A New Laptop Case For Moriarty

Flicky flies back to Scotland on Friday to start her fourth and final year at The University of St Andrews.

Don't Miss It - Issue 2 Free Ezine Out Now: Modern by the Yard

The second issue of

Modern by the Yard

the brand new FREE e-zine showcasing modern fabrics and projects is out now, sharing new prints and summery projects.

Liberty Love - Happy Birthday Aprons

On a recent trip to Pins & Needles on Manhattan's Upper East Side (explore the store with me here) I came face to face with this Cotton + Steele Melody Miller B&W Typewriter fabric.  

Midnight Snacking

There's two things my daughter Flicky loves, really loves - red Solo cups and Skittles.  

My friend Karen Moore Haynes knows she loves the solo cups and text me as soon as she saw this flannel for sale in Joannes.  I text straight back "oh yes please, get me 3 yards".

Her Mother's Daughter

Flicky, my daughter, was home for Chrismas - she's in her third year at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.  She had a plan to make two quilts during her two-week stay as well as celebrating Christmas and New Year and she succeeded.  When it comes to hard work and sheer determination she is indeed her mother's daughter.

Liberty Lawn & Essex Linen FPP Feather

I love foundation paper piecing, but experience has taught me that not all foundation paper piecing patterns are equal, I'm very happy to shout from the rooftops, however, about all FPP patterns created by Juliet @The Tartankiwi.  

Juliet is an absolute Queen of FPP, her patterns are well thought out so there's the minimum number of pieces necessary for the sewist to piece the design as simply and easily as possible.  She is rigorous in her pattern testing too, testing and developing patterns thoroughly herself then she has several reliable testers trial the patterns and feedback before releasing them to the general public.

When Juliet sent me an image of her latest FPP Feather Border pattern I jumped at the chance to test it and here it is.

I've used Liberty Lawns for the feather and Robert Kaufman Yarn-Dyed Black Essex Linen for the background.  My favourite London shop for Liberty Lawns is Shaukat, they've more Liberty fabric than the Liberty store itself alongside other lawns and specialist fabrics - I've written a couple of posts about the fabric I've bought there here and here.  If you haven't been to the Liberty store then, of course, that should be top of your 'must do' list for any London trip - more pretty pics of the store here.

A couple of the lawns were left over from this reversible apron I made for my Mum a few years ago, you can read more about it here and though my Mum's looking very good for her years it's not actually her but my youngest, Flicky, modelling the apron ;D

Getting sidetracked now, all this talk of home and Liberty - let's have another look at that FPP Feather.

The FPP pattern includes two sizes of feather - 12" x 3" and 24" x 6" - I've made a 24" x 6" feather.  Juliet made the feather so she could border a block with four feathers, I've got other ideas, though.  Initially, I thought I'd extend the block to make a rectangular cushion but now I'm thinking a wall hanging so I'm going to sit on it for a while and see what ideas brew, you know the way they do.

You can see more tested versions of the FPP Feather Border here on Juliet's The Tartankiwi blog and her pattern's available now via her Etsy store and also her Payhip store.  

Disclaimer: I do not receive payment from Juliet @TheTartankiwi for testing her patterns, nor do I receive a commission on any patterns sold via her Etsy store or any other sales method.  This post is purely informational and of no direct benefit, monetary or otherwise, to me.

Please note the pattern does not include Juliet's Kea Alpine Parrot pattern as pictured but this FPP pattern is available separately.

Here's a look back at the patterns I've previously tested for Juliet.

Click any of the images below to go through to my post about testing that particular pattern:

  
 

Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)

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This post contains a Craftsy affiliate banner for which I am paid commission on click-through purchases. Otherwise, no payment or commission is received for click-throughs to shared links; the post is for informational purposes only and all opinions are my own.

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Uncredited reproduction of all content, text and images on this site is prohibited. All content, text and images must be credited to Chris Dodsley @made by ChrissieD and include a link back to this site.

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She's 21 Today, 21 Today

Last week I flew over to St Andrews, Scotland to celebrate Flicky's 21st birthday with her. Five days of fun with some of my kids is just the ticket when I'm missing home.

If you've never visited St Andrews, or Scotland for that matter, it's absolutely beautiful with tons of history but also quite bleak and very cold.  I've put together a few photo collages from the weekend.

 There was lots of food and drink and a fab spa day at the Fairmont resort.

My son, Joe and his partner Katie joined us and, as it was their first visit to St Andrews, we did the touristy bit showing them around the town.

The University

The Castle...

...don't you love a loo with a view? (centre pic below)

and crawling through the tunnels underneath the castle was a lot of laughs too, though I think there were moments when we were laughing just so we didn't cry.

The Cathedral

Love this selfie of us all at the top of the Cathedral Tower.

The Gin Tour

We also visited the local brewery and gin & whisky distillery, Eden Mill, where we may or may not have sampled four G&Ts each as part of the Gin Tour.

If you're a gin girl (or boy) I highly recommend the gin tour.  All the Eden Mill gins are abs delish, the guys at the Eden Mill were super friendly and I think you can tell from the pics we had a lot of fun there.

Eden Mill Gins

Original gin - citrus and seabuckthorn - forget the lime slice add some pink grapefruit

Love gin - tastes of berries and citrus - try it with raspberries

Oak gin - tastes of whisky - great with an orange slice

Golf gin - made using hickory (golf club wood)

Hop gin - tastes of beer - add a sizzling chilli slice

And on Sunday, Flicky's actual 21st birthday, there was even a birthday cake...

...with candles that Rob and Colin, Flicky's two housemates helped her blow out.

It was over all too soon but I was almost glad to get back to slightly warmer weather on the US east coast and slightly pained in the knowledge it'll soon be just as cold or colder here too.

Happy 21st Birthday Flicky xxx

If you'd like to read more about St Andrews you can click through to my previous posts on the images below:

Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)

 

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This post may be linked to some great Linky Parties, always a great source of inspiration too.  If you click through to my 'Fave Linky Parties'  page you can  see where I like to share my work.

The Pyjama Game

I'm looking to teach a pyjama pant class this year so I wanted to find a good, reasonably priced pattern that I could use with students.  

My friend, Amy, who orders all the books, notions and other goodies for us at The City Quilter suggested this book, Sew Easy Pajama Pants by Cindy Taylor Oates which comes in around the $15 price mark.

I tested the pattern by making these two pairs of pyjama pants, one for my daughter, Flicky and one for my dil, Katie.

Fabrics:

Eucalyptus in Jade from the Pretty Potent collection by Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit (and yes, I cut the fabric upside down! :( )

 Riddles and Rhymes Cloud collection by Tina Givens for Free Spirit

I made up one pair extra small and the other as a small.  The pattern is straightforward and easy but I was immediately concerned about the length from the waist to the crotch as the finished pants are supposed to sit on the hips rather than the waist.  Flicky, I knew, would be very happy with this fit but I wanted a higher waist for Katie so I adjusted the pattern for one pair adding an extra inch to the length in this area.

From the paper pattern I could see the leg length would be a perfect fit for me but I'm only 5' 2" - not a problem for Katie but Flicky is 5' 8" and likes extra length in her pyjama leg so I added extra inches to the length of her pants too.

I gave the girls their pj pants for Christmas, they were as eager to get into them as I was to see the fit on each of them.  I can report that both pairs fitted perfectly.  They both have enough ease in them but not too much so the pant fit isn't baggy, which is just how they like them.

I like the pattern, the price and design and it'll be great in class to be able to cover ways to lengthen and adapt patterns to get the correct fit.  The finished pants were a hit with my girls and there's no better recommendation than that!!!

What do you call yours: pyjamas, pajamas, jammies, pjs or do you have another word for them?

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