Patchwork notebook

I love a bit of patchwork - and since my patchwork dress I haven't had a chance. But with a beautiful collection of fat quarters of fabric from Amsterdam for my birthday, I decided to have a go covering some books as presents. I cut out lots of tiny squares and machine patchworked them together.

Then I covered brown plain paper notebooks from Paperchase. For two of them, I then stitched a ribbon horizontally across the book at the spine so they could be tied shut. Unfortunately, the pictures I have are of the one I gave my dad - without a ribbon.

A new toy - Super Galaxie 2000

I got a sewing machine for Christmas. Slightly intimidating at first as I've never used one before. It's a Brother Super Galaxie 2000 - bought by Alex from a lovely lady on ebay. Luckily, because it's electric and has a touch screen in the corner, it tells me when I'm doing basic things wrong - like trying to sew without the foot down. I had a number of sewing for beginners books, but to be honest, the operation manual for the machine was most helpful for getting started.

Looking a little nervous

My first creation - a thank you cushion.

I made a buttonhole - although it's only recently I worked out how to make it the right size for buttons.

First go at patchwork