My drawstring bag made with recycled fabrics

               

My son has been begging me to make him a a toy sack for ages, so I eventually gave in and whipped out the sewing machine. As this is only a toy sack I didn't want to buy any new fabric for it so I raided my fabric stash that is rapidly over taking my bedroom and dug out this lot.

The main focus was an old spider man top my son has grown out of, he really loves spider man so this was a great opportunity to preserve the fabric. The rest of the fabrics, which are scrapes left over from previous sewing projects and some of my sons old shirts, were chosen to colour match with the spider man top. The main blue fabric which also forms a lining was made from an old sheet.

This was originally a long sleeve top, I cut off the sleeves and the front of the top. To preserve the design on the top I decided to applique the top front on to the main body fabric.

For the back of the bag I decided to make a scrappy patchwork from the fabric.

I aimed for a block size of 10 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches and sewed strips together, some wonky, some straight(ish), paying no attention to seam allowance. Some pieces of fabric were not long enough for the block so were pieced together to fit. I then cut down the seams to 1/4 inch.

I ended up with lots of scrappy blocks, that needed to be squared up so they could be sewn together. To square the blocks I used my ruler and rotary cutter and cut them down to 10 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches. I found I had some large strips left after squaring the blocks so I decided to cut those down to 10 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches and my scrappy blocks ended up looking like this:

Then it was easy to sew the blocks together in rows giving me a finished piece of fabric which I then bordered with the blue main body fabric and I ended up with this:

All that is left to do now is sew all the pieces together to make a lined drawstring bag, or sack as my son calls it. There is a really great online class that teaches how to construct the drawstring bag on the website Craftsy. The video tutorial is free, you do have to register on the site, but that's free as well. Craftsy is a site deicated to crafters and has a really good selection of sewing and quilting projects. Some classes do have a fee, but there are quite a number of free classes on there also. To go to Craftsy click here.

You could end up with a lovely finished project like this.

                 

Keep scrimping x

Delicious pear chutney recipe

 I have just finished the last of the pear chutney that I made for Christmas. It was the first time I have ever tried to make a chutney and it is really simple to make. 



 Much easier that jam making, so don't be put off by the thought of special thermometers, sugars and pans, there is none of that here. 

Chutney is really easy to make and a great way of preserving your harvest through the winter months. 

Here is my recipe for delicious pear chutney. This a delicious chutney recipe using lightly spiced pears.

Sowing in yoghurt pot seed trays

I have started to sow my seeds today in little yoghurt pot (well custard pot actually) propagators. If you have read my tips on planning a fruit and veg garden you may be a bit confused by this.

I used to (well the last two years that I have grown veggies) sow outdoors, partly because I found it less daunting as a novice and partly because I didn't have the space to start seeds off in doors.

Well this year, armed with all I have learnt in my previous growing seasons, I have cleared off all the windowsills in the flat, (had to stop myself from clearing off my sons bedroom windowsill too) and have decided to use them to sow my seeds in doors.

My plan is to start off some early in doors and then do a later sowing outdoors. By staggering the sowing in this way I hope to lengthen my growing season and to have veggies ripening at different times so I won't have too much of a glut.

Free Seeds

I have just picked up a copy of February's Grow Your Own magazine which came with 4 packets of free seeds. Actually I only bought the magazine for the seeds.

I have never bought any seeds that cost more than £1, (although I'm sure that will change as I get more in to the varieties of  veggies) so I worked out that as the mag costs £3.99 I would be paying around £1 per packet of seeds and I got a lovely mag thrown in for free.

There are more free seeds with the March mag, and there probably was in the January mag as well, but my news agent doesn't have any of those.

Other gardeners may well be getting some free seeds with a magazine, I am getting a free magazine with my seeds!

Why I LOVE Wilkinson

Wilkinson is one of those old highstreet stores, opened by J.K.Wilkinson in Leicester in 1930 and now boasts over 335 stores nationwide. Think Woolworth without the clothing. In fact they seem to be going from strength to strength now that poor Woolworth has met its demise. Oh how I miss Woolworth.

Anyway, Wilkinson is helping me get over my Woolworth grief.

So why do I love Wilkinson? Well they have a very good value gardening section, selling among other things, gardening equipment, seeds and compost.