Shine Bright like a Diamond...........

I saw the most gorgeous cushion on Flickr a few weeks ago and pinned it on my Pinterest board for future inspiration.

My inspiration

That image has been niggling at me since then so on Friday whilst I had a spare half hour I started playing...........................

Preparing the shapes

 

 

Two down, six to go!

The cushion uses diamonds as a base - 8 to make a circular pattern. My diamonds are cut, as are some 1" fabric strips to add as borders..................with hindsight I am wondering if I should have used paper foundations for these for accuracy. Time will tell, I guess. Hopefully my 1/4" seams will be accurate enough *crosses fingers*

 

As you can see - I'm not hot on pressing seams after each strip is stitched. Life's just too short!

 

With packing and organising for our trip on the horizon today, I don't think I'll finish this before we leave but it'll be a nice UFO to come back to . The borders are going to be scrappy - I prefer that look.

Emergency! Emergency!

We are off to EuroDisney on Monday & I was gathering together the medicines today and suddenly decided (as I do - last minute!) that we needed a zipper pouch to store them all in. And this is what I came up with

The cross in the middle is around 7". The pouch is around 11" tall/wide

Look at that - I boxed the bottom without losing the "squareness" of the pouch

Gorgeous grey inside - you can't beat grey at the moment - definitely my "go to" colour

I am so chuffed with our first aid kit - I can't even tell you! It fits everything we need (I can't quite believe how much "just in case" medicine we are taking - better safe than sorry!) even a packet of baby wipes. James has already declared that I have to make him one and it has to have a green surround (although I much prefer the linen myself)

So tomorrow the kitchen is being knocked out and they are going to start building the new one. Will this project ever end? On a plus, though, my father in law made it over safe in one piece this time - last time he was set to come, snow stopped play

Guess it's breakfast at Little Chef or Frankie & Benny's, then!

The Weekender

We are having an extension built on the back of our house and the last 4 weeks have been very challenging, to say the least! I have not had much computer time and all my efforts have been put into running the business and clearing parts of the house as necessary to facilitate building works. It's been cold & not without problems - every weekend has seen a flood of some kind or another. This weekend was no exception and it has been a rather exhausting one. As a bit of escapism, I started reading some of the sewing blogs I so love and have missed catching up on these past few months.

 

One project which cropped up a few times and captured my attention was The Weekender by Amy Butler. I bought this pattern about 4 years ago on a whim. Once it arrived and I actually looked at the instructions I promptly put it back down again & didn't really give it a second thought. It was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond my comfort zone. However, after scouring other blogs for ideas and advice on this bag, I have again picked it up. I had a good clear out of my craft room and started properly organising it. It's a "work in progress" shall we say, and there is still a lot of room for improvement BUT the desk is clear & now houses my sewing machine & I can nip in there when I have a spare 10 mins & pick up the project I am working on without having to haul everything out each time. So, here are some pictures of my progress. Don't expect miracles - this one is going to take a while and I am very nervous about it but I am going to try and enjoy the process and not feel the need to rush to finish as I so often do. Excuse the poor picture quality - I am currently using my phone as the camera charger is somewhere safe - so safe we have no idea where!!

 

Front panel

Close up of quilt as you go quilting for the back panel

See the backing canvas I am using? Bought for a steal at IKEA years ago - it's so good not to have to buy something but just make do with what I have!

I have so far cut out pieces for the front and back panels and the front and back pockets. I am yet to cut the side panels & pockets and choose the lining fabric. I've not yet gathered all supplies - I need to source a zip (around 24 inches) and interfacing for the lining (I have some heavyweight and some lightweight - of course I need medium weight for this!!) and piping cord. No rush, though - still plenty of panels to "Quilt as You Go" (which I am really enjoying BTW)

Off to empty the dehumidifier....................what an exciting life I lead!!