...quilting

Amidst my various other ongoing projects of the moment, I am steeling myself up to attempt my first quilting exercise! I am quite terrified by anything which requires more than a modicum of accuracy as my sewing technique tends to be, at best, a bit 'slapdash', but I am very excited to try something new.

By the way, when I say 'slapdash', I don't mean that I'm not completely obsessive and perfectionistic (new word) at the same time - I am in fact a very weird and wonderful combination of the two. The trouble is, I strive for perfection with every little thing that I do and yet find myself so excited and impatient to see what the finished product is going to look like that I end up bolting through all of the important preparatory stages (pattern cutting is my nemesis!) and end up with something which frequently looks a little bit....well....homemade. So, if this were an end of year Appraisal, I think my goal for next year would have to be to slow down a bit and take more time over the finer details.

So anyway, after much dithering, I have bought myself some cotton batting and am ready to set about my first quilting project, the Quilted Purse from this very marvellous Cath Kidston book. Love it.

I'm going to use some fantastically juicy red cherry fabric from my little stash, with matching red lining and rick rack edging.

In terms of the quilting process itself, one of my biggest concerns is how I am going to mark out the lines nice and evenly (and not at all slapdash-ly) without having to turn to my much-loathed fabric chalk. I just can't use fabric chalk - it either rubs off too easily, before I've finished what I'm doing, or else I can't shift it from the fabric after I'm done! I keep reading about these magical washable fabric pens which are apparently much more accurate and visible, but I am yet to invest. I have also read somewhere that masking tape can be a useful way to mark the lines on a quilting project and this is sounding a bit more appealing to me at the moment.

In terms of having the right machinery for the job, again I have my reservations. I'm going to have a go with my regular sewing machine foot, although having read this fantastically informative article by Florence of Flossie Teacakes (one of my first and favourite crafty blogs to visit) I fear that this will be a fools errand and that a walking foot may be the only the tool for the job. Still, its got to be worth a go with the regular foot, if only to see whether it is essential or just preferable to use the walking foot (SLAPDASH ALERT!). Heeeey, isn't that what seam-rippers are for anyway?

Wish me luck!

Kat

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...an actual clutch bag!

Hurrah! I did it! I made a clutch bag that I might actually take out with me in public without fear of people asking me "say, why have you brought all of your belongings out in your soap bag tonight?"

This is still just a prototype/practice piece though - the real deal, which I will be making before my bridesmaid duties next Friday, will be made from a different Amy Butler fabric altogether (shown below, next to a snapshot of my lovely dress) and will be modified and embellished slightly from this more straightforward version.

Now, time for a quick post-mortem of the prototype. Some likes and dislikes if you will.

Likes:-

1. It's very roomy - excellent for those of us that can't seem to leave the house without most of the contents of our dressing table crammed into our handbags.

2. The simple style of the bag is perfect for showcasing some nice bold prints such as these geeeeorgeous Amy Butler ones.

3. I like the cheeky bit of gathering just beneath the band at the mouth of the bag (hmmmm, not sure 'mouth' is quite the right term for bag anatomy).

4. It's really quite easy to make - this first one took me a couple of hours to pull together, including all of the ironing and pattern-cutting etc. That's not bad for a slow coach like me!

Dislikes (or "slightly less likes"):-

1. The velcro fastening. Doesn't really scream "classy evening bag" does it? And I can't imagine I'll be able to discreetly retrieve a few Kleenex from my bag during the wedding service if I've got to rip open 8 inches of velcro just to get into it! No, I think it will be a nice simple magnetic clasp for my final version.

2. Although I do love the simplicity of the pattern, I think I would be tempted to jazz it up a little bit next time. Perhaps with a nice trim beneath the band at the.....top....of the bag. Or maybe a nice big ribbon to fasten it with at the top. The options are indeed endless.

3. The main body of the bag is still a little bit floppy - I might have a go at some heavy-weight interfacing next time (I used medium-weight on the facing fabric only for the prototype), to make it that little bit more robust.

All things considered.....a success!

I'll be back again, with pictures of my final fully-developed wedding clutch, as soon as I can get my hands on a fresh stash of heavy-weight interfacing!

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...a beautiful home

So its been nearly a full year since Mr Kat and I moved into our first home. We've rented various places (one together and numerous shared - with other housemates/Uni friends etc) but this is our first, proper, bought-with-our-own-money house, and very happy we are with it too.

It's something of a 'quirky' little house - definitely not to everyones tastes. It is spread out over three floors (nowhere near as grand as it sounds, I can assure you) - the kitchen and bathroom are in the basement and the two bedrooms on the top floor. This means that, not only is the toilet a mere three steps from the cooker (mmmmmm, hygeinic!), but we have to run down two flights of stairs just to go to the loo if nature calls during the night. Not ideal.

So, as you can imagine, we have one or two small renovation projects in mind for the future (Bathroom Relocation is definitely at the top of my list!) and, as soon as we've saved up a few extra pennies/won the Euro Millions, we'll be All Systems Go.

In the meantime, we (Mr Kat and his Dad) have just been furiously slapping paint on the walls and trying to brighten the place up as much as our micro budget will permit.

Mr Kat has also taken it upon himself to build shelves in just about every alcove/stairwell/stationary object in our house, frequently out of old off-cuts of slightly soft wood that he found under the stairs (see left).

Still, its amazing what a good few coats of white Satinwood can do!

So, whilst Mr Kat continues to thrive in the role of Head Painter/All-round Mr Fix It, I have promoted myself to House Stylist and taken it upon myself to adorn the multitude of shelves and freshly painted walls with any pretty artifacts I can lay my hands on.

This gorgeous thing on the right is a tea towel which my best friend in the world printed as part of her final year collection in her Fashion degree in 2004. It sat alongside a fabulous range of homeware products, including some beautiful retro-housewife style aprons which I have long-since coveted. She was kind enough to let me have one of the tea towels after the exhibition and I love it so much I just had to keep it somewhere safe (I couldn't very well use it to mop up spillages in the kitchen could I?).

So now it sits pretty on my bedroom wall and makes me feel very smiley and nostalgic whenever I look at it. It is quite possible that I am the only person in the world who has a framed tea towel in her bedroom!

So day by day our house is being transformed into a little home filled with our own personal touches and slightly scruffy oddities which we are becoming rather fond of.

There's a real money-can't-buy pleasure in knowing that everything we are creating has come out of our (Mr Kat's) own hard work and effort - it's so tempting these days just to whip out the credit cards and buy a readymade home, complete with brand new furniture in every room and pictures to go on all the walls, but where's the fun in that!

Our third-hand sofa goes quite nicely with our third-hand TV and our £11.99 coffee table. We will get around to upgrading some of these items eventually but, for now, they serve us well and remind us that we're really just starting out in this big home-owning adventure. Who wants to rush ahead and miss out the "roughing it" stage altogether!

Ahhhhh, what an old hippy I appear to have become. Who knew!!

Happy Friday-eve everyone!

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