The Easy Peasy Mini Tote - Free pattern

When I released the Easy Peasy Christmas Sampler I mentioned that I was going to make a Santa sack from one of the blocks. Well, amazingly, I have actually finished it! It's approximately 10 1/2" x 13 1/2", so a decent size for little gifts and for little ones to fill with their favourite possessions when they want to tote them around. I have visions of dinosaurs and Lego being carried around in this one when Christmas is over.

This fantastic dotty print from Gardenvale by Jen Kingwell was the perfect snowy background for the nutcracker block. I wanted to make sure the bag was going to be up to the task of toting toys for a decent amount of time so lining was essential. I used another print from Gardenvale to pull everything together.

This mini tote took less than an hour to make so it's a perfect last minute make. As making this made me feel festive I thought it might be fun to share how I made it so you can make your own!
You can download the PDF pattern free here. I'd love to see you version if you make one so please feel free to email a picture to reene@nelliesniceties.com or use the hashtags #easypeasyminitote #nelliesniceties on social media. Catch you soon x

Mixed up and muddled up

Some time last year I bought myself a copy of EQ7 in the hope that it would help me to design quilts in a bit more detail than I managed to achieve with TouchDraw. It sat untended for a very long time because I just couldn't wrap my head around all the learning that was needed to get to grips with it. Last week I pulled up my big girl pants and started reading the manual. I have only just scratched the surface of what can be achieved with the programme so far but I'm really enjoying the creative freedom that it delivers! You know how much I love a tessellating design, well I've come up with a really versatile one this time. I'd like to introduce - Mixed up and muddled up.

This foundation pieced block contains 26 pieces which fit together in 7 sections. I had some happy mail from Pink Castle Fabrics this week in the shape of the new Cotton and Steel range and I wasted no time in chopping into it to try out this block. I've used fabrics from Tokyo Train Ride, Playful, Cookie Book, Mesa and Mochi along with a print from one of last year's collections, Mustang.

It looks pretty as it is but when you put multiples of four blocks together,well, that's when the real magic happens! I've made four blocks so far and I can't decide which layout I want to stick with. The beauty of EQ7 is that I was able to scan the finished block and tessellate it so that I can see the potential layouts in advance :) Here are just a few of the options:

option 1

 I just love all the secondary patterns that spring out!

option 2

option 3

option 4

It is my intention to make a full-sized quilt with this design when Jen Kingwell's first fabric collection, Gardenvale, hits the stores in April (I think). I'd really appreciate some help deciding which layout to opt for!

I've uploaded the templates and a colouring sheet to Payhip in case any of you are interested in trying out your own version.

I'll look forward to seeing your thoughts on which layout option I should go for. Catch you soon x 

Retreat run down part 2 - the classes

Here's the second installment of my trip to Fat Quarterly Retreat. In fairness it seems a bit daft to call it retreat as it was anything but relaxing! Don't get me wrong, it was fabulous, but totally exhausting. I could happily sleep for a week or two. Anyway, back to the run down.
Day one - First up - Hand quilting with Jen Kingwell. I was so excited about the prospect of meeting Jen as she is one of my biggest quilting idols! Unfortunately I missed over an hour of this class due to transport delays and was so hot and bothered by the time arrived that I didn't actually get to do much hand quilting. Fortunately for me I was lucky enough to have another class with Jen on the Saturday so a major tantrum was unnecessary ;) No photos to show for this class.
Second class - Embroidery with Jo Avery  - it was fantastic to finally meet Jo! We have known each other online for many years thanks to Flickr in the good old days when it was actually a thriving community. Jo was very patient and encouraging which was particularly helpful as our class was fairly high maintenance ;) This is as much as I managed to sew in class...

I predict this being finished some time in the next decade :)
Day 2 First class - Screen Printing with Karen Lewis - I was ridiculously excited about meeting Karen as we have been in constant email contact since a Flickr swap in 2010. Karen is even more fabulous in real life! Despite Karen's best efforts I am not a natural screen-printer, I'm blaming it on the early morning and vertigo. While the rest of my class mates churned out numerous perfect pieces I managed 2 semi-decent prints and gave it up as a bad job. Check out this post on Karen's blog to see what the other members of the group created :)

I do have Karen's awesome new book so I'm not saying never again...

Second class - Green Tea and Sweet Beans with Jen Kingwell - Jen is an amazing teacher! Her down-to-earth style is right up my street. It was an absolute privilege to witness a master at work. Jen was very generous with her expertise and we were all rapt.

I didn't get a great deal accomplished in class as I was too busy ogling Jen's quilts! Here's my sad effort...

...I do love it. I've promised myself I'll finish this quilt before I turn 60 ;) Here's Jen's original!

It's impossible to convey just how beautiful this is in real life but I did take a few close-ups to try and give you a better idea :)

Check out the tiny hand quilting stitches!

I was even lucky enough to see the Gypsy Wife quilt! Let me just tell you that it is so much more awesome in real life. The colours are far softer than they appear on the pattern cover. Kerry and I had a good fabric-porn session ogling all those yummy fabrics!

After all that excitement I was pretty much done in so I gave the Sunday classes a miss. The weekend was truly inspirational and I can't wait to have the energy to get creative again! I'm sure there are plenty of other things I should be telling you here but frankly I've run out steam. I am going to leave you with a giveaway! I've decided to share these lovely freebies with someone who didn't attend retreat.

For a chance to win these lovely goodies just leave the comment NOT AT RETREAT. I will draw a winner by random number generator if there are lots of you (or out of a hat if there a handful of you) on Saturday 26th July around 12 midday (BST). Catch you soon x

Home again - Retreat run down part 1 - the haul

It's been an exhausting but awesome weekend! After 3 years of trying I finally got to Fat Quarterly Retreat. It was lovely to meet lots of bloggy friends in real life. I was completely useless at photographing any of them, I did get lots of photos of fabric though :) Look at this lot! This lot was in the goody bag from the FQR 2014 sponsors. So generous!

 Then I won this fab stack of fabric from Dashwood studios in the FQR raffle!

Following the sensible decision to join the pub quiz team that Hadley was part of (we won obviously!) I had the pleasure of winning this awesome pattern by Jen Kingwell!

Fat Quarterly Retreat market night yielded many fabulous fabric finds. This selection of remnants from Beyond Fabrics ticked a lot of boxes...

...and this selection of Cotton and Steel prints from Eternal Maker put a smile on my face...

...I couldn't resist a few basics from Fluffy Sheep Quilting either.

Then I had the great joy of taking part in the Sample Swap and came home with these fab goodies in exchange for my aprons:

Blue mug rug from Sue Blake, Purple mug rug from Tsoniki, Nested Churndash from Sue Bone and the orange hexie pincushion and key fobs from Corrine.

So after all that fabric indulgence I'm completely whacked. I intend to be back tomorrow with more retreat news. Catch you soon x

Ramblings

This week seems to have gone on forever but I'm thinking that's a state of mind rather than a space-time-continuum issue. We've had our very own Anti-prom, complete with gorgeous teenager in snazzy dress. We decided being home-educated shouldn't stop you from getting glammed up when your former classmates are having their actual prom!

Check out the fabulous corsage ;) 

We were delighted to have been able to attend a few hours of Download Festival with our gorgeous girl! Not so very long ago this would have been totally impossible, so we are very thankful that we finally managed to share the awesome experience of live music with Jess. Iron Maiden and Rammstein aren't too shabby as your first live gigs ;) We've been exhausted since we went 2 weeks ago but it was totally worth it!

On the sewing front I don't have a lot that I can report on just yet. I've been pattern writing this week...yawn! I can't give you more detail about that until some time next month. I've been sewing a quilt from another pattern I've written that I can't show yet either.

I can show a sneak peek of the name tag I've made for my partner in the Fat Quarterly Retreat. This is the back.

All I can show of you of the front is this...

...excuse the moustache ;) I'll show you the rest when my partner receives it whenever that may be as I haven't posted it yet, oops sorry partner!

Hubby painted the bathroom at the weekend so I'm hastily making a roman blind to go in the window so I can stop crawling around on the floor at bath time to avoid showing off my wobbly bits to the neighbours. I'm really way too old and cronky to be crawling anywhere! Anyway, back to the blind, I bought a rather gorgeous stripe fabric from here and cunningly ordered a little extra for a carpet bag for me :) I've used the excuse that I need a new hand sewing project bag as I'll be unable to use the machine for quite a while after my surgery. Who am I kidding? I just wanted to make a new bag :)

 I love it! It's a canvas type fabric so I'm hoping it will stand up to a lot of use. Those red leather handles were a bugger to sew on but they look fab!

 I lined it with this funky Ikea print that I've had stashed for ages.

It's a proper Mary Poppins bag with loads of room inside for projects and other stuff. You can just see the Circle Game pattern book by Jen Kingwell. I've wanted one of these quilts ever since Lynne made hers and as she's been a right cow (love you, Lynne) and not let me have hers I decided to make my own. 

Of course it would have been rude to only purchase one pattern when it was coming all the way from Australia so I added Steam Punk and Midnight at the Oasis to the pile for company. Both the Circle Game and Midnight at the Oasis will be excellent hand sewing projects and who knows I might even get accustomed to hand sewing. Nah, not a chance, I'll miss my machine too much.

So, I got my operation date through the post today, Wednesday 7th August...yikes! I've got a ton of things to get done before then so if I'm quiet you'll know why. No doubt Yvonne will be loitering around these parts while I'm out of commission so it shouldn't be too cobweb strewn ;) Have a good weekend all. Catch you soon xx