Today was Fred's last day in infants (I still use the old school way of thinking!) and he'll be starting juniors in September so I was a little teary. I'm ok really, I cry at anything, but it is a milestone. It was also Joan's last day in early years (new school lingo) so I wanted them to make something fun for their teachers' thank you gifts. I got this Pebeo Marker and let the kids draw on some coffee mugs. They also made one each for themselves and they've gone through the dishwasher and come out perfectly, I would vouch for it's staying power thus far! I let the mugs sit for a couple of days and then baked them (as instructed on the packet). For their teachers Joan drew some cute characters and Fred went for diggers, faces and a clown! They also wrote little thank you cards.


To wrap the mugs and the tissue holders I made, I went for my favourite drawstring bag pattern by Jeni. I let the kids choose the main fabrics and I picked out the accents. I wanted to try something a bit different and decided to use my Fat Quarter Shop Aurifil Thread Box, The Finishing Set in Scone to add some chunky stitches to the drawstring casings with 12 weight thread. I used 50 weight in the bobbin and lowered my tension slightly. The colours worked perfectly, I think the Fat Quarter Shop really chose the colours for each box so well. I also love that this gave the bags a more homemade look, in a good way! When you go to the effort of making something you want people to realise that you did!


I was a little pushed for time so I used ribbon rather than make ties and honestly I don't love making fabric ones anyway so this was a win.


The teachers all loved their gifts, I'm happy that the kids got involved and they are pleased they got to keep a mug! The bags were on my fal list for Q3 so that's another one ticked off  ✓


A bit of fabric came home with me from Patchfinders the other day, I got some Widescreen by Carolyn Friedlander. Black for backing and binding and white for background, I already started cutting it for a quilt pattern I'm hoping to teach.



And finally onto something new. The Quiltmania team have created a new magazine, stylishly titled 'Simply Moderne' and Issue 1 is now available. The cover features part of a stunning quilt 'Bubbles' by one of my favourite quilters and bloggers, Rachael of Blue Mountain Daisy and that'd be reason enough for me to get it! You can buy Simply Moderne on their website here (available in English or French) or if you're in the US you can buy it at Barnes & Noble. You can even get a sneak peek inside on the website too if you need more tempting! 

I ordered my Special Spring Issue of Quiltmania (the one with the very popular My Small World by Jen Kingwell pattern) from them online and it was delivered very quickly to the UK so I'm very much looking forward to receiving my copy of Simply Moderne.