My liberty Collider cushion...

I had the pleasure of pattern testing for the collider quilt by made just sew. I was excited to get started when I saw the pattern, although I couldn't commit to an entire quilt, we agreed I would make one block into a cushion. I chose to use Liberty London tana lawn fabrics.

 To make the prints stand out a little I added a solid, I chose the art gallery pure solids, as they are a nice weight cotton to use with lawn fabrics. I used  the cotton candy pink since I didn't want white and thought it would work nicely with the prints I had picked out. If you fancy making your own cushion using this pattern, I made the throw size block to make an 18" cushion and used one fat quarter for all the background pieces.

The pattern is well written and came together nice and quickly. Since there's a lot of sewing and cutting on the bias, I did use best press to starch my fabrics before I started cutting and sewing. I would highly recommend this with this pattern and fabrics. I also used a 75/11 sized needle in my sewing machine because I was using the lawn fabric. 

I decided to do some hand quilting for this cushion. I used a 12 wt Aurifil thread in shade 2021. I used thread gloss to help with the stitching, its not necessary but I enjoy the smell and using it.   

Once it was all hand quilted, I was straight on to making it in to a cushion. 

To make the zip cushion back, I used my tried and trusted method. You can see my tutorial here on how I make them.

The collider pattern is lovely and I'm so happy with my new cushion. You can now buy the pattern here.

Mx

Finish a long Q4 update... lots finished!

 It’s the new year and time to review 2020 Q4 finishes:

• postage stamp style cotton and steel quilt- finished!
• HST cotton and steel quilt- needs binding
• halloween embroidery project and sew along- finished!
• pixie noel quilt- finished plus 3 cushions and a stocking!
• my merry lil christmas swap parcel- finished!
• c+s christmas cushion, stocking & makers mat- will do these 2021
• polar bear cushion- finished!
• christmas cross stitch- needs back stitch/outline
• dashwood advent pouches- finished, well I did let me mum do them so slightly cheated.
• christmas bunting- finished!

On to 2021...

This is my list for Q1, although I am realistic enough to know it will probably take all year. I really do want to get to the bottom of my wip pile. In no order:

• snappy zip pouch for mobile
• liberty cord and cork pouch/bag
• pouch for dad
• 2 doll house fabric quilts
• sewing machine cover
• C+S square cushion
• floral quilt and cushions
• dog fabric car quilt
• sugar plum/Trixie quilt
• tasha noel skirt
• adele dress
• my meadowland cushion
• liberty hst quilt
• Sarah Jane bag
• Embroidery case
• Felt animal kits

Other quilts:

Ice cream soda epp

Hexie epp

Sweet Christmas quilt

Green blanket

Neverland

Wee wanders

Riley Blake sewing kit

Tula all star

Hedgehog kit

Ruby star trio

Little sweetness

Liberty castaway

... probably still forgetting some!

Mx

christmas gift cushion

 There are so many present style patchworks about and most are free. However they weren't quite the right size and had extra seams... so I made my own and thought I'd share it here with you.

It is really simple patchwork and easy for a beginner, (an advanced stitcher will have it made in no time!)

So here we go... all measurements are height x width. Seam allowances are 1/4" unless otherwise stated. The finished cushion is 17" square, although larger borders could be added to make it bigger.

Background: cut 3@ 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

                 2@ 9 1/2" x 3 1/2"

                 1@ 3 1/2" x 18 1/2"

Ribbon: cut 2@ 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

            1@ 2 1/2" x 11"

            1@ 9 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Present: cut 1@ 8" x 11"

To assemble:

                           

1.  Take a 3 1/2" ribbon square, on the wrong side of fabric draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. Place it on top of one of the 6 1/2" background pieces, right side together, and sew on the line across the corner.

2. Trim away the corner to leave a 1/4" seam allowance. 

3&4. Press seam open. Repeat for the other bottom corner.

5. Sew a 6 1/2" background square to both sides of the finished block, using a 1/4" seam allowance. Press seams away from the center.

6. Cut the present fabric in half horizontally. Place the matching ribbon piece in the middle and sew. Press seams open.

7. After stitching the ribbon, cut in half vertically this time. Add the next ribbon piece in the same way, this time press the seams in towards the centre. It will look like this...

8.  Place the 9 1/2" x 3 1/2" background pieces right side together on each side of the present. Press seams away from the centre.

 

9. Once you have the present section all sewn, add the ribbon section to the top. Press this seam open. Then add the remaining background piece to the bottom, press seam away from the centre, to complete the block.

This is what the back will look like.

To finished my cushion, I quilted using a 2" grid on the diagonal. I made a cushion back using my method (find the tutorial here). To keep it simple I didn't add binding this time, choosing the turn it through method and adding a top stitch 1/4" in from the edge.

 I hope you liked the tutorial and I would love to see your finished projects too. Please tag me on social media @craftylilmouse and use the #craftylilmousepatterns

Mx

finish-a-long Q3 finishes and Q4 plans!

 It was a bad quarter for finishes this time, i only managed to actually finish 3bthings from my list:

• unicorn retreat pouch- finished Q3
• memory cushions for a friend-finished in Q3
• Ghost cushions- finished Q3

Going into Q4 though and im hopeful i will make more finishes. I will concentrate on my halloween and christmas projects, maybe a few extra will get finished though too:

• postage stamp style cotton and steel quilt- almost done binding!
• HST cotton and steel quilt- need to hand bind
• halloween embroidery project and sew along 
• pixie noel quilt- all patchwork is done and waiting to be quilted
• my merry lil christmas swap parcel- made a good start but its a secret!
• c+s christmas cushion, stocking & makers mat
• polar bear cushion
• christmas cross stitch
• dashwood advent pouches
• christmas bunting

• snappy zip pouch for mobile
• liberty cord and cork pouch/bag
• pouch for dad
• 2 doll house fabric quilts
• sewing machine cover
• floral car quilt
• dog fabric car quilt
• sugar plum/Trixie quilt
• tasha noel skirt
• adele dress
• my meadowland cushion
• liberty hst quilt

Lets see how many projects i get get finished before the new year. as always follow my progress on IG using the #craftylilmousefal2020 

Mx

Birthday stitchers swap...what I received!

 

This blog post is well over due since it was my birthday in May! My only excuse is life got abit crazy this year but it mainly didn’t get written because I was too busy with my 100 day project, so it was put to the bottom of my to blog list. I love and use many of my gifts so I will finally share what I received ...

First up is this great quilted basket, it’s huge, which is fabulous for storing my hair dryer. It matches the quilt in my room and as well as looking pretty, is super useful.

Also to go in my bedroom is this beautiful unicorn cushion. It is an FPP pattern. If you follow me, it is well documented that I hate FPP, so I’m super pleased Tracy made it for me. 

Can you spot a bit of a theme... my next gift is a fabulous crochet unicorn. I have wanted one for so long, I even got bought the kit to make my own, however I just haven’t quite learnt to crochet yet... hopefully one day I will, since I have a kit to make a mouse. My unicorn has matching pink and navy hair however millie was far too interested in it. It is been put on a shelf in my craft room out of the reach of millie, after all it’s far too nice to be a dog toy.

The last handmade item I received was a lovely tote bag, Tracy used up some of the blush fabric to make it. It’s too nice to use for everything so I am saving it for lovely fabric shopping!

I also received some lovely bought gifts. Stationary, which is also great. And an ‘s’ mug and coaster which are perfect for my hot chocolate.

Overall I was super pleased with my gifts and it definitely helped make my birthday special since I couldn’t have a party.

Mx 

Zippy tube pattern

I have released a few patterns recently on Etsy for digital download (shop here) but I thought I would share my latest creation on here for free!! Below are my measurements and template, simply save the jpeg below and print on a4 landscape, no scaling !!

I am not sharing all of the step by step instructions, as I came across a great little free video tutorial for a similar construction method ... Find it HERE!

If you fancy making your own pouch, please use my measurements and the above tutorial, along with these few little extra tips: 

• Quilt the main body panels after inserting the zip
• Add heavy interfacing into the spine and quilt to give it extra structure since it’s tall 
• Baste the spine lining piece before quilting to hold it in place neatly
• Hand-stitch the binding for a neater finish than on the machine
  

The pouch is a nice big size with plenty of room for stationary, sewing tools and supplies or even cosmetics. It's also easy to adjust the height by tweaking the bottom side panel and spine pieces to your requirements. With the one below, I also added a mesh pocket into the top section with fold over elastic on the top edge of the mesh, basted into place and trimmed after quilting the top panel, before attaching to the side panel. 

Find inspiration and share your makes on Instagram using #zippytubepouch and most of all enjoy sewing!!

Mx

Q2 update and Q3 list...

I can't believe it's time again to be doing the finish-a-long list, but here goes...

• My list for Q2 including what progress I've made:
  
• A postage stamp style quilt using 4.5” squares- waiting to be quilted.
• A hst quilt- a bit of sewing but not much progress.
• A wonderland fabric quilt- no progress.
• A half square triangle cushion- finished!
• My unicorn retreat pouch, been cut ready to sew for a couple of years, just finished!!
• A pin badge banner- done and gifted for my sisters birthday.
• A tote bag- finished and I love it
• Scrappy pouch- kind of done. Instead I made 2 non scrappy.
• Hopefully another quilt- turns out it was the only quilt to be finished within my 3 months, see it here!
• Millie’s cool mat cover- done.
• A bag for my nanas birthday for her knitting- done and she loves it!
• A pouch for Father’s Day- just bought a gift will make for christmas instead.
• My #snappyzippouch for my phone, because it’s all ready to sew and even been floating on my desk for a month... still not done.
• My liberty cord and cork pouch, part way through sewing and it’s a shame to leave it much longer... still not done.
• A basket for my basket- done and all pins attached, I love it!

I also hosted a sew along for my latest sewing pattern, which is an embroidery pattern. I  made a banner, with stitching videos and a couple of wood burning pieces.

My full finish-a-long list (still excluding some quilts or the list would be too long):

• unicorn retreat pouch (slight cheat since I finished it now but its not in time for Q2!)
• postage stamp style cotton and steel quilt
• HST cotton and steel quilt
• snappy zip pouch for mobile
• liberty cord and cork pouch/bag
• pouch for dad
• 2 doll house fabric quilts
• makers mat
• xmas cushion
• halloween cushion
• polar bear cushion
• christmas cross stitch
• dashwood advent pouches
• christmas bunting
• floral car quilt
• dog fabric car quilt
• sugar plum/Trixie quilt
• pixie noel quilt
• tasha noel skirt
• adele dress
• my meadowland cushion
• liberty hst quilt
• memory cushions for a friend

I have organized a merrylilchristmas swap, so I have my gifts to make and buy for that.

Also I will be releasing a new Halloween inspired embroidery pattern and hosting a sew along in October! 

So, for this Q3 I will concentrate on the two cotton and steel quilts and the 2 doll house quilts. I'll also do the memory cushions, liberty pouch/bag, makers mat and Halloween projects. Hopefully the swap parcel will get started and anything else little I can do in between my quilts!

You can follow my finish a long progress on instagram following the #craftylilmousefal2020

Mx