I took the weekend off to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee

... and boy did I have fun!

We had our street party scheduled for Sunday, well actually it was four streets East, West, North and Alexandra and as I woke up I knew that was not the sound of fluttering bunting that I could hear, Oh no that was good old British rain... and there was no stinting on that weather front!  Bunting was strung from houses and then the committee got together to talk about Plan B... the wet weather solution... Thank goodness we had one!

And here is my sister who finally got to go to a street party, albeit a wet one!

We were able to use the drive way of one of the houses which was covered and with the aid of a large number of gazebos, we were good to go... and then the food started to arrive.

There were savoury tables and in addition to my sausage rolls, I made a Union Jack sausage, egg and Branston Pickle loaf... rather proud of the fact that it came out of the loaf tin in one piece :)

I love this pie,if you would like me to share the recipe, just let me know.


Then came the sweet table... cupcakes, Union Jack cakes, jellies and a number of trifles.  I made one of my faves which is a great way to use up those jars of fruits soaked in alcohol that you get at Christmas and you just don't know what to do with them.  If you want the recipe for that, let me know and I will put it up, it's the white dish at the end covered in toasted almonds.

And one of the most popular guests for photo ops was, Charlie who is a rather handsome cross English with American bulldog, which means he is a four stone hunk of gorgeousness.

Now one of the best local shop windows belonged to local cake makers Fancy Nancy Cakes, from the crown on the top to the corgies peeing on the leg of the guardsman, there was so much detail in this cake and it made me laugh.

Although the cake sculpture of the Queen was amazing.

So, really after all the fun we had last weekend, there is nothing really left to say but, God Save the Queen!

On a warm and sunny weekend I have...

finished off the giveway bunting for Nancy... what do you think, two of the fabrics have fishes, whilst the other has stylised wave.  Nancy wanted something bright and cheerful for her senior's centre... hope that I have fulfilled the brief.  I will be at the PO first thing on the morning to send it through to her.

I also hit Belle Fabrics (or as I will aways know it , Richardson's) where I topped up my fat quarter stash.  they had smuggled in some lovely new summer fabrics together with the most fantastic Australian inspired patterns.  Simply gorgeous!  Rather embarrassing as I had to go back three times... the second time to pick up some fabric for Deborah's bunting that she wants to use for the the Royal wedding and which should tide her over to the Diamond jubilee!    And then I realised that I need some double sided fusible interfacing for some applique I have planned.

  Now, I am off to finish sorting out the lining for my Can Can bag which I am slip stitching in.

And all of this is just done in time for Wendy's Handmade Monday - I am constantly amazed by the ability of my fellow bloggers and the fabulous quality of their work.  I also tried my hand at  Kanzashi flowers, which Lisa posted up as a tutorial on her Dreamstar Diary

PS the bad news is that I also went to the Hand Weavers Gallery in Finsbury Park after my felting course... have you any idea what it feels like to stick your hands into a bag of Merino Tops - it is sublime!  I have a further course on Thursday and will combine the two courses and report back at the end of the week.  Jeanette Trim, I am holding you responsible for my new obsession.

Bunting for beginners

OK team, the sun has been shining this weekend and we only have a couple of weeks before Easter, so now is the time to get into your fabric stash and make some bunting.  If you don't have a stash, I am now going to lead you astray, go to your local fabric shop and ask to look at their fat quarters.  For those of you who have not come across this quilting term before a FQ is a piece of fabric 18 x 22 inches, cost is usually from £2.50 upwards.


And for the third week in a row, I am thrilled to be taking part in Wendy's Handmade Monday - do go and have a look at what the other people from UK Forum are up to... there are some awesome crafters out there.  Go on, take a look (but after you have read the tutorial :) )

What you need:

• Cutting mat and rotary cutters or a pair of dressmaking shears
• 3 fat quarters, sewing cotton
• 4 metres of bias binding, tape or ribbon (this may vary depending on how big a gap you leave between your flags)
• Iron and ironing board
• A chopstick!

1. Fold each of the FQs in half so that the fabric is 9" x 22", cut the fabric along the fold line.

2. Using the diagram cut out five pennants from each piece of fabric.  Save the scraps, as we are going to be making an applique cushion in a couple of weeks time.

3. Place the triangle template on the fabric.

4. Lift the pattern piece away from your ruler, cut the piece with your rotary cutter.  You will notice that the top of the triangle on my flags is blunt... that is because you do not sew right to the tip and this means I can squeeze a little more fabric into my flag.

 

5. Decide which order you want your bunting to follow.

6. Placing right sides together, stitch together the sides using a 1/2 inch seam allowance but leave the bottom open.

7. When you have completed all the triangles, trim the excess fabric away and turn the triangle inside out. 

8. Use the end of the chopstick to ensure that you get a nice pointy end to your pennant.

9. You will see a small excess triangle has appeared on both sides at the bottom, cut it off.  Now press each of the triangles.

10. Fold your tape in half and pin the triangles to the tape - spacing is down to you, some people like to place the pennants side by side but I like to space them out so that there is the space of a triangle between each pennant. 

11. I usually leave about a foot on each end of the bunting so that I am able to tie it round bed posts, trees etc.

12. Sew down your tape - you don't have to use just running stitch you can have a bit of fun and use a contrasting colour and use one of the fancy embroidery stitches on your machine that you have not found a use for yet.

13. Remember you can vary the size of your bunting, I like to use smaller bunting in nurseries and bedrooms, and larger flags outdoors.  

You might want to applique letters onto the bunting - I normally google for a good alphabet font to use but Skip to my Lou has a great alphabet to get you started -  Alphabet font

So there you have it, your bunting.  Get it out there for Easter and the Royal Wedding.

As an added incentive and as I am almost up to 2,000 page views, when I hit this figure I am going to pull a name of one of my followers out of a hat and make that person 10’ of bunting. They will get to choose colour, fabric pattern etc and whether it is for internal or external use. And I promise to try to get it to you in time for the royal wedding.

Good luck everyone!

PS - Would you find it helpful if I said how long the various project take?