not me, so I have decided that I will just be myself and not put on a façade of being hip or funny, it's not me and it will show.

So where have I been? Well my life has sort of been taken over by Scouting. I am a beaver leader with a new scout group in my town and any of you who are also in Scouting will know how untrue this "one hour a week" line is. But I am not complaining. I really enjoy it.

Sure how else would I turn up at Glendalough with my Section Leader on my day off (yesterday) and do an 8km hike....

We will be taking 14 kids up here later in the month and do the walk with them and camp overnight locally. I am really looking forward for this. It doesn't matter what the weather is like in Wicklow, it's always stunning.

Well another promise I made myself is to blog regularly but to keep it nice and short.

Hope you have all been keeping well!

xx

Fi

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 09:12:00 +0000

29th August was my lost post!? Seriously?

You know what the problem is though right? I blame Instagram, I can take a picture and like they say a picture paints a thousand words, which means I don't have to say too much... win-win!

I have just been busy working, in and out on the train. I have been hanging out with the kids a lot and suddenly become fixated on cleaning the house, that is because we have a second doggy, another Cavailier who is peeing all over the place. So it's constant mopping.

I have also decided to redo our kitchen which is long overdue a makeover.

I currently have an oven and extractor hood sitting in my sitting room, which will also be getting a re-jig.

Loads of plans now some action!

Crochet blanket makeover

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 11:44:00 +0000

Morning all from a bit of grey Dublin.

I have been meaning to write this post for a few days now and only now have gotten a chance to sit down and give it a go.

Apologies in advance for an overload of pictures but... sure that's what I love about blogs all the photos.

For those of you who follow my Instagram feed (@patchworkdelights) I posted this picture I'd say 3 months ago at least? I didn't like it for the simple reason that it was crooked. The rows weren't lining up right at all. So I chucked it on the back of a chair just for colour purposes.

A couple of weeks ago I woke up with a pounding headache, after sleeping it off, later that evening I was staring at the blanket, whilst lying on the sofa. I thought I don't like you blanket, so let's try something else.

I started unravelling the edging, and saving yarn where I could, then I unpicked all the rows.

To say that there was bits of yarn all over the sitting room was a bit of an understatement.

It took a little while...

But I got there in the end.

Now I was left with loads of gorgeous granny squares.

I started joining them together with cream yarn (stylecraft DK).

I used Attic24s method of joining grannies but to be on the safe side I used the pins to make sure the grannies were lined up properly.

I then added 3 rounds of treble clusters as a border followed by this edging here. First attempt at this edging and I loved it, it moved very fast I have to say.

It took about a week, in between work and commuting and family etc but I got it done and I have to say I love the new version of this blanket much more than the original! What do you think? Isn't it much brighter, prettier and better aligned?

I have since found another way of joining grannies, which I will try on my son's blanket, but at the moment I am getting some patchwork orders out, but I will update you on his crochet blanket. In the meantime, here is a link to the joining I will be trying out on the next blanket.

It's been a while

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 12:34:00 +0000

Hi guys

Yes yes you are not imaging things, Fiona is writing a blog post!

But I feel like writing a post today to share with you some pictures of some crochet goodies.

I have made to date 3 granny blankets, one quite large, another medium and the last one baby size.

Before I continue I need to tell you about a massive ball of wool that I picked up in a charity shop. I go to the local charity shops in Dublin pretty much every day. I went into a couple of shops that I hadn't been in before and there before my eyes was a HUGE ball of wool. Holding my breath in anticipation I asked the sales assistant how much it would cost. €2.50, SOLD!

I lugged it back home in the sweltering heat. My brain was going in overdrive trying to think what I was going to use it for. I decided on a granny stripe blanket.

Beginnings

I printed off the granny stripe tutorial from Attic24, I practised as she suggests a couple of times and then went for it. It is worth practising, it's not a difficult blanket but until you get the hang of it and you process it I would recommend trying it out first.

Progress shot

I was a bit worried that the ball wouldn't be enough for the whole blanket. I ended up buying a large ball of "Arran". Lesson learnt - don't mix wool with Arran. When I laid out my blanket to see how it was going, and to my dismay the blanket was starting to widen where the Arran was introduced, so I cut it out and went back to my original plan. You see I thought I would be able to stretch out the grey by introducing another solid background.

The arran

I reckon I am about halfway. It's quite wide and I want it to be a worthwhile size for an adult.

Finally I took about my balls of cotton and looked through one of my crochet books and randomly chose the pattern for making a "solid granny".

I have been getting a lot of compliments for this little blanket. I have it in front of my now as I am in the process of adding another round of grey trebles. I need each granny to be a little bit larger. I mean you can go as big as you like but I have decided to do 2 rounds of grey on each block and then join it. I haven't tried jayg yet but I will....

Happy Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 22:37:00 +0000

Hello Ladies

Hope you have all been keeping well.

We have generally been well, except for the usual colds. Just getting over a bit of a bad headcold myself, which resulted in me loosing my voice. Fortunately for the family I found it again!

We had two birthdays in February, both boys celebrating another year. They had a good time and so did we!

I haven't managed to get a huge amount done since my last post, because I've been tired at work.

But I really want to get this cot quilt done for my customer asap, but each weekend has been tied up with birthdays or Scout Training or something or other.

My customer wants a scrappy quilt, lots of pinks and purples. So I am bearing that in mind, but I don't want to go OTT with the pinks and purples and when I had a quick look at the blocks I've done already I can see that I will have to lighten it a bit with some paler colours, otherwise it won't be relaxing enough to look at.

Whilst sitting at work typing, my mind wanders to other business ideas and I am going to follow up on my thread business.

This isn't a sales pitch it's just thoughts out loud. I love this thread, it's the only one I use.

Some of my quilting pals that have purchased it have come back for more and have been very happy with it. So I am to start small and hopefully build up a nice customer base.

The most popular colours that I am asked for our white and cream, but I love dabbling in the colours too!

Look at that cerise! It's even prettier in reality.

Anyone, after spending the day in Scout Training, tomorrow there's a kiddies party, so around that I will have to get this quilt top at least made as a top and then quilt it during the week!

Have a good weekend everyone!

x Fi

A few WIPs and a finished cushion cover

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Hello lovely people who read my blog (and thank you for doing so, I do appreciate it).

Well I think from now on you are always going to see a bit of crochet on my page, because now I am making my son, the younger one, a afghan blanket all of his own. He loves the first one I made and is often found walking around with it wrapped around him on the weekend (mornings). I want his one to be big enough to fit his single bed so I have a fair few grannies to make, last count I am on 36.

My colour palette is more muted colours although I do have some red, orange and yellow in it to make it jump a bit, and so far so good. He is loving seeing it come together.

I also made a cushion, happy to say second one of the year and it was January when I finished it (the end of). I had these hexies kicking around for over two years, I had a spare 18" cushion so I thought I would bite the bullet and get this baby made!

Instead of doing the meandering fmq that I usually do I thought I'd give straight lines ago. Got the masking tape out and got sticking. It was an enjoyable process I have to say.

Finally I added to my fabric stash, got some cute fabrics from a shop in the West of Ireland called The Quilt Shop Tuam (they are on FB and IG) and the other from Cindy at fluffysheepquilting.

For baby balls and baby quilts

Cotton and Steel - swoon!

That's it for the minute, guys, I am making a scrappy quilt for a little girl so watch this space!

X Fi

Hook crazy

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 10:08:00 +0000

Girls, I am in love with crochet.

I am addicted, hands up who else is addicted! Yay!

You know I finished off that afghan blanket there the other week, well I looked up some tutes on bunnymummy's blog and found the daisy granny square. I learnt a new stitch the puff stitch. Bunnymummy explains it very well and the photos are great so it was no problem to pick it up to be honest.

I might make the above into a cushion cover, so I will undoubtedly use one of Attic24's tutorials or something of youtube, but I am not at that stage just yet.

I also bought more wool (it's on 20% sale over here at the moment). Son #2 loves the first afghan so I told him that as per my promise this year to make more things for the home, I would make him his very own afghan for his bed. I have 10 grannies made. I think this is going to be my favourite now. I am going for "boyish" colours, but at the same time I want the blanket to be cheerful, so since this pick I have included some of my orange, red and yellows.

I also want to finish off this cushion cover. I made good progress at the weekend, adding the border, sorry borders as I kept cutting each border too narrow, I need the cushion top to measure 18" plus and argh I kept being stingy with the borders so that's why I have THREE!!! But it all worked out in the end, they don't look like accidents do they? I hope not.... Quilting decision - I am going to go diagonal and end up with that square quilting look. Crazymomquilts has a tute, which I will use.

Finally if you follow my on IG, you will have seen this but I finished my first cushion of the year. A tumbler cushion, it's in my bedroom not to be touched by the dog or the kids (sorry :()

I really love this cushion, it measures 16" x 16". Fabrics by Bonnie & Camille (Scrumptious). Tumbler sizes 3". Background fabric, cream. Quilted - shadow quilting using cream thread and the borders are straight lines and corners are as per the picture below. The binding is a combination of the some of the fabrics used in the main panel.

That's it for the moment girls.

Speak soon.

X Fi

My first 2015 finish

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 11:15:00 +0000

I did it!! I finished my blanket and can call it an Afhan, thanks girls for commenting there! Appreciate it.

Drum roll! Here she is in all her glory!

I crocheted 80 grannies using about 10 different colours. I would have gone bigger except I didn't have enough of the pale grey that I was using as my background and I felt I had enough with 80 to make it worthwhile size. I don't believe I repeated any combos that I can see at first glance.

I crocheted each granny using the pattern out of my "Granny Squares" book by Susan Pinner. Then I saw on IG that a crocheter had added a round of single crochet around each granny and I really liked that effect so I did the same. Then using a tutorial from an Australian youtuber I started joining the squares together using single crochet. I like the raised effect.

Once I had the grannies joined together I didn't know how to go about adding edging and found Attic24 to be great (of course her work is beautiful!) and bunnymummy had a perfect tutorial for adding edging. Now I currently have three rounds of edging, but I will probably add one more during the week but then that's it I won't go bigger.

I am itching now to start another granny blanket, now just to choose a new granny square!

Happy Sunday all!

x Fi

Review of the Year and going forward

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 17:00:00 +0000

First of all let me wish you all a happy and healthy 2015. I hope you had a restful Christmas.

We didn't get up to any manic in our house, hubby was off for four days, which was lovely, it's not often that we are together for consecutive days (retail).

Toffie got some good walks in and the boys got loads of TV, as did I.

I have been busy working on my crochet blanket, is it an afghan, is it big enough, are there rules about what's an afghan, please let me know, hate calling things by their wrong names.

Now I need a border for it. So any advice, links to tutorials is more than welcome, please!

I am working on a quilt for a publication so that has been taking up a lot of my spare time, it's a nice straightforward quilt, pics will follow once it's published. I just have to finish a bit of FMQ and add the binding and then we are done. I often wish I could make or design a complicated quilt but (1) I don't have the imagination and (2) computer package.

This year, I really really really want to make more quilts for my home and family...so watch this space. I have plenty of books and blogs that I follow for inspiration and tutorials so my promise to myself is that I will get some decent patchwork done this year!

Have you guys got any plans, I don't think they have to be huge and numerous. For example, we as a family agreed to do one family activity a month, yes a month, but like I said it's not often that hubby is with us as he doesn't work Mon-Friday. So this Saturday we are taking the boys to see the new Night in the Museum film, next month probably bowling and if we can achieve these little outings i'll be happy!

X Fi

Back to work we go

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 14:18:00 +0000

Wow what a week!

Started a temping job on Monday, in a small Law Firm and it was great!

The routine the structure I welcome it.

Back to early rises, commuting on the train and packed lunches. Glad to say I haven't lost my typing speeds, good thing I was keeping my hand by blogging!

Now to get organised at the weekends.

I have been pretty strict about getting sarnies / lunch boxes prepared the night before so that we can relax somewhat in the morning and eat breakie and so far so good.

Will take Toffie out later today down to the beach with the gang for a good walk and then relax.

Oh need to prep some baby balls and pack some brooches for posting!

Hope you are all keeping well?

x Fi

Happy Hallowe'en!

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 10:14:00 +0000

Hi guys!

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks.

Haven't been hugely productive patchworkwise but man is my house organised!

Made a baby ball for a little girl in Poland.

I made a huge decision and that was to dismantle my craft room. The boys now have a room each of their own. With the children's help I brought all my patchwork stuff downstairs and rejigged my shelving unit so that one corner of it is all my craft books and boxes of goodies and my storage room in the sitting room (under the stairs) has all my sewing paraphernalia in it too. I'm totally happy with this decision. The boys are over the moon as they have their own space.

I have to say doing these monumental chores (there was more - I moved a piece of furnitutre into my kitchen and it's so much cosier in there believe it or not) kept me busy because I was going through a phase of not sleeping as my body was twitching every time I was about to drop off. Horrendous nights and I wouldn't wish insomnia on anyone.

But good news I had my Neurology appointment on Wednesday and the Professor isn't one bit worried that there is anything untoward. He believes it is down to stress and anxiety. Since his words I have looked at the positive and feel great. I also started taking Vitamin B tablets and of course my tabs that the doc prescribed.

Other news, I'm starting a temping job on Monday so I'm looking forward to getting out and into a routine.

I realise that this time to set up and run my own business was an eye opener for me. I will still continue running the business (just need a bit more time) but I am better at the moment getting up and out and getting some work done with a regular wage and let my creative side out in my spare time. But I won't be making the mistake of taking up every spare minute sewing.

I realise now the value of spending time on yourself. There were times up till Wednesday that I honestly thought I was losing my mind. I've had some great supportive friends and a superb hubby and two boys and appreciate their patience but the mind as I have learnt is so so powerful that it can make your body literally start shutting down it's unbelievable. Not one of my friends ever said to me "snap out of it" thank goodness because you can't, you just can't snap out of it.

It's a weird feeling, your mind is empty, in the pit of your stomach there is a lonely forlorn feeling but I don't know if I'm explaining it right even with that. The thoughts of getting through the day were awful. So all I can say is first of all get yourself down to your GP and tell them how you feel.

If you aren't happy with their response get a second opinion particularly if you know you are not yourself. Another thing even if you don't feel like it make sure you get out for a walk with a friend, it's the social aspect that helps you forget about yourself for a while and that's what you need to do. Too much time on your hands to think about yourself is not ideal guys!

Any way it's a sunny day today, I'm waiting for a mate to come over and collect her kiddie (sleepover) and then I'll take Toffie and the boys out for a walk in my favourite park!

Feast your eyes on this near take-off by Toffie a week ago, a wonderful pup!

http://www.mentalhealthireland.ie/

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 18:05:00 +0000

I've given up on putting post titles on my posts, I'm rubbish at coming up with clever headlines :(

Had a hectic week. Hubby is visiting his mum in Athens this week. He says the weather is just glorious. I have to say it's been ok here in Dublin, cold but once the sun breaks through....

Had a prang with the car a couple of weeks ago. I was manouevering into a car space and I DIDN'T SEE the height restriction bar, in my defence it is painted grey and comes out beyond the stone wall gate that you enter into the car park by.

When I mentioned it to a school mum, she informed me she had done the very same thing a couple of years ago and she saw another driver go into it last winter. When I inspected the bar after it mangled the passenger door and rear door, I saw it was FULL of scuff marks so it's a regular problem that column, it would help if it was painted yellow and not the colour of the Irish sky which is generally grey.

Anyhow, I got it repaired during the week and oh my it's lovely driving without that embarrassing crunch on the side of the car. Son #2 and I cleaned the car today, it was funny because about 3 of my neighbours had the same idea!

Son #1 was out at a Scout Hike, fun was had by all which is the most important thing!

I felt like doing some needlework today so in between all of the stuff I did today which included walking son #2 and Toffie for over an hour then off for lunch then car cleaning which son was planning on doing himself but I finished, I don't think I sat down for long today.

But I did manage to make some fabric flower brooches in between all of this.

Well I will leave you now, Strictly is on tonight, I know it's not all of your cups of tea, but I love it!

Have a good Saturday girls!

Fi

Strictly

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:33:00 +0000

Any one else watching Strictly Come Dancing this year?

I have to say it's one of my favourite "reality" shows, that and Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! I must say the standard is very high this year, that chap from Eastenders is some dancer!

I took up my Granny Squares on Saturday night and got crocheting. I have about 40 grannies done, but still need a load more to make it a worthwhile sized blanket. At the moment it would barely cover my six year old. The beauty of this is though that I can take it up whenever the mood takes me, I have to be careful because I feel it in my arms the next day if I overdo it.

Thank you and say hello to Toffee

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:47:00 +0000

Thank you guys for all your emails and I have replied to as many as I can at the moment. Is it ok to say it's nice to hear that one is not alone when the mind is a bit dark? It's not nice to go through this experience, but what is comforting is that there are others out there who have been there and understand what is happening.

I have to say, whether it's the medication and/or my decision to step away from PD from a little while that I have had three good days! And I will continue with that attitude.

Malahide Castle

Those of you who follow my IG account will know this already but for those of you who are reading, you may not know but we got a puppy back in March. She's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and she's gorgeous!

Say hello to Toffee, yep that's the spelling we went with it was an error on hubby's part, but he's Greek and was spelling it phonetically and we stuck with it 'cause it's great!

Toffee earlier this week

She's just over 8 months now and such a loving puppy! She's like my third child, she follows me everywhere.

We had our first bad weather today, strong winds and heavy rain. I had plans to take her on a good long walk, but the weather scuppered that or so I thought. We did a smaller walk but she wasn't too phased with the rain. She dried herself on the passenger seat, shh don't tell hubby.

Toffee I'd say 12 weeks old

As I am typing this post, she is curled up on my lap, for company and for heat. She's resting her mouth in the crook of my arm, good thing I'm a touch typist cause it doesn't interfere with my typing.

Have to break the connection now though, because I am meeting some fellow Scout leaders for Friday coffee, they have been a lifesaver getting my out on Friday am, I enjoyed it but at the same time didn't not the girls fault at all, it was purely because of how unwell I felt but they helped me get out for a few hours. Today I plan on totally enjoying the banter and company and muffins!

Keep well my friends!

xx

Taking a breather

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Wed, 01 Oct 2014 16:13:00 +0000

So I made a decision yesterday and that was to close Patchworkdelights for a while.

I have been feeling very unwell for the last year, during the summer it was all good and then in the last couple of months things got very dark.

My body was trembling, I had trouble sleeping, I was in a dark mood with crying on nearly a daily basis. Then this week as soon as I woke I would feel a hot burning tingling sensation creep up from my toes to the roots of my hair and I thought to myself, here we go again. Monday just gone was basically spent in bed. People who know me know that I am not a bed person, I'm up when I'm awake and that's that. The doc told me to make sure I get out for a walk. This is easier said than done. I literally couldn't get out of bed, never mind go for a walk. And that's not being smart, my mind wasn't letting me!

Hubby was off yesterday and when I came back from the school run I just burst in to tears (again). I'd had enough of this mood. Last week my doc put me on medication for extreme anxiety. As I lay in bed yesterday morning (again) thinking I can't have another day like this, I thought to myself, what is causing me to stress. Well the fact that PD will be running on its own in six weeks and I can't make a proper living on this business was the nub of it. A wake up call, shut the shop down for the moment and rethink everything.

I will be starting back at work temping in November. Even though sometimes you get tired of different characters in the workplace and the office politics, there is a lot to be said for them at the same time. It's company, it's a social occasion, ok we are there to work, but there is mostly banter at some point, it's having a routine and so much more.

I realise that I am not a stay at home mum, I take my hat off to the men and women that do this job every day. Running a business and a family is hard. I decided that I need a routine in my day and then I can manage my family better and perhaps run the business in that order when i am in a routine.

I met a friend for coffee today after taking Toffie for an hour long walk and she agreed, when you are in a dark place, call a spade a spade in a depression, people trying to talk you out of it mean well, but you need to find a way out yourself too. It's good that people care, but my hubby was talking to me yesterday and I couldn't connect with his positivity and help. Then when I was in bed, thinking, I made a conscious decision about the shop. As soon as I did it I felt a weight lift off me, off my legs, off my arms, off my face. Off my MIND!

I'm not an expert, I'm talking about my experience which has been horrible, today is a good day and I hope tomorrow is a good day. That's all I can go on.

Will Patchworkdelights be back? Yes, but a different type of Patchworkdelights.

So for now, I am going to sew when the mood takes me and make things for me and my family. And hopefully I will reopen PD with a replenished shop soon!

Sizzix

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 17:03:00 +0000

I know it's been a while since I posted, but what with a combination of health issues and time it's been a teensy bit tricky. But I thought I would kickstart things with a little sneak preview of something a couple of my friends have been asking me to make for a couple of years. I took out my Big Shot from Sizzix and got cutting.

I made my Sizzix sandwich as usual and simply put it through the Big Shot. I got my cute rectangular pieces of fabric, within seconds. I was saying to Hubby that the longest part of using the Sizzix is choosing fabrics!

Hey presto, 5 minutes of work and a group of 2" x 4" rectangles cut!

I'm afraid I cannot show you more as yet, but I promise it will be finished shortly! Fi

Pencil case and make up pouch

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 11:00:00 +0000

I made a couple of things last week which I forgot to share.

A cute pencil case

and a mini make up pouch

Hoping to make some more of these in the next couple of weeks!

All about the summer really

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:39:00 +0000

As the title of the post says, we've had another run of glorious weather.

It feels very Mediterranean here in Dublin at the moment. Not complaining and I won't complain when we get a bit of rain too though (only for the garden's sake).

I don't make a big habit of cutting flowers for the garden but I made an exception to show off my table runner I made for a girl over in Tipperary.

Feels very summery doesn't it?

I am ignoring my grass at the moment, I will have to buy some feed and get it into the grass, but my grass is a bit of a disaster at the moment, the heat ?

But I spend some time refreshing my hanging baskets and a couple of window boxes but also planting up these old coffee cups! I couldn't use them for anything else as they have hairline cracks, but they look great on my outdoor table.

I also got a new delivery of white thread, yippee! If you are interested in trying them, and I can safely say when you try them you'll be back for more, head over to my thread shop here

Finally I made some more balls yesterday and prepped three more yesterday late afternoon, although after I run my errands today I will be working on a pram quilt and sewing this evening.

So despite all the crap that's going on around the world at the moment I hope you have a peaceful and happy day today.

X Fi

A bit of garden news

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 10:57:00 +0000

I think this is the first year that I have been able to enjoy some flowers in my garden.

I have been focused on ensuring that I have a lot of greenery in the garden, I hate the winter garden when there's nothing to look at and I always wanted to make sure that certain plants I put in the garden would be evergreen and that's worked so far, but in the summer I was lamenting the fact that I didn't have a huge amount of flowers, and this year I bought flowering plants!

My chocolate plant is also in flower and some ranunckles which I love and put in as bulbs!

My plan was also to put some edging around the border of my grass (which I might add is not looking so great this summer). Note to self buy some more grass feed.

I don't think the edging will happen this year, not with starting up my own business, have to concentrate on that.

Happy with the colours in my flower borders though!

Sad news for one of my climbing hydrangeas, something was eating the you know what out of it so I just took it out, I bought it a couple of month's ago, shame...

Now to check if it's time to start planting any spring bulbs, have to be so ahead eh!

That's all my garden news for the moment!

Fi

Sizzix

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:00:00 +0000

Well I was very busy this weekend up in my craft room, between making patchwork balls for the shop and customers to finishing off a quilt. And it's the quilt I would like to share with you.

I make my pram quilts using mostly fabrics pulled from my scrap basket, which I have to be honest is sadly dwindling.

I was a bit stuck for inspiration so I decided to flick through my Sizzix dies. I chose this one which gives you a 4" finished square (4.5" unfinished).

I layered up my fabric on the die. I only put about 5 layers at a time, I am sure it's not going to break it's just me.

I made a Sizzix sandwich by placing a cutting mat on either side of the die, i.e, one on the bottom and one on top. So cutting mat, die, fabric, cutting mat.

Rolled it through the Big Shot machine this is my favourite part!!

Hey presto! 5 x 4" squares with little or no hassle!

The odd time you might have to snip a thread that hasn't come away from the die, but that's no problem at all!

I cut another load until I had 20 squares in total and then started assembling blocks.

Working through all my scraps I made twenty blocks measuring 6.5" x 6.5".

Keeping it nice and simple I sewed four blocks together to make a row. I did this until I had five rows in total. Then sewed the rows together. I added some white cotton around as a border and personalised this little quilt for a little baby boy.

Basted it and quilted it and finally bound it with some Stof fabric. Here is the result.

I hope he likes it!

Full shot.

I have already started cutting fabric with two other dies for a scrappy quilt, blog post will follow soon, but the squares are 2" finished with a 2" rectangle, so excited!

X Fi

How to glue hexies

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:38:00 +0000

So I have a secret project on at the moment which involves making loads of hexies. I have been basting them methodically but thought about a pic I saw on IG where a lady was proudly showing her glued hexie.

So I rummaged around and found my Sewling Glue pen. Hoping it hadn't dried out, although I had never even opened the packet I gingerly took it out of it's packaging.

Had a quick read of the instructions, very simple.

I started gluing. I still pinned my paper template to the fabric just because, but I soon stopped once I got the hang of it.

I dabbed a bit of the glue along the top of the hexie, on the fabric that is, folded the fabric over the paper template and smoothed it down.

I then moved along to the next side of the hexie and on each corner dabbed more glue and folded the fabric over the paper template.

I continued the process all the way around and ended up with a nice little hexie that took next to no time to make!

Simples!

EDIT: Just to reply to a question that one of the girls left in the comments, I found it easy to take off the paper backing, I learnt quickly that only a proper dab of glue is required, don't go crazy. Yes you can reuse the paper templates, not a problem. Hoping that helps. x

x Fi

Another beautiful giveaway over at Celticfusion Fabrics

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 11:03:00 +0000

My sponsor Celtic Fusion Fabrics is hosting another beautiful giveaway!

Would you like to have a chance at winning 10 Fat quarters from the new 'September Blue' collection from Dashwood Studios?

You can enter either via her Facebook page by leaving a comment and follow her page and for a bonus entry you can leave a comment on her blog.

Giveaway closes 10th July 2014.

Best of luck!

A or rather E coin purse - A er E Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (patchworkdelights) — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 10:55:00 +0000

I got an order for a patchwork ball for a little baby boy, but my customer asked if I could make his big sister a purse just for her, her name was Evelyn or perhaps just the first letter of her name.

So here is my tutorial on how I made E her purse, it measures finished size at 5" x 6.25" roughly. You can apply this tutorial to any purse without going for the alphabet letter, just make two scrappy panels instead.

The front

The back

Materials required

alphabet letter template for paper piecing
scraps of colourful cottons for outer panels
100% cotton for lining
cotton wadding
zipper
thread
sewing machine

To make the front panel with the letter E, I used the letter E from the Quilterscache. For instructions on how to paper piece check out Ellison Lane's video tutorial here. PLEASE DO NOT BE DETERRED BY PAPER PIECING IT IS VERY VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD.

Once I had my letter paper pieced I attached random scraps of colourful pinks to make a panel about 7" wide by 6". Apologies for approximate sizes, I only decided afterwards to make a tutorial. The scrappier the better.

front panel

Now for the back panel. Sew together loads of scraps to make a panel about 7" x 6". Again scrappy as can be.

Take your cotton batting and place it behind each panel, you can quilt the fabric to the batting, decide on whatever design you want, straight lines, stippling, anything you desire.

I did some straight line quilting on mine with amethyst Egyptian cotton but unpicked it as it clashed too much with the scraps, it would have been fine I think if I had used the white cotton, so instead I went for the stippling effect using my free motion foot. (Any questions feel free to email me or leave a comment).

I repeated the above steps (without making the same mistake of straight lines) for the front panel.

At this stage you should have two panels, both quilted to the cotton batting. Trim them down to 6.5" x 6" or to a size that you are happy with. There is no wrong or right way with this, you make it to suit your taste.

ZIPPERS - do not fear the zip!

I swear by Ayumi's way of putting in a zip, I like it, it's explained very well. You can pop over to Ayumi's blog for the tute, but I have photographed the steps myself below for ease of reference.

I cut two pieces of cotton for the lining 6.5 x 6. Same size as outer panels.

I took my zipper which measured about 8" but that doesn't matter because you can trim the end off at a later point.

Place your zipper along the top of your piece of lining fabric, ensure that your zipper pull is 1" in from the edge of the lining fabric so that you don't sew over it. Then I pin the zipper to the fabric and using my zipper foot sew nice and slowly along the zipper, no rushing, steady does it.

When you reach the half way point of your zipper, stop, and unzip the zipper see photo below.

Now continue sewing until you reach the end of your fabric piece.

Take your other piece of lining fabric and repeat the process only this time your zipper is going to remain open, look at my picture above to see how the fabric is attached to the zipper, you are placing your lining fabric right side facing down on to the right side of the zipper. See again pic above. Sew.

Repeat the exact same steps for attaching the outer panels, just keep your lining pieces smooth and out of your way.

When you have gotten through this stage you are nearly done, your work should look like this, one panel on the left with lining underneath then the zipper and the other panel and lining on the right hand side.

Progress so far.

At this point you are going sew your coin purse.

IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT, OPEN YOUR ZIP HALF WAY OTHERWISE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PULL YOUR PURSE RIGHT WAY OUT.

Put the two outer panels right sides facing to one side of the halfway open zip and the lining pieces right sides together to the other side of the HALFWAY OPEN ZIP.

I usually trim the batting along the zipper to cut down on bulkiness, see pic below.

Batting trimmed along the zip

Pin everything. IS YOUR ZIP HALWAY OPEN?

Using your 1/4" foot sew the whole lot together remember to leave a good 4" opening at the bottom of your lining panel, this is where you will turn your purse right side out. Take it nice and easy over the zipper, I usually sew over the zipper section a couple of times to make sure it's really secure in place

Trim off the end of the protruding zip.

Opening in lining for turning purse

Now you can turn your purse right side out and sew closed the opening, I usually run my machine along the bottom of the lining. Iron the lining.

Push your lining into the purse cavity, iron your purse, not the zip, stay away from the zip.

Sit back and admire your work! Well done!

Any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.