Friday 27 June 2014

Scrappy Crafting in Brittany

We had a wonderful time in France ...3 weeks in all...mainly travelling around central Brittany although we did make it to the coast a couple of times for some lovely beach walks. I have some great photos of our holiday but this is a crafty post as I know I haven't written one in a while.

I always like to take some crafts along with me on holiday and this time I took all my fabric scraps! Bags and bags of them! I'm completely mad, I know! I also took my Accuquilt cutter. Madder still. Quite a heavy item to take but we fitted it in. I was pleased we did as I spent quite a few evenings (mainly when it was raining outside) sat at the little table in Harvey J cutting useful squares from my scraps. I returned home with these....I will probably make a scrappy quilt from them......


I also wanted to try to make some fabric string as I thought this would be a good thing to do whilst travelling. As a passenger, I enjoy looking at the French countryside but I like to have something to focus on and break the monotony of a long drive. Chris does all the driving in France so I am free to do stuff!

I had found this great tutorial on how to make fabric string from My Poppet.....


Click on the photo to go to the tutorial.

You use scrap 'strings' of about an inch wide and I have loads of these...


So I had a go at making some string and hey presto....


...before I know it I had created a ball of string!

Note that the glove compartment doubles as a sewing/craft box!

I also made a Windmill block for my Holiday Quilt...see the tab Holiday Quilt Blocks above to see my other blocks.



Towards the end of the holiday, I started a scrappy hexagon patchwork quilt. Actually I didn't know what it was going to be at first but once I'd got into the swing of the English paper piecing, (and the fact I could use up more scraps!) I decided I definitely wanted to make a quilt for the recently decorated spare bedroom. 
Mainly in blues.....


by the time I arrived home I had this!


I decided to break up the blues with random hexie flowers of contrasting colours.

So as you can see it was definitely a 'fun with scraps' holiday!

Maggie xx

7 comments:

  1. Wow, you certainly got a lot done on that vacation! I do hope you'll post some pictures from your jaunt.

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  2. Can I go with you next time? What fun to go in the van and Chris can drive and you and I can craft! LOL! It sounds wonderful to me! LOL! You got a lot done and I love all your projects and your color choices. Your block is awesome and I love the hexies. I "pinned" that fabric string too but haven't tried it. I love the look of it and it looks like you got the hang of it right away. You Brits know how to vacation and how to enjoy life when I worked I rarely got one as most of my measly 5 or 10 days a year got used as sick time with 4 kids and myself. You have it right....we have it all wrong! LOL!

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  3. Wow! Look at you go, Maggie! I think it's cute that you packed all that stuff in the car!

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  4. Now that is quite a lot of fabric and so many wonderful patterns, love it! Can't wait to see the finished quilts :) And thanks for sharing the fabric string tutorial. I've been looking for something like that for quite a while now.
    Greetings from Germany!

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  5. Hi Maggie, we have just joined each others blogs and on reading your details I realise you are from Stroud Gloucestershire, I am from Quedgeley Gloucestershire and spent most of my childhood on my Uncles farm in Slad so we have so much in common, Roz x http://france-ourlifeinfrance.blogspot.com/

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  6. Love seeing your arts and crafts along your way on your holiday! I checked out the great tutorial on making the fabric twine. Love seeing that your glove compartment doubles as a sewing kit!

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  7. I'm glad to read that you enjoyed travelling in France. Brittany is a nice place to visit indeed. Nice job you've already done. Have a nice day!

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