Putting things in bags

     I have been making lots of bags recently, small, and medium sizes mostly and at last, after much practice I can put in a zip straight! I have learned to put tabs on the zip ends and the best bit is finding the right beads to tie on the zipper pull. That’s my favourite bit! Here are some made from small pieces of fabrics I have loved….. First of all I liked the idea of a gardener’  rescue bag, it could be filled with seeds, hand cream, some new gloves, all things I would use myself.

Then I thought about sponge bags or do you call them wash bags? I used a white shower curtain fabric to line the insides to make them waterproof. If you try this use quilters clips rather than pins to hold edges together so you don’t make holes in the plastic inside fabric.

 

There are some great how to do it videos on YouTube done by some very kind and generous stitchers who show their methods. 

And I must admit I have enjoyed photographing each bag with things from home to show their size and possible use.

Look at these cute Dolly Mixture beads, just perfect for the decoration. Dolly Mixtures are children's’ sweets in the UK, I don’t know if you have them in other countries.

Here’s the last one:

I think this one is my favourite, I made it thinking about going to the beach, now we just need better weather …..

I hope the post looks right on your computer, hasn’t Blogger changed recently and I’m still trying to find my way around all the buttons! Maybe it doesn’t suit my tablet either!

Happy weekend everyone who reads this, it’s the football final tomorrow so we are holding our breath and crossing our fingers and toes, but good luck Italy too,

Kind regards, 

Sue 

Wet spring days in Lincolnshire

 It’s raining again, yesterday it rained all day and tomorrow the forecast is no better! So to cheer you all up I thought I would show you our spring flowers which absolutely love the damp weather. Our garden is best in the spring and primroses, cowslips and bluebells put on their dresses of many colours and spread themselves through the grass. They seed into new places every year, sometimes combining themselves to make something I call a primslip, where a primrose meets a cowslip!

This is my latest make, a generous sized market bag made from cotton fabrics and a foam covered wadding which makes the sides stand up very nicely. The fabric was given to me and it looks like a Kaffe Fassett print, just right for a bag as I couldn’t bear to cut the big fabric design up for a quilt.

So now I’m thinking picnics, sunshine, sandwiches and coffee in the park, so the bag needed a quilt and this delphinium blues one was just right for the photo. The quilt pattern is so simple, a bricks and mortar pattern which I turn to again and again, I love its simple style.

I can’t wait to wear a summer dress. I bought a new one by mail order recently, but am I a strange shape or are dress manufacturers measuring with the wrong tape measure? It is lovely fabric and will be fine when I have taken it up and in and put a zip in the side to give it a better fit! Should one have to do that? I bought a size 12 and it is too big. I haven’t been a size 10 since before my babies so I suppose I should just be pleased!!

That’s the lovely thing about making quilts and bags, generally speaking, they don’t have to fit!

I hope the sun shines for you this week wherever you are living,

Kind regards,

Sue 

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Renewal

 Dear Readers, 

It has been such a long time since I posted on my blog and so very much has happened to us all. The last year has had huge highs and very many lows and although time at home has seemed vast, there have been few moments or indeed the heart to write cheerful blogs about about quilting.

But here I am and in this new time I feel I can start again and I realise I have missed my blog. I post on Instagram as Green_Star_Quilts but it’s a small space and a bit frantic sometimes, and I realise I enjoy the calmer, larger atmosphere of this blog.

So here I go, thinking I will start again and I hope this brings my readers some happiness and a lifting of the hearts if you too have had a sad time during the pandemic which has touched us all.

So over the last year things have changed a bit and I have stopped taking commissions for quilts. My website Greenstarquilts.com has closed and I have started making individual quilts and bags to sell at my local craft collective which is called With Love From Lincolnshire. This has brought me so much pleasure, it’s lovely to part of a vibrant group of makers and means I can use fabrics from the drawers and cupboards in my sewing room as I please. I have loved coming up with new ideas and making bags and mastering the putting of zips has been quite something for me!

I find that Blogger has changed a few things and I am clicking buttons but may take a few posts to get things to look right! I’m using my iPad to post and that seems to make a difference too. I’ll get it in hand soon.

If you are reading this, then thank you, I love the idea that we are sewing in different countries all over the world and making quilts to sell, as gifts and to give comfort.

Maybe you have felt like me over the last year, but also maybe there is a lifting of spirits, our hobbies mean so much to us all and have kept many of us going,

That’s all for now,

Very best wishes and kind regards,

Sue 

A Walk In The Park Quilt

Well  dear readers, I must say it is absolutely freezing here in Lincolnshire and still rather windy from the recent storm. It's February and our brave daffodils are bobbing about, buds nearly in flower, but the gardeners in this house are still in hibernation, despite the arrival of many seed packets in the post. I have made my first quilt of 2020 in spring colours though. It is a city scene quilt using fabrics which I think are called Walk In The Park, so that's what I have called the quilt too. Here is is.....

A Walk In The Park quilt by Green Star Quilts

The fabrics feature little dogs, town houses and parks and the dogs are so sweet with lots of character in the drawings. Yellow windmills dance across the quilt and give a bright focus and diagonal design. I used a pattern by Alyson at CluckCluckSew  but turned the rectangles through 90 degrees to suit the fabric design.

I spent a lot of time faffing about taking photos which is my second favourite thing about quilt making, but the winter light is tricky and its hard to get bright colours. I also spent a lot of time drinking coffee and eating the Panatone cake my lovely Italian sister-in-law brought too, but that's another story!

I just made this quilt because I loved the fabrics, so it is for sale on my website 

Green Star Quilts but I shall be sad to see it go from the sewing room.

For the quilting I tried a pale blue varigated thread 100% cotton by Robinson-Anton, and I really love the effect. I stitched in wavy lines across the rectangles and left the windmill blocks plain. 

The finished size is a lage cot quilt but it would be a great sofa throw or even a small picnic rug for coffee and cake in the park.

At least although it's so cold the days are getting longer. It is 5.30pm as I write this and just dusk, not quite dark and it lifts my heart. There seem to be quite a few hardy walkers on the hill outside my window and they remind me that I should go for a walk tomorrow around the park or across the common, woolly hat and gloves at the ready.

It's not to late in the month to say Happy February to you all, I hope your daffodils haven't been battered by the wind,

Kind regards and thanks for dropping by,

Sue   

 

The comments

Ahhh I'm so sorry! You have all been sending me lovely comments and I didn't find them until just now! Has Blogger changed the comments system while I haven't been paying attention??  Anyway, a million apologies to you all who have so kindly been encouraging me and please don't feel ignored. Now I have found the button for the comments and will read  them everytime. 

 And a huge 'Thank You' to you lovely kind people!

While it was raining the other day I had a moment of tiny quilt making...... The young visitor to my dolls' house had requested a change of use.... so all the dolls were evicted and the Sylvanian animals moved in....  

They needed new furnishings, quilts, cushions and some clothes....

I used up lots of tiny scraps which were from this quilt.... don't you just love the hedgehogs...

So now they are all comfy and in this cold weather will be in cosy hibernation until my young visitor comes again!

Thanks for dropping by and leaving such kind comments too,

Kind regards,

Sue

Blue Tumblers Quilt

This was a quilt I had been thinking about for a while and at last I have had time to make it. I am so pleased with the colours, there are lots of  bright modern fabrics in this design and they tumble across the quilt , it makes you feel happy and rather summery just looking at it!

Blue Tumblers Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing fabric is an Aztec design and all the fabrics and wadding used are 100% cotton. 

Blue Tumblers Quilt by Green Star Quilts

Blue Tumblers Quilt by Green Star Quilts

Can you see the turtle and the skiing cat? There are lots of little Russian dolls too and the odd toucan.... Here is the whole quilt:

Blue Tumblers Quilt by Green Star Quilts

If you fancy becoming the new owner, you can see the details on the Buy Now page of my website. Just click on the link. 

Also I have been making a little cot quilt for Kate to give her friend. The baby is due in the middle of the month, what a great present for Christmas!

Farmyard Cot Quilt by Green Star Quilts

The backing fabric is a gentle soft grey colour with tiny yellow fireflies:

Farmyard Cot Quilt by Green Star Quilts

I very much enjoy making these little quilts, each one is different although the theme is always the same.

That's all for this week. At the moment we have the Christmas market on here in Lincoln. It is a huge event and 30,000 visitors come so the city is pretty busy. Lots of my friends are taking stalls so if you are nearby do go along, even just to get the wonderful scent of cinnamon, chestnuts and mulled wine!

Thanks for calling in to see me,

Kind regards,

Sue