Lovely day's Work!

Started the day with a horrible, horrible doctor's appointment that didn't go the way I had hoped :( so to cheer myself up, I did what I should have done weeks ago and made my younger sister a present for her birthday...

It turned out brilliantly! It was simple to do and took all of an hour and a half. But I am so pleased with it :) I'm always worried when I come to join squares that the join won't be perfectly aligned, so this time I absolutely covered the pieces with pins. My machine also has a tendency to 'drag' the work through, rather than help it glide perfectly. Needless to say, with a combination of the machine and me pulling and pushing the fabric through it often ends up off kilter. However, the numerous pins obviously worked, because today, for the first time, it's absolutely perfect!!! I also took the oppurtunity to add a zip in, rather than buttons. Only the second time I've sewn a zip in, and it's pretty good - still not perfect, but good. For the back I used remnants of an old fleece blanket which helps give it a really good comfortable feel. I already had a feather cushion insert from John Lewis so I used that inside. I'm pretty jealous of it, and I'm probably going to back a second one for myself :)

Excited by my success I went back to the craft store for another zipper. I resisted the urge to buy yet another book on sewing and instead came home and got creative with some gorgeous fabric that came this morning in the mail....

Keen to carry on with the zipper success I ended up making a case for my iPad! It's gorgeous. I made it just a tiny tiny bit too small - the buttons on the side get caught in zip if you put it in a certain way, but other than that I'm pleased. I used some scrap batting for the padding, and just a simple pale yellow for the lining. Only downside is I might not be able to wash it as it could shrink.

Oh, and I organised my 'stash'. It's not a great stash, but it gets bigger by the week. Bought more glorious fabric in ikea yesterday - its good quality and quite thick, you get loads for your money and it's pretty :) (the flower fabric in the cushion cover is from a previous trip to ikea, I think). Anyway, my stash is all organised an it's inspired me to get creative again. All in all, a lovely day's "work"!!