Craft Weekend - the results!

So, a fabulous time was had all round and it flew by! I managed to churn out a few bits:

We seem to spend an awful lot of time going back and forth to Cambridge where most of our family live. For ages I've been meaning to make a couple of washbags that I could leave there so I don't need to schlep a bag of stuff around with me. The stripey one is a pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. I was a little disappointed with the final product, mostly with the size. It's described as a weekend away travel bag but there's no way I could fit everything into this...

The tall one I just made from scratch with no pattern but it's a very simple lined pouch with boxed off corners to stand it up. If I ever make this again I'd definitely use interfacing and perhaps a stiffer lining fabric but overall I'm quite pleased with it. Plus it used up an Echino scrap which I've had for ages!

This, believe it or not, is supposed to be a bear! The pattern was from  101 great ways to sew a metre by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins. To be honest, I've had the book for ages and not ever made anything from it as it's not hugely inspiring. However, I really wanted to make something for Ruben and I thought this looked very sweet. It was pretty faffy to make though and I'm not showing any closeups as it's not very well made!! The instructions were fairly easy to follow although there were no photos or illustrations which is a bit of a negative for me. The recipient was very pleased though which makes it all worth while...

These I love!! From this tutorial at Oh, Fransson - I was inspired to make them by Alice who had made them (and blogged them here) and they were SO useful! Both to hold down fabric while cutting and also to stop wispy pattern pieces flying all over the place. These were a last minute make which I hadn't planned so it was off upstairs to the shop and a quick purchase:

Three fat quarters by Amy Butler, top to bottom: Temple Doors in Basil, Laurel Dots in Periwinkle and Sari Blooms in Raspberry.

All in all, it was just lovely to spend time with friends and have a bit of child-free time! We managed to get plenty of gossip in over the hum of four machines and a glass of bubbly or two (although not at the same time as sewing of course....). I had deliberately chosen very simple small projects as I was convinced I wouldn't get any actual sewing in amongst the chat and fun but for next time I'm tackling more of a challenge - we all seemed to get so much made and it was great to have others to bounce ideas off and ask for advice. We're already planning the next one, can't wait!