Bits of This, Bits of That............

I am going to start this weeks blog off with introducing you all to a new shop on Folksy! My friend Kirstie who I mentioned in my last post, has set up her shop so it would be great if you could go and have a look! Patchy At Best features homemade cards and illustrations done by none other than Kirstie Smith herself :)

http://www.folksy.com/shops/PatchyAtBest

Earlier this week I had a nice surprise sitting in my email box from a lady called Teri. She had emailed me to say that a ring of mine had been featured on her blog!

 My blue roses ring which you can find on my folksy shop  http://www.folksy.com/items/978753-Cadbury-Blue-Roses-Ring, was picked by Teri from Rainbow Cottage blog to be featured as part of her "Treat Yourself Tuesday". For a look at her blog (and my ring on it!) click on the following link!

http://rainbow-cottage-crafts.blogspot.com/2011/02/treat-yourself-tuesday-chocolate.html

If you cast your mind back to my very first blog you will remember me talking about the purpose of the blog, (what do you mean you can't remember?! Scroll down and read it haha!)

One of the purposes was to share with you the projects that i will be working on to make my new house a home. Well I haven't got any projects completed yet...............but I may have a home soon!

Myself and David have been really busy viewing properties,viewing them again, reading mortgages, getting confused, reading them again and so forth. Good news is we have found somewhere we would like to buy! We are busy trying to get everything sorted out to hopefully make this happen. We shall see though! Of course I have already started deciding on which wallpaper to have in the kitchen and what flooring to have in the bathroom. I'll try my hardest to take a step back and wait until its all a done deal. I'll keep you posted! :)

Talking of projects I have been working on quilting again! Still with the original project in mind, i have decided to extend my quilting technique repertoire and have a go at traditional English paper piecing. So for now its goodbye sewing machine and hello needle and thread.

Here are the hexagon paper pieces which you use as your templates. Its a simple concept really, just lay your shape on the fabric and sew around it. The idea of sewing into paper sounded odd but once I began it all started to make sense!

These are some of the reproduction 1930s fabrics I have just waiting to be sewn into cute little hexagons and pieced together lovingly by hand!

First of all you need to get a piece of fabric and lay your hexagon on the wrong side of the fabric, secure it by pinning it in place.

Cut about a 1/4 of an inch around the hexagon, you don't want to cut right upto the edge as you need fabric to fold over and baste into place. This will help keep the shape of the hexagon until you are ready to sew them all together .

Make sure you use a long stitch to baste as later on you will be removing the paper shape. 

Voila a finished hexagon! Now time to get busy and make some more...

Once you have some basted hexagons you can start joining them together. To do this place two hexagons right sides together and sew with small whip stitches. You want to sew the very edge of the hexagons without sewing through the paper.

Keep joining your hexagons together and you will end up with something like this. This is as far as I have got with my project. I have to say I'm quite enjoying it, its nice and stress free! Not to mention portable! I plan on taking it in the car on my trip to Crieff tomorrow. Just as well I'm not driving however it may hinder my navigating skills.........

See you all soon for more news and crafting!!!