Tutorial: Spotty Spring Drawstring Bag

One of my dream jobs would be to be a professional wrapper - you know the people that get to wrap up parcels all day in pretty paper and tie satin ribbons around them to make them gorgeous ... ok maybe after the 1,000th parcel I might have had enough ... but I love to wrap things up and the presentation of a gift (to me) is half the joy. Each cuddly little softie from Rachael Rabbit is sent to its new home in a little cotton sleep sack (gift bag) and the cotton bags really do add a little something extra.

I've also been made rather happy by dots recently - on a search to find a pretty baking dish to make cobblers in etc - I found these gorgeous dishes from Spode's Baking Days line. Every time I look at them in my kitchen I am inspired to bake something yummy and wholesome.

So it is now officially spring (we don't have any daffodils in bloom yet) and I've been inspired by dots or spots ... I made some Spotty Spring Drawstring Bags! These simple drawstring bags have so many uses - I use them for storage or yarns/craft items, protecting shoes and handbags, packing small items for holidays, laundry and as gift bags.

TUTORIAL: Spotty Spring Drawstring Bag
(Time: 30mins to 1hr) Finished Bag measures 21"l x 16"w.

Materials
1 x piece of fabric 45"l x 17"w
2 x strips of ribbon 36" long
circles of cotton (mine are 4.5" in diameter)
Cotton for sewing
Mistyfuse (optional)

1. Make casing for ribbon: In all 4 corners along long side of fabric fold 1/4" in and then fold 1/4" in again - press and sew for 2.5".
   Along short edge fold 1/2" in and then fold 1" in again - press and sew across entire length of short edge.
   
   
2. Embellish: Fold your piece of fabric in half and arrange your spots on the front of the bag. Secure with mistyfuse if you prefer. Sew around each circle (I used a satin stitch.)
   
   
3. Finish Bag: Fold fabric with spots facing in and sew down each side of bag. (Once the seam is sewn I also like to use a binding stitch to prevent fraying.) Turn bag right-side out and press.
4. Thread Ribbon: Use a safety pin or sturdy needle to thread ribbon through casing. Once threaded tie ribbon in tight knot at each side.

Recycling for Rabbits - Bunny Quilt Series

Do you remember the baby quilt that I made from recycled cotton shirts? Well this was the first baby quilt in a series of three. I have to say that I have loved all three very much. Maybe it is the pleasing simple blue and white colors or the bunnies all over them ..... or how incredibly soft all the materials are.

The first quilt had soft white bunnies on it made from a old fake pashmina which was an emergency warmth purchase in a Hong Kong market.
The second quilt had soft brown bunnies on it - the bunnies are cut from a pair of Nana's old tan trousers! One lucky bunny has a yummy orange carrot. This quilt sold as soon as I posted it.
The final quilt was finished for baby Nicolas Koltai who was born on March 23rd (yes Easter Sunday) at 2.30am at a healthy 8 pounds. This version had one bunny and a carrot in the bottom corner and extra quilting on each white square.
As I was finishing this quilt for Nicolas - I began to feel rather sentimental about all three of the baby quilts - so I took the first quilt off my shop page and I have put it safely in a dresser drawer. After parting with my dear bunny boy - I really have learnt that I have to keep the odd thing here and there.

Busy Week and a Baby Quilt

Its been a busy and fun week filled with birthday's, 3rd wedding anniversary's, two parking tickets (I'm innocent), visits from lovely friends, rescuing rather a lot of ladybugs, cooking a dinner party for more lovely friends (Martha's dessert recipe did not lie this time) and raking the leaves of the entire garden (yard) until you get a blister (ouch!) And today I finally got the chance to sew some more patches made at last weekends Denyse Schmidt's workshop into a bright and breezy baby quilt.

Denyse Schmidt Quilting Workshop

Yesterday Bernie and I took a road trip. We got in the car and drove to Bridgeport, Connecticut to Denyse Schmidt's workshop where we were taking a quilting course organized by Make Workshop. The course was SO much fun I can not begin to explain how liberating, fast and fantastic it was. I gave it a 10 out of 10 - I would gladly (speedily) go back - or perhaps beg Denyse to let me live in her workshop so I can engorge my greedy self on inspiration. You can see how much sewing we did in 5 hours from the little green piece of fabric I used as my thread saver.
Here is the first block of the day .... as soon as I saw it (it was so incredibly not me at all) ... I was proud as punch and immediately decided that it had to be made into a cushion (that's a pillow in the US ... or as we call them in our house "sofa slugs"!)
Today I got to finish the cushion. I bordered the block with bright turquoise and machine quilted the front using the same red cotton that just happened to be on my machine during the quilting class.
My only wonder is if whether I should have quilted across the green patches in the middle ... hum ... but I'm still rather proud of it. It is so bright and springy ... perfect for a garden chair ... sitting in bright green grass on a sunny day (has it stopped being cold yet?) I'll be putting it my Etsy store tomorrow.

The most liberating bit of the class was how we chose the fabric ... or rather the fabric chose us. (It was so hard not to cheat ... I did cheat a little ... sorry.) We had to pull the fabric blindly from big paper bags. I loved the process (despite trying to cheat) - so in my little workroom I now have 3 paper bags on my desk and every time I find or cut a scrap of fabric I am popping it into its size appropriate bag. I can't wait to see what comes out!

Mother's Day Madness with Sock Monsters

Mother's Day in the UK and the US falls on different days. This year Mother's Day in the UK fell on Sunday March 2nd - and it so happens that my mother is currently visiting us - so it was lovely to be able to celebrate the English Mother's Day with her this year!

Not only did my mother bring over the requested cans of Tesco's value baked beans (call me odd) but she also brought me a craft book called Stupid Sock Creatures: Making Quirky, Lovable Figures from Cast-off Socks by John Murphy which was quite strange as only the week before I had been given Sock and Glove from the Martha Stewart Show ... something was telling me it was time ... time to make something from socks. Never one to hog all the fun to myself I suggested we should spend the afternoon making sock monsters. Yes - as you can imagine - my mother and my husband were thrilled with this suggestion ... well they couldn't wait to get sewing.

I found some discounted socks at Kohl's ($1 each - bargain) and off we set ... making our sock monsters ...
Finally we finished aren't they sweet!
Introducing Lucky the Dog (Aaron's dog - pattern from Sock and Glove) ...
... Angus the Angry Turtle (my mother's own design) ...
... and the Snuggly Socktopus (my own design).
It really was a fun afternoon and I know my husband scored top points and hundreds of gold stars from my mother and me for joining in so gallantly.

From a Sketch to a Bunny Bear

I had a lovely e-mail from Catherine of Bumpkin Bears (she designs and makes the most adorable bears). Catherine asked me if I have ever thought about making my bunnies out of furry material ..... I haven't ...... but it got me thinking.

I love anything fluffy but unfortunately I'm still on my "buy no material" crusade .... and I don't have any furry material in my large bin of material delights ... but while I was in a cleaning mood I came across two very dusty coats that I had bought back in 1999 and I hadn't worn them since I moved to New York 4 1/2 years ago! 100% wool ... they were prime recycling material.
So I ripped them apart, washed them in a very hot wash, tumble dried the material to felt the wool as much as possible ... drew a picture in a taxi ...
... made a little paper template to work out my seams ...
.... and then made my wool bunny bear ......
There are certain things I like about him. The wool is lovely to the touch and his seams make him look quite tailored ... but I think he looks more like a kangaroo than a rabbit (his feet/legs don't sit flat on the floor) ... and I think he has a little bit too much back muscle (cue the adorable tail shot)...
... but he is quite sweet ...
... and for the first sewing pattern that I have ever made from scratch - he could look a lot worse!!

The Martha Stewart Show - Homemade Knitwear Day

Yesterday I packed two bunnies in a big bag and took them to see the Martha Stewart Show to be filmed. It was a special edition of the show where the guests where invited to bring in their favorite knitted item and bring the project that they were currently working on.

We all queued outside (freezing) and then we went into a room where we were asked to take out our goods and the producer walked around spotting items that might be featured in the show ..... my little rabbits were very excited and really wanted to be spotted .... alas they did not make the cut. But Anna Hrachovec was picked out for her wonderful knitted toys. My favorite was her carrot patch (what a bunny surprise!)

Anna's work is so inventive and witty - she definitely fully deserved her Martha moment.

Here are pictures of my bunnies in the studio waiting for the show to start.
Throughout the whole show everyone was knitting their latest project ..... I wonder if any of us looked up once from our little projects to see what Martha was doing! Martha showed us how to a make a bunny from a pair of gloves, how to knit with marzipan, cook chicken and make bangles from left over yarn. Check out the show on Monday 25th February on WNBC at 1pm ... you might be able to spot my bunnies in the audience! Once the show was over everyone was given a copy of Sock and Glove ... which luckily for me ... as now I can make a bunny from a pair of gloves too!

The show was the first time that I have taken my bunnies out in public (I was feeling very shy about them on Tuesday evening) and everyone was very sweet about them - so thank you to everyone who said kind words to me - and it taught me something - I am very proud of my rabbits. I was sad today as I posted the boy bunny off to Maryland (he is going to keep a new born baby boy company) - we rather bonded yesterday and I felt that perhaps you sometimes need to keep the odd treasured creation .... just because .......