Tuesday 26 December 2017

Quilters Christmas Swap - Part I


Quilters group have a swap at Christmas dinner where members who want to play along put a fat quarter of fabric in a paper bag with their name on the outside at the start of the year.  The paper bags are then randomly given out and you make a present using the fabric inside for whoever you get - no rules, whatever the maker chooses, add any fabrics you like or not, put in extras or not, No. Rules. (I love that!) - with the whole year ahead to get that sorted.  I was given P.H.'s paper bag.

She had put in a fat quarter of a gorgeous fabric...
The design...really bad colour but shows the whole design...
a close up - shows the colours much better...

In March with the sewing friends a road trip was on the agenda to Terang's quilt show (we will definitely be putting it on the agenda again) and of course it was mandatory that we visit the local shop.  I had taken the paper bag along "just in case" which was just as well as I found lovely fabrics to go with.  Now all I needed was...well...what to make! I wanted to maintain the integrity of the pattern of P.H.'s fabric as it was so gorgeous and didn't want to chop it up into little bits and lose the pretty...Mmmm...

I chose a project but that was abandoned (fortunately before I started) when sitting across the table from P.H. at sewing one night she had that very thing.  Another night she noticed my thread bin on the table and made a comment on it, bells immediately went off - one of those for a start!! A further rummage through the patterns unearthed a Virgina Enright zipped box bag pattern where I could showcase her fabric.  I also made a large pincushion at the last moment because I had fabric left and I could...
 The finished zipped box bag...
 Surprise! There is P.H.'s fabric...
 The whole "set"...
P.H. told me she liked it and I saw her face when she opened it, looking for her fabric and then "surprise" when she opened the zip and saw it on the inside.

The brown and orange clamshell fabrics and green floral I bought in Terang and the red chrysantheneum and lining fabrics came from my stash and think they all went together rather well.

I'll show what I received next time...

Happy Stitching...

7 comments:

Jo said...

That project bag is so useful. You did well with showing off the fabric.
Hope you had a good xmas day.

Christine M said...

What a great bag, Annette. Such lovely gifts.

Maria said...

You made a beautiful bag with your FQ.
Hope you had a fabulous Christmas 🎄 day.

Maria said...

The gifts that you made with that beautiful fabric are stunning, Annette. Clever you for making it the lining in the zippered bag, so it could be seen in its entirety instead of being in little patches in pieced work.
My mum was born in Terang and I eventually visited it way back in the early 90s and took photos of places that she had talked about for years...especially the convent school where she said the nuns were a bit mean...😉

Michelle Ridgway said...

What a gorgeous set you made Annette..... lovely to be able to appreciate that gorgeous fabric every time you open it. Well done!

elliek said...

Love the bag and oooh sneaky you! Love it.

Andrea said...

It's been a while since I've dropped by, but am sure glad I did this morning - I am in love with that set of items made from the challenge fabric. Amazing work keeping the fabric in big pieces. Love, love, love it! :)