Learning the hard way!!!

Oh Blast! Oh Blast! could be heard repeatedly from my sewing room on Wednesday evening, as I was trying to finish this delightful shoulder bag/tote.......

I had already made one, using the same pattern I had designed a while ago, which looked like this.....

Can you see the difference????

The one with the pink flower ended with a band at the top. On the top bag I decided to add a frill before attaching the handles and lining.... BUT..... when you try to turn it all the right side out the frill sticks out horizontally because the seam allowance has been turned under with the handles. So how to fix??????

I had to put another band around the top of the frill bag so the seam allowance could remain upright! It's now 2" deeper but that's ok...more room for Easter eggs! Probably easy for all you seamstresses out there, but I really had to think that one through! I am now delighted with my shoulder bag tote.............!!!!

As a final note for today....I wish you all a Happy Easter! It's my favourite time of year, when I remember how much Jesus did to make me right with God; to give me a way to come back into a relationship with Him.......to show me how much I am loved, warts and all!!!!!

Have a great weekend, and don't forget, eating (dark) chocolate is actually good for us!!! Yay!

Nic x

Too many winters?

Well it's our 15th UK winter this year and it's almost too many........

Last year I made this for my husband

The label on the back says.....'A touch of the tropics to help you through the English winter'

Boy do we use it a lot these nights!!!!!

I don't think we would be so bothered if we were in the town and had a cheaper source of heating, but LPG is a ridiculous price so we don't have the heating on 24/7. We are surrounded by woods though, so are SERIOUSLY thinking about putting in a wood burner before the next big freeze......So glad we didn't move further up north when we arrived!

In Australia I found it very difficult to quilt all year round, so that's one thing the UK has going for it! Far too sweaty for hand quilting!!!  eeewww......too much detail.....

Well I'll make good use of this snowy weather and do some more hand quilting........

Bye for now

Nic x

Time for a holiday?

Well I heard the man on the radio say that this weekend coming is going to be the coldest March weekend in 50 years....oh yay!

I think it's time to start looking for a holiday.....

Check out my parents gite in Normandy, France......it's a great place to stay, especially if you love peace and quiet, country walks and are interested in WWII History......Ever seen the movie 'Band of Brothers'? The gite is near to Mortain......it's only a short drive to Mont St Michel, the Bayeux Tapestry and many delightful villages for shopping............loads more info on the website........but it's booking up fast!  www.bonsentier-gite.com

Maybe I'll see you there?????

Nic x

Great find!

The sun is shining, daughters surgery is over and it's back to work!
I'm having fun at the moment 'upcycling' (or re-cycling, not sure which?)  with fabrics from the 1970's. If you are in to 'vintage' and go to any fairs, as I do with my daughter, sometimes you will see dresses using fabrics that you just adore, but then when you look closely you notice zips broken, seams coming adrift, fabric fraying......don't worry, buy it anyway......though haggle a bit to get the price down if it's in a really bad state.....and then once you have all that gorgeous fabric home 'upcycle' it into a cushion cover, a quilt, place mats, anything you can think of to make use of as much of the fabric as you can.......it's great fun!

Here's a few 1970's scraps I found the other day...... The yellow floral I have made into 2 1/2" squares and added some Liberty Tana Lawn and it's in the process of being made into a quilt......

The smaller scraps I'll be making into notebook covers, elasticated hair bands, brooches and adding a few embellishments to a shirt or two..... Got any other ideas? I'd love to hear about them......

Back to work

Nic x

SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE!

Here at Daisy Jane designs UK we are jumping on the 'Easter Sale' bandwagon.......

ALL QUILTS ARE 10% OFF FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY......

So grab yourself a gorgeous handmade heirloom to treasure for a lifetime.

See you in store..............

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day all you mums out there. I hope your day has been a good one. For those who have lost their mum's, like me, I pray that your day has been filled with happy memories of good times past!

My wonderful children have spoiled me with a cooked breakfast and after lunch all the washing up done so I could put my feet up! Nice...........

Not coincidentally, it seems that I have finally finished a baby's quilted receiving blanket today. It's in 1930's Feedsacks and delightfully soft....hope you like.............

Nic x

'To tack, or not to tack?' That is NOT the question!

Hi again fellow quilter's
Do you tack your quilts ready to hand quilt? Do you pin them? plastic tack them? What method suits you?
I have found that I can't produce a neat piece of work with out tacking, tacking and more tacking!
It's such a bore isn't it, when all you want to do is get quilting. If you have skipped this step you may have had times when you regretted it. When you turn your lovely piece of work over and see tucks and creases! Oh Noooo! What to do? unpick? start tacking? or just live with it?
Like knitting a tension square in knitting, I have found tacking an essential, though tiresome, part of producing a nice hand quilted finished item.
So next time you're tempted to speed up the process and pin your 'sandwich', put some music on and relax into some tacking! It'll be worth it in the end!

You're my Hera!

Remember on Monday 25th February I mentioned a quilt marking tool by Clover called a Hera marker?
Well I went and bought one and I couldn't believe my eyes...what a wonderful little tool!

Look at this......

It will leave a crease that literally stays there for days! You use it just like a pen and run it along the edge of your ruler and hey presto! NO WORRYING MARKS that may, or may not, be removed by air, or water!

I'm not sure it will be suitable for the more intricate hand quilting patterns that I do, but for straight lines, like cross hatching, it's ideal.

Did you know that The Cotton Patch are now selling the Canadian thread called Wonderfil? I shouldn't be telling you this because you might prefer it to the thread I sell....ha ha.... but I think it's in the same quality park so check it out www.cottonpatch.co.uk . I love variegated machine quilting threads and along with the Signature and Gutermann brands in my store, the Wonderfil 'tutti' and 'frutti' are beautiful. The Quilt Museum in York www.quiltmuseum.org.uk have sold them for a while, so we might just have to compare prices and see who comes up trumps for my next purchase!

Here's another great little country household hint from the olden days........

Don't throw away old plastic table covers. Keep the best parts for lining cupboard shelves in the kitchen.

I like it!

See you again soon.
Nic x

Loads of deliveries!

Hi again,

Its been a couple of days since I last had time to write. I've been so busy with eBay and a couple of deliveries of items for my website.

I'm really excited that my quilting group are supporting me in this venture. I'm a quilter in Region 8 of the British Isles Quilter's Guild. We have a great group of ladies of all levels of experience. I was able to get for a lady, who is very new to all things quilting, the Olfa quilting kit. Its a 12"x18" Olfa cutting board, with a 45mm Olfa rotary cutter and a 6" square ruler. I suggested she get a 6"x12" ruler as it would be far more useful, which she agreed. She was very happy that I could get the whole set including the extra ruler for only £34! I love making quilter's happy with the bargains I can get for them. We are all finding life financially hard these days and for me, quilting is a refuge and a shear joy, when nothing else has the chance to enter my mind except quilting!

Well it's a full day of sewing for me tomorrow.....yipeeee

Thanks for dropping by and don't forget to keep an eye on all the new items in my store......

Chat again soon, how about a recipe? A new household hint? Anyone got a really good fish recipe for a husband who doesn't like fish? Any suggestions welcome!

Nic x

Ebay!

Goodness me it's tiring listing so much on ebay......I have great affection for ebay as it was the first place I started selling in the UK. I originally had a shop called 'Patched Fats' This is a photo of my business card.

 It's a photo of a cross stitch of my dream home in Australia. We had friends who lived in a home just like this and we dog sat while they came over to the UK....it was wonderful! Their dogs were Dalmations called Argus and Sparta......both as daft as a brush! They are not called the clown of all dogs for no reason. Never-the-less they were gorgeous and we enjoyed our 6 weeks immensely. It's strange choosing a shop name that you then become identified with for years. I was patchworking fat quarters and it seemed only natural to abbreviate and call my shop Patched Fats! (Strangely no-one got it, hence my new business name!)

I hope you'll take a moment to check out my ebay listings under daisyjanedesignsuk as I always add real bargains.............

Anyway it's 7pm on Sunday night, hubby is at church playing in the band and I have 1 hour left to myself....mmmmm time for some tea and toast.

Cyalader
Nic x                                                    

Latest item in store & Handy Hints!

I'm very excited that I finally have another cushion in my store.....'Homespun Hearth' is a Log Cabin design homespun fabric cushion with a prim house button in the centre. I love these little buttons! I have other houses and even some birdhouses that a friend sent me from Australia......they may just appear on an item sometime soon!

                                                               

I thought it would be fun to share with you some 'old time' 'make do and mend' handy household hints.....who can't use some of those when money is tight?

I like this one....
Before throwing away worn rubber gloves, cut strips from the cuffs to make some strong and useful bands.

My previous job was as a gardener and these would have come in very handy when wrestling with unruly bushes!

More next time............

Have a great weekend, hope you are doing something nice on this grey old British day!

Nic x