Meadowland quilt

 

I wanted to share this quilt with you now that it is finally finished... it took most of 2019 to complete, but I am super proud of it!!

I decided to join the quilt-a-long on instagram for the meadowland quilt, run by the pattern designer @thencamejune. This ran from February 25th for 6 weeks to finish with the quilt top. I had bought the my minds eye for riley blake 'blush' collection with the intention of making myself a quilt to go on my bed, so this seemed like the perfect excuse to start. Although the deadlines were stressful, they did keep me motivated to stick with it and keep sewing.

 

 

The hardest thing was choosing the fabric placement to get a nice mix of colours and prints across the quilt top. It was the first time I had followed a proper pattern for a quilt so working the fabrics into the existing design was something new for me. I was originally going to just go for it and let it be random, but ended up opting for a repeat of four blocks which used all of the fabrics once.

Once happy with the design, I began making. I cut all of my pieces out and used the chain piecing method to speed up the initial sewing process. I was very cautious with the flying geese sections to ensure my fabric ran in the same directions and the points matched perfectly. I'll admit there were some tears and unpicking to shift the blocks over just a few mm's to get it right and although not perfect it's as near as is possible !!

 

 

I made the quilt top to one of the largest sizes on the pattern and when it was pieced, it was quite an impressive size. It covers a double bed easily and meant a few step ladders were needed by my helpers to get a full length photo !!

 

Given the size of the quilt, I decided to treat myself to having it long arm quilted. I pieced the pink backing fabric and sent it off to the cumbrian longarm quilter and chose a nice swirly design as I didn't want to clash with the fabrics or patchwork design. I got it back in early May, around my birthday and was super excited to see it quilted, but also daunted by the prospect of trimming and binding it.

 

 

When December came around, I was determined to get the quilt done before Christmas, so I got some help to get the binding on and sat with Christmas films to hand finish the 9m of binding.

 

 

On Christmas eve, I finally had a completed quilt. With the festivities, I didn't get around to laying it out and photographing it. I would have liked to have taken it to the coast for some pretty pictures with scenery, but instead opted for keeping it clean and showing it on the bed !!

 

 

I'm rather proud of this quilt as it's my biggest one to date and I get to keep it and enjoy it for years to come. I'm also pleased to say it's another project ticked off my finish-a-long list too.

 

Mx

Glam bag

I made this bag as part of a Christmas gift for a friend. She's a beautician so when I saw these fabrics, I knew they would be perfect for her bag. I mixed prints from the 'Kiss me, Kate' range by See Kate Sew for Riley Blake and 'Glam Girls' by American Dream House for Michael Miller.

 

I designed the panels to mix the fabrics and spread the colours. I then worked out the quilty maths and cut my pieces as follows:

 

lips: 15 1/2" x 3 1/2"  +  14 1/2" x 3 1/2"

xox: 3 1/2" x 4 1/2"  +  3 1/2" x 4 1/2"

bows: 9 1/2"x 2 1/2"  +  3 1/2" x 5 1/2"

lipsticks: 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"  +  6 1/2" x 4 1/2"

eyelashes: 9 1/2" x 4 1/2"  +  3 1/2" x 4 1/2"

stripe: 6 1/2" x 4 1/2"  +  6 1/2" x 5 1/2"

 

The panel was made using the quilt as you go method with 1/4" quilting and seam allowances. I then added the sequin print to the top and base with 1/2" quilting. I created the handles with the same sequin fabric, with interfacing for strength and batting for comfort.  

 

 

I boxed the corners on the base and lined with the bows fabric to finish. I also added a little handmade label into the side seam.

 

 

I'm pretty pleased with how the bag turned out and think it's a useful size... Thankfully my friend is also pleased with it!! This is one of my finish-a-long projects which you can find here.

 

Mx

Christmas coin purse...

This Christmas, I am taking part in the #simpleandsweetchristmaspouchswap on Instagram. For the swap you needed to make one pouch and up to two Christmassy extras. I will be sharing the main pouch after Christmas, I have already shared my first extra here and this is the second extra I sent...

 

It is a simple coin purse for all those festive shopping trips... or I imagine it might hold a small Christmas stitching project.

 

I used cotton and steel Noel and tinsel fabrics, plus some basics in the pink colours. I did some scrappy patchwork to make the most of the fabric I had, plus the chance to include more prints. I did  choose the cute candy cane print for the lining. I added a little star charm to the zip pull as a final detail. Since my partner had said she liked these fabrics, I really hope she likes what I made.

If you want to make your own zip pouch, but don’t know where to start, I made this tutorial a while ago. Read it here!

I am also including this project as one of my finish-a-long Q4 finishes. You can view my list here and learn more about the challenge on their blog here.

Mx

Dashwood advent

After making a stocking last year for a friends little girl, I decided an advent calendar would be perfect for this Christmas. I picked out the dashwood studio panel, with a very cute illustration, and little pockets for chocolate coins.
 

 

After I’d cut out the pockets, I decided to wundaweb all of the sides down to help stop it fraying with use. I top stitched across all of the top edges and then stitched all the pockets on to the panel.
I cut a piece of backing and wadding to the same size as the advent panel. I also cut out 4 rectangles of backing fabric to create hanging loops. With these, I stitched 2 pieces of backing fabric wst, then turned it out and repeated to create 2. I topstitched the two pieces in place to the upper section of the backing, leaving a gap between them. I then stitched the advent rst to the backing and wadding pieces, trimmed some wadding from the seam allowance and turned out. I stitched up the turning gap and added some top stitching/quilting to the advent to hold the layers together. I cut a piece of dowel to size and threaded it through the tubes. I then ladder stitched both outer ends closed to stop it falling out. The gap in the middle means you can just hang it up or add a ribbon if you need too. 

 

This is one of my finishalong projects, you can check out the rest of my list here.

Mx

Pretty little mermaid

Last year this pretty little mermaid cross stitch kit was a free gift with a magazine. It was a fun little project to stitch in the car. I then left it unfinished til today. I added some pink felt on the reverse and used DMC threads (E316 & 48) to stitch around the outside of the mermaid. I then trimmed both fabric layers to the same size. 

This is one of my finish-a-long projects and I’m so happy I finished it. It looks so cute, especially in its gifting card, that was supplied in the kit.

To see my other finish-a-long projects click here!

Mx

Diamonds for Christmas...

I made this cushion as a gift for my friend Zena for Christmas. I used cotton and steel fabric in pink and red tones. I mainly used the Noel and tinsel fabric ranges but added some off their basics to break up the prints. I knew she loves diamond patchwork so it was an obvious design choice for her cushion. I cut quite a few diamonds then played around with the layout until I was happy. I took a picture as reference and began sewing. I found it a little confusing to sew together at first, but I soon got the hang of things. I was quite pleased with how it came together and that most of my points matched. I used some fusible batting on the back and quilted using some verigated thread. I chose to just do a straight line of quilting either side of the seams. I made up the back of the cushion in the light pink colour and included a zip. I couldn’t decide which colour/fabric would look best so opted to make this cushion using the turning out method instead of binding it like a quilt.

I also added some extras to my parcel, a haberdashery design biscuit tin with cookies inside, a winter scented reed diffuser. I cut some low volume fabric to make a mini hexie charm pack and made a couple of felt decorations for her tree. I included this cute Christmas card that I made too, which used the perfect image since Zena loves deers. 

Mx

Sew 6 organisers giveaway

 

As part of the sewalong, we also held a giveaway at the end. Me and Zena sent a prize each with winners selected at random from those who joined us in the sewalong. My winner was Maja. 

We decided that since the participants had the book already,  we would use a different pattern by Aneela Hoey. I chose to make a flex frame case and hand stitch some decoration on, using the stitch & sew book.

I added a few extras to the package including some ribbon, a  notepad, pen, some little stationary bits and a handmade card. 

This was also one of my finish-a-long projects that I had on my list. you can see the original post here to find out more! 

Mx

simply screen printed totes

I have customised plain white cotton and calico tote bags with screen sensation screen prints. I have used  the 'dog', 'gothic peony', 'kaleidoscope', 'plumage' and 'plumage & folliage' screens with 'black', 'chrysanthemum', 'harbour blue', 'raspberry' and 'turquoise' inks. The screen prints add a bit of personality to a plain tote, perfect to use for shopping or gifting to others!

If you fancy screen printing at home, check out my blog post here all about screen sensation... plus there is a discount code to get 25% off supplies at crafting.co.uk
Mx

colourful creations...

 I took some basic white tote bags and customised them using two processes to create these colourful creations. To get the background colour, I first dyed the totes using inkodye. Each bag was scrunched and folded in different ways to create the tie dye effect. Although the dye can look great on it's own, I decided to add another layer to some using screen sensations prints. I have used the 'dog', 'fantasy flight', 'gothic peony', 'kaleidoscope' and 'plumage' screens with 'black', 'chrysanthemum' 'raspberry' and 'shadow purple' inks. I think these make the perfect gift for somebody who likes to be unique, since no dyed bag comes out the same and the screen adds a bold dash of personality to each one.

If you fancy screen printing at home, check out my blog post here all about screen sensation... plus there is a discount code to get 25% off supplies at crafting.co.uk
Mx

bow-tiful bag...

 

to make this bag i used a cotton canvas material in two coordinating fabric prints and a simple cream cotton lining.  I used a Debbie shore pattern from the high style handbags project cd. the bumper bow bag is quite simple to make, however I did need to make a few changes to the pattern. I have listed these below for reference. I think if you are a bit more skilled, this bag would benefit from a magnetic clasp or maybe a inside pocket.

 

• bumper bow bag handle- cut 2 outer fabric (only says 1 on pattern)
• bumper bow bag bow: cut 1 outer fabric...this piece needs to be thinner, take about 1cm of the width

 

Mx

tweet tweet...

I thought I'd share some more of my hand stitched felt key rings with you. I found a template on pintrest and printed it out. I then used this to cut the felt pieces to make the birds. Each one has two pieces for the body and two wings, I used a different shade of the coloured felt for the wings and chose embroidery floss to match. I laid the pieces out with a wing on each body piece making sure they were facing the opposite way so they would come together to make a bird. I then secured the wings with blanket stitch on the blue one and backstitch on the others. I added French knots in black thread to create eyes. I then stitched the two body pieces together using blanket stitch. Once part way round, I added stuffing to give the birds some shape and secured a loop of ribbon to attach the key ring and completed the stitching to close the gap. These were nice easy shapes to cut and sew, so they would be perfect for beginners !

 

Mx