More sewing and more fabric

I haven't been slacking since last I posted.  I've got on and made a few things for the market in Bristol.  I went to my local fabric shop (which primarily sells curtain fabric) and bought a huge bag of toy and cushion stuffing.  This was by far the cheapest way to buy it but it meant I had to make my own cushion inserts.  Although this can be tedious and time consuming, the bonus is I can make them to exactly the size and shape I want. I had some pretty fabric with little birds on it but not enough for two cushions of any size.  By adding a couple of strips to the bottom I got a shape I was happy with.  I then made the inserts and after adding some pretty floral ribbon and pompom braid to the fronts I finished the cushions with an envelope opening on the backs.  Hey presto, 2 cushions for the market!

Some time ago I made a bag from a lovely linen fabric with scottie dogs on it.  I had enough of this left to make 2 more cushions with envelope backs.

I was quite pleased with both of these projects and I moved on to more owl cushions.  These are great at using up pieces of fabric less than a fat quarter in size.   In all of the cushions I made, the stuffing meets the 1988 safety regulations for filling materials (BS5852/2)  I haven't got a label that says this so I think I will make a sign and display it on my stand. 

Leave a comment with suggestions for other items that use cushion stuffing as I've got over half the bag left!

I've finished the latest bag for Sew Hip Magazine.  This bag has extra firm interfacing (rigid construction) and I made the bias binding I used around the top.  I used a magnetic snap to keep the top closed.  Let me know what you think.

As you know I haven't been in my new house long, but my fabric was getting so mixed up I was finding it hard to locate exactly what I wanted.  I keep my cotton bag making fabric in deep plastic drawers and back before the beginning of time I had the drwers all neat and the fabric roughly sorted by colour.  Over time this has become any fabric being anywhere as I don't put it back where I got it from, and when I have to do a quick clean up I just shove it in!  So I got all my fabric out, folded it and replaced in the drwaers in some sort of order.  Of course I promised myself I will keep the drawers tidy, but I know that I will be back to my shoving ways in due course.  In the meantime I found by doing that I made some space in the drawers.  Oh joy!  Time for web browsing to find some more fabric.  Yippe my favourite pastime.   Now some may say "you don't need any more" but this isn't about need, it's about feeding a passion!   I ordered some from SewMamaSew because their service and fabric selection is great and they're having a sale :-)  I also ordered some from Gone to Earth because she has such lovely, gorgeous fabric, her site is well organised and she's a cyber friend. 

I got this Aquae Vita bundle by Amy Butler.  How gorgeous are these colours?  Now, for UK readers Gone to Earth is based in the UK, but good news for everyone else - she ships EVERYWHERE.  I'll be filling up my drawers with these lovelies quite soon.  Today my sewing plans are for a top for me. Some time ago I wrote about increasing a commercial pattern for a bigger than "B" cup.  I will be using the same pattern again because I had no problems with the fitting.  I've got some pretty blue and aqua fabric in a kind of drapey light weight fabric that I don't know what it's made of.  Because of that, I washed it yesterday and pressed it ready for cutting out today.  I don't want to spend too much time on it as I'm going out for lunch today and I want to get it done before I go.  Ambitious or what?