Sewing Fun with my Sister

Recently my sister and her family came for a visit. It was her first visit to Tasmania so it was extra special for us and her family. We had ten days and lots of things to do and see. And despite enjoying the local tourist attractions, one of your favourite days was our sewing day together.
Amongst her suitcase she had managed to tuck in some wonderful designer fabrics by Kristen Doran. Many of you may already be familiar with her work, Kristen is one of our designer treasures here in Australia.

The fact that she had bought fabric amused me since she had not sewn on a sewing machine since High School. Something about the designs had captivated her imagination and she just had to have them. For many years I was the only sister of three who was excited by looking and playing with fabrics, and yet here she was pulling out lengths left right and centre gooing and gahhing at each one.
We sent our hubbies away for the day to do boys stuff and we started the day with keen anticipation and genuine excitement. The day gave me a rare opportunity to just sew for the fun of it. Normally I work on a new pattern design so I usually fuss a lot measuring and remeasuring and taking notes down as I work. But this day was different. I felt liberated and a bit of a rebel as I cut, sewed and cut some more. We had no patterns, only brief sketches of what we wanted to make. And yet we were very proud of our efforts.
In a single day with a chatty 3 year old playing at our feet we managed to make 3 notebook covers, a purse and two cushions.
Here's some pictures of the notebooks for you.
The back is just a gorgeous as the front, don't you think?





























Although I think the pace became a bit too much for my non sewing sister at times and she eventually crept away to the sanctuary of the kitchen to prepare the roast dinner for that evening.
This arrangement suited me perfectly as I continued to wizz along on the machine.

Here's the purse.




























When my two daughters arrived home from school they too were keen to get in on the act and another small purse was made by my 15 year old for Miss Three. There was much heated discussion at times as piles of off cuts were "bagzed" for future projects.


















I'm pleased to say that my creative spurge continued a few days later and a journal cover emerged for my eldest.
































I love the detail strip we added to the inside with the little birdies peeking out.

And to her delight a small bag for my youngest also emerged.
Thankfully there were a few birds left over otherwise we could have had a mutiny on our hands.







































I hope Kristen Doran would approve of our sewing day. We have her wonderfully inspiring fabrics to thank for it. There are two more cushions to come. Hopefully my sister will help me out with sharing those with you too. I think they have found pride of place on her bed.
If you haven't already discovered Kristen Doran designer fabrics then do yourself a favour and visit her blog and online shop.
Maybe I should design a range of patterns like these so everyone can enjoy them?
Let me know what you think.

Until next time happy stitching and fabric hunting.
Warmly Lenna

PS My sister has just sent through pics of her Owl Cushions.
Here they are for you.