New Addition to My Fabric Stash

I thought I would give you a sneaky look at some new additions to my fabric stash that arrived today from the lovely Maggie at The Fabric Frieze. This is Moda Papillon inspired by an antique etching.

 Last spring while perusing an antique market in Europe the 3 Sisters for Moda made a most exciting discovery. An antique quilt from the 1860s with a very unique backing comprised of bold, simple bands of large, faded florals to die for! Feeling quite inspired, the sisters scoured their vast library of antique fabrics to complete their next collection. The dramatic Jacobean and rose adorned florals are complimented by the occasional Papillon, which is French for butterfly. Paired with delicate botanical prints in the quilt’s original palette of pale, dusty pinks and aquas with faded red and stone accents, Papillon captures all the splendor of a lush garden estate.

 It is simply stunning fabric and unfortunately the photo really doesn't do the colour justice - it is a gorgeous pale duck egg blue. As with all Moda fabric this is a limited print and not repeatable so I will have to make sure that my project is something special. I may just have to start cutting this tonight!!!

Scrap Bags Big Easy Tote Completed!

Well my weekend flew by making the Scrap Bags Big Easy Tote. I'm really pleased with the way this tote turned out - to be honest it was a lot of work, especially those handles. When I make another one I will be making those handles a little wider. I love that the pattern included a woven Scrap Bags label which gives the whole look a more professional finish - I think!

Inside there are lots of useful pockets for my patchwork and quilting tools - the linen has co-ordinated quite well with the patchwork fabrics I chose - I must try my A3 cutting mat to see if it fits!!

Laying out all the various panels before I stitched just to make sure that I was happy with the way it looked.

Big Easy Tote Bag

I have chosen to make an easy tote bag to christen my new craft room. I've chosen some really lovely patchwork fabrics for the panels in black, brown and red with gold detailing and  linen for the interior. The bag is made up of 5" square pieces (ideal for charm packs) but I will make a few of these tote bags using vertical and horizontal stripes, hexagons and triangles.
 

It took quite a while to cut out all the pieces and decide on the placement but I'm quite happy with the final effect. There is quite a lot of work in these totes so watch this space - hopefully I will get more done tomorrow.

Slouch Beret

I only like to knit small items as I get bored quickly so I was really pleased to find this pattern for a lovely slouch beret which knits up really quickly. The yarn I used is a Debbie Bliss yarn which is amazingly soft made up of 80% Baby Alpaca and 20% Silk. It's not a cheap yarn but you definitely get what you pay for.

I tend to knit with bamboo needles as I find them very light and much more user-friendly. I completed this beret in a night and it just needs sewing together. I'm already half way through another one in red.

Hand Dyeing using Procion MX Dyes

 I've been experimenting with some Procion MX Dyes and hand dyeing some white cotton poplin to use on my quilts.

  
These small pieces of fabric have been scrunched and soaked with the primary colours - cant wait to see how these turn out. Hopefully I'll have some interesting sections for the orchid sections of my quilt.

  
These are larger pieces of fabric for backgrounds and I've pleated these to give a different look.

 Soaked with the dyes - I should hopefully have some interesting greens in these pieces suitable for foliage

  
A line of colour - :o) The neighbours must think I've turned hippy!

Love this piece - brilliant for background foliage - it almost looks like out of focus shrubbery. :o)

Welcome to "Donna's Room" - my 'haven above'!

This is the area for cutting material and general crafting - card making, painting etc.

I've got plenty of storage in this area with everything to hand.

This is my machine embroidery area with a unit as a room divider - again lots of storage.

This area is for my machine quilting - there is plenty of natural light in this area. I feel truly blessed to have such a lovely room and I'm hoping to spend many happy hours in here creating lots of lovely things.