Productive day.....

Got up this morning and looked outside - no rain!  Excellent, time to wash the PDF (Prepared for Dyeing) fabric - I bought a bolt and I'm not really sure whether I needed to wash it, but I did - and now it's all dry and ready to go into the soda ash solution - I'll get that sorted tomorrow when I think about what colours I'm going to dye next....actually, thinking on it, it was probably a better day to get outside and clean up the vegie patch, but.......

Feeling all smugly righteous, (because I've had that bolt of cloth for over a month and it's been calling me to get it prepared since it arrived!), I picked up the cut-out pieces of a bag which I'm making for my sister and........... finished it - had a couple of moments - like completing sewing 2 edges of the strap (the looooong edges, of course) before realising I had placed the stiffener between the 2 right-sides-together which would mean it would show when i turned the strap the right way round - duh - so, a little bit of un-sewing ensued - but, persevered and got it made - all beautifully lined with an inside pocket with her initial on it for her mobile and keys.....

The bag is from a pattern by Monica Pool for Moon Shine called 'Elle'.  It's basically a pleated circle on 2 bands with handles and magnetic popper closures - it's a lovely shape and I think I'll make it again - the instructions aren't written for beginners but they're not too bad.

I then went on to make a little purple pouch for my dil (cos that's her favourite colour).................

The purple and turquoise fabrics in the pouch (the pouch pattern is a bastardised version of this one from the very clever Noodlehead) are hand-dyed - the turquoise was also used as a lining - and the HST's are leftovers from a quilt.  I also clipped on a zip puller, which I got from Zipit Zippers - fabulous selection of zips and other amazing stuff.  The photo above doesn't really do the colours justice - they're very vibrant - and my dil loves it.  She popped over this evening with my eldest son and shared pizza in front of the fire, after delivering 4 little gorgeous additions to the family.  (More on that at a later date when I can get a decent photo.....)

So there you have it - now, I can get onto making a few more blocks for the Sashiko quilt-as-you-go and think about which red fabrics will be used in my next 2 FWQA...........a bientot....