Friday Night Sew In....

At last I was home for a Friday Night Sew In.
The last two that were held were on nights where I was working.  Very sad face here.  But that all changed last night.  Yayy, happy dance. 
I was able to sit and sew all night in a nice quiet house.  Well, I did have High School Musical on in the background, but don't tell anyone!
I started by glueing down my circle and leaf shapes for the Princess Feather border, then got stitching.

Those circles take ages to stitch around, luckily they're only small!
Next up is to glue and stitch down the flower shapes at the end of the stems- more circles : )  .

Feels great to be doing some stitching at the moment. 
I've finished appliqueing half of the leaves and all the birds onto the first border for my Princess Feather quilt.
Quite a bit of preparation involved in this, but once it's done, I can just stitch away.

Off to pick my fabrics for the remainder of the leaves and then it's on to the berries.  Why do these quilts have so many little circles?

Progress.

Well, some progress on the Princess Feather border yesterday.
Amazing what a day on your own will bring!  Even better, today is more of the same.
Lots of stitching around here at the moment.  It feels really good.

 Luckily there are lots of large pieces in this border, so it stitches up quite quickly. 

Well, I've been very busy lately moving on with my Princess Feather quilt.  I've decided to start a border, having completed the first of four blocks.
I spent ages during the week tracing out my leaf and bird shapes.  I like to use freezer paper to make my applique shapes, then trace around them with a fine pencil, take the freezer paper off and stitch away.  I've recently been converted to using glue to stick down my pieces onto the background.  After years of  being stuck with pins, I'm now free to hold the fabric however I like.
Got out the background and shapes yesterday to start sewing them down, only to realise that I hadn't quite finished stitching down the vines.  Luckily, last night I was meeting up with the ladies from my sewing group so finished stitching down the vines in very pleasant company.
Today, I'm ready to start stitching on the shapes.  I think the border will come together really quickly- well hoping it will really!

These don't look much with the freezer paper still attached, but wait until I stitch them down. 
DD's are out all day, it's raining here, so perfect day for sewing for a few hours.  Housework can wait until tomorrow.

Battery charged, here are some pics of my messenger bag.  Very easy to construct, but DD2 has already put her order in for one.  Of course, she would like some modifications- lining and pockets please.  And I think I'd add a gusset.  Very satisfying.

Bags galore.

I've gone off on a bit of a tangent these days.
I've been doing the odd bit of hand sewing, but have also been going gung-ho with a couple more bags!  I've never been a bag maker, so this is a whole new area for me.

Here is my little bucket bag from a retreat in Adelaide with Quilt Fabric Delights.  It's a Natalie Lymer design "Just Darling".  Gorgeous isn't it?  Oh, just handles to be added.
I also started (and FINISHED!!!) a messenger style bag this afternoon for DD1.
Must take a pic when the camera battery is charged.