March’s mixed sewing

I’ve a variety of projects to report on this month, starting with some secret (at the time) sewing from January.

I mentioned that I was pattern testing and I can now share that it was for Jodi from Sewfearless and was for her Rafka box. Way back in 2013 I tested Jodi’s Mommy Poppins bag and it was lovely to work with her again. This is very clever pattern – the large size box opens out into a useful tray thanks to the curved zip. The pattern went together really well, though I made things difficult for myself by not taking the zip apart. I would certainly recommend deconstructing the zip (as in Jodi’s instructions) or using a separating zip if you make this pattern.

In something completely different, I attended an afternoon workshop and evening talk at Waterloo Quilters by Jennie Rayment. The workshop (Texture into Sudoku) saw us making nine blocks using a variety of folding techniques. I took photos as I went along, but I don’t think they will be much help if I wanted to make the blocks again. There are still finishing touches needed and I will share more photos when these have been completed.

My final update for this month is for the Tiny Nine Patch Challenge and the end is in sight for this project. The borders have been added and the top sandwiched for quilting. Fortunately the backing (which has been in my stash for at least 10 years) was wide enough not to need piecing. However, I did run out of pins when basting the layers and had to find my emergency supply of smaller pins for the borders.

I’ve now completed the quilting and binding and just need to work out how to get a photo of the completed quilt as I think it might be too big for the usual washing line photo.

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Barnyarns "Mystery Box"

Last month I received an email from Barnyarns stating that their mystery box was “back and better than ever”. Always on the look out for a bargain, I ordered one and was keen to see what it would include.

My expectations were somewhat managed when the box arrived as by its size I could tell there would be no cutting mat, wadding or thread boxes inside. (To be fair, it is clearly stated that the image is for illustration purposes only.)

The box contained a variety of items covering a range of crafts, some of which will be useful but many of the items duplicate what I already have.

Cutting mat not part of mystery box

I think previous mystery boxes may have had specific themes (perhaps quilting, dressmaking, embroidery) and these may have been a better option for me than a general box such as this.

(A WordPress version of this post is available here as it may be more mobile-friendly for viewing and commenting.)