CHARM ABOUT YOU

Congratulations! I'm sending you an email :)

Thanks to everyone who entered and stay tuned for another giveaway soon. Hopefully later today I will be showing you my entry in the Blogger's Quilt Festival so please pop back!

This month I decided to use this beautiful Joy Flower by Nani Iro print from Miss Matatabi to make something just for me because the pretty blooms fit the le challenge theme 'Nature'.

Since there have been occasional breaks in the rain and the sun has magically appeared in the sky from time to time I've been thinking about summer hair. I love headbands but my hair is quite thin and they never stay put... until now. Enter wonderful double gauze fabric and some gardening wire.

Double gauze is so light but not slippery so it's perfect for this. I used this tutorial by Eat Sleep Make but I made a couple of adjustments.

I cut my fabric strip 36" x 4.5" so it was narrower. I looped the ends of the wire and secured it with some tape so it wouldn't poke through the fabric. 

Once I had sewn the sides together and threaded the wire through, I hand sewed a few stitches through the wire loops to secure them into the end seam. Make sure you only stitch the folded seam and don't push your needle through to the other side or you will see the stitches on the headband, you just want to catch the wire loop so it doesn't slip around. I closed the ends by hand sewing a ladder stitch. 

If you want to see how to tie these headbands or want other ways to wear them check out this fun video!

**GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED**

{despite my best efforts I have no idea what that colour is! It could be Mint by Bella Solids}; Chinese Lanterns, Lark by Amy Butler; Kasbah, Lark by Amy Butler; Jewels by Lizzy House; Mallow and Bee, Misaki by Melissa White.

School Bus by Kona; Triflora, Loulouthi by Anna Maria Horner; Lovesme Lovesmenot, Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner; City Planting, Habitat by Jay McCarroll; Raise The Roof, Habitat by Jay McCarroll.

{Again not sure but I think it's Popsicle by Bella Solids}; Souvenir, Lark by Amy Butler; Dot N' Square, Mini Mikes by Michael Miller; Farmhouse Birds, Farmhouse Retreat by Renee Nanneman of Need'l Love for Andover; Floral Drop, Deer Valley by Joel Dewberry.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED - THANKS FOR ENTERING!

To win the entire 1/8 yard bundle of fifteen fabrics just leave a comment telling me what your favourite band or song was when you were fifteen. (I suspect mine was something from Crazy, Sexy, Cool by TLC or Gangsta's Paradise!)

For a second chance to win follow Charm About You by Bloglovin, GFC or email and leave another comment.

I like to reply to comments but since giveaways are usually busy I won't reply to comments on this post. That doesn't mean that no-reply bloggers will be able to win though! If I can't reach you then you can't win, so please leave your email (myemail at soandso dot com) in the comment.

The giveaway is open internationally, the winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on 17th May.

Once you've entered head over to Sew Mama Sew to see more great giveaways!

Another basket made. If you follow me on instagram you might have seen the state of my sewing area, I seriously need organisation! 

Again I used Ayumi's brilliant tutorial and enlarged the measurements using 2.5" squares. I chose some of my favourite fabrics and I love the selvedge running along one side - sure it's upside down but a lot of my life is ;)

Have a great weekend! I'm planning to sew as much as possible after just looking at my FAL list. Feeling the need for finishes!

Linking up:

at Quilt Matters this week

and finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts

I have a little finish today but I'm warning you that with it comes a tale of the reality of motherhood that might be too much information.

I made a zip bag for my girls to keep their hair clips and bobbles in. It seemed totally appropriate to make it using bow tie quilt blocks. The tutorial I used has three useful sizes for this block and each block I made is 3".

The back uses more of some sweet butterfly fabric that Sheila kindly sent me, the inside is lined with a sweet gauze fabric and the zip was won in a giveaway (ages ago!) from Hadley. To give the bag a little bit of structure I used some budget heavyweight interfacing - I've used this in a few projects and while it doesn't bond as well as more expensive brand products it is just fine for this sort of thing and a great price. I also used it when I made clutch bags and it worked nicely to add support.

And why the need for a little bag? Well I was using one of those free make up bags to store their hair accessories but since a stomach bug has swept through my house there was an incident. The little one was happily carrying the bag around and then out of nowhere vomited on it, in it... just all over it. Once she was cleaned and happy I had to debate whether to just throw it all out but I couldn't bring myself to waste all those lovely hair clips (nevermind the fact I'd bought a load of new clips just the other day!). So I washed the contents of her stomach off them, left them to dry and ditched the bag. The clips were saved and a new bag was constructed. Told you it was too much information.

On to nicer things.

I've started working on last months English Country Garden BOM. I need to find time in the day when the little one is napping and not vomiting so I can concentrate and attempt to use monofilament thread - I daren't try in bad evening light.

I also need to decide what project I will be making/finishing for next weeks link up at le challenge. The link opens on the 15th May (actually the 14th to give time for the world to enter!) and the theme is 'nature'. 

If you've finished anything recently that fits the theme remember to join us for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop!

I try to resist a good sale... for about 3 seconds before checking out if there's any gorgeous fabric that I have to have! This week I received some real lovelies.

There was an extra 30% off these Japanese fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics:

Summer Plaid in Red, Summerhome by Hemma Design; Petit Point in Navy, Petit Points by Michael Miller; Graph Check in Orange, Citrus by Another Point of View and some Wonder Clips

This is the first time I've tried the Wonder Clips and now I know what the fuss is about. I have used the hairclip style clips for binding before but they were kind of annoying and tended to leave dent marks so I gave up using them. The wonder clips are so easy to use and I've found that as I'm hand binding they really keep the binding in place so well that even when I take them off the fabric behaves and stays neatly folded over. Also I have a lot less tension in my left hand - usually I have to stop because my hand hurts so much from holding the binding in place. They are also available in the UK here.

I receive a few email newsletters from different online shops, it's a fun way to see what new fabrics are available and also to find out about special offers and sales. Tikki had 20% off for May Day and I needed some neutrals solids so that was my excuse: