Perfect Tote

 

I bought this beautiful linen fabric in Tasmania last time I was there, I also bought the hessian straps from a fave little shop called The Maker in Salamanca. Finally I have put this together and I love it, might have to make a few more of these, the pattern (from The LongThread) was easy and well designed. It is the perfect Tote !

Catching up

I have been very slack with blog updates of late however I do have a great excuse. I have had my head in my sewing machine. Busy with 5 quilts on the go, one for my Dad, one for the School Fete, one for Lucy, a Liberty & Linen one and a Star Quilt 'just for technique'.

I am also branching out and have made a cute bag and a hobby bag.  A few weeks ago I had a weekend away with my best and we sewed our selves silly ! I am slightly addicted right now and would rather be sewing than working.

 

 

 for Dad

My unfinished Star - cut on the cross

Rainbow Houses - in progress for the school fete raffle

 Hobby Bag - must think of something

 to put in it - maybe hand sewing

 

 

Mermaid for Lily

 

My niece turned 3 yesterday and she loves dolls. I found this gorgeous pattern online for a mermaid on Etsy from a little shop called Tuesday Mourning and made her a mermaid. Her tail is quilted and hair is felt. I really enjoyed making her and will attempt another one for Lucy.

 

If you are looking for her on Etsy, her name is Milly the Mermaid

Quiet Quilt Finished

 

I started this quilt at a Weekend Sewing Retreat last year and this week I finally finished it. I made a pact with myself not to start anything new until I had finished my half done quilts. I really love this quilt and have nicknamed it 'Quiet Quilt'. Perfect for evenings on the couch in winter.

I have hand stitched inside the middle squares and the rest of the quilt I have used the 'stitch in the ditch method' for quilting. I am not overly confident at machine quilting yet so this one was a good practice. I am happy with the way it has turned out.

I signed this one up on a Lovely Year of Finishes in January and I have only now finished it. I have finished others in between but neglecting my blogging.

One day I will make a log cabin quilt totally in Liberty !

Quilting Retreat

Tonight I am packing for my second Quilting Retreat in Toodjay with Claire and Jemima. I have decided to make the Gumdrops Quilt from the Sunday Morning Quilts book. I have cut out 400 gumdrops from fabric scraps that Lucy picked. She is very excited about having this quilt on her bed for winter time. A lot of stitching to do between now and then.

The weekend : 3 days of sewing, no cooking and hanging out with my best buddie - tres magic !

Autumn Leaves

The air was crisp this morning, a hint of Autumn in the air, even thought it is a few weeks away. It is my favourite time of year. Still warm enough during the day to swim but cool enough in the evenings that evoke sound sleep and a freshness in the air in the morning that is perfect with a hot cup of tea.

A few months ago there was a cute article in Mollie Makes with a tutorial to make these leaves. I decided to stitch a Liberty favorite for a friends birthday - I lined it with turquoise felt and turned it into a brooch. - It is in the post !

Sew Thinky Thursday

So much for less blogging more sewing in 2013 but with a world of creative folk out there with similar interests I thought I’d try something a little different, and link up with Emily’s new linky party, Sew Thinky Thursday.  She asks a sewing related question, and everyone gets to know each other better by answering.  You can read more about it here. 

When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked?

I started sewing at a very young age, my Mum is a really good sewer and made lots of our clothes when we were little. My favourite piece of clothing was a patchwork skirt she made for my 8th birthday party. I received a hand Singer sewing machine and started to make basic things for my dolls and bears. I did sewing classes all through school, it was my favourite subject. I still have the Singer and am teaching my Lucy how to sew on it. Cold winter Sundays will be spent teaching her sewing skills.

I have always made things from chair covers to cushions, even a wedding dress but I spend a lot of my sewing time making quilts now and I am pretty addicted to scouring shops for beautiful fabrics and find it hard to finish one project before starting another. I enjoy making rabbit toys and bits and pieces for our home like Cushions.  I also really love hand sewing so doing the binding on my quilts is the best bit - apart from buying the fabric.

I am lucky to have a best friend that also shares my passion for quilting and fabric shopping.  We spend as much time as we can sewing together.  My only wish is to have more time to sew. Do  you think they would mind at work if I set up a sewing area on my desk to get creative at lunch time?

My latest most enjoyable thing to do is to make something that has sewing and hand stitching - mix it up I say !

Bunny needs a name

A new creation from scraps, she needs needs a name... funnie bunnie comes to mind, Lucy said Kie the Bunny. Any ideas?

A felt flower with French knots to give her texture

Kaffe scraps put to good use.

Feeling like sewing this weekend and I have been meaning to make myself a lanyard for work for ages, the plain black ones just don't suit me.

Liberty Lanyard for my work pass

Something New out of Something Old

I started cutting up Lucy's clothes a few months back to create a quilt that would obtain many memories. There are bits from my parents, great friends, uncles and aunties and from us. While many may think it is not that great of me to not hand down the clothes to the next little person I actually found it harder to part with these gifts and even harder to have them stashed in a cupboard. At first Lucy was quite upset when she saw me cutting up her favourite dress we bought on our recent trip to France but when I told her that she could sleep under her favourite dresses this winter she picked up the scissors and started to help.

It will take a while to collect a few more things to have enough squares (225 in total) to make this quilt fit her bed but I think that it will be worth the wait.

January Project Complete

It is a year of finishing projects I started in 2012. I have completed my January project. I tackled an invisible zip, not perfect but happy enough. I also made my own Liberty piping which was great. Easy to do and effective.

Nearly Finished

 

The stitching is done... this weekend I hope to put the binding on my cushion and finish it. I have also completed the stitching for the backing piece. I have appliqued the butterflys and all the flowers are made with small gathered strips of Liberty fabric pulled into a circle..

Handmade Decorations

I was lucky to be part of a gorgeous Christmas Ornament Swap this year, a tradition that I hope will carry on. My beautiful ornament from Catherine arrived in the mail and now has a special place on my tree. A very clever idea of using Japanese paper on top of felt, then crocheting the cherries and leaves.

Lucy and I have been putting random favourite handmade ornaments around the house. They get moved occasionally or Lucy likes to stash them in her room because they are so 'precious'.

Something that has been driving me mad this year is occasionally when I select a picture to put onto a post, it comes in the wrong way round, or upside down. I have no idea how to fix this. The picture looks normal in my editing tool.. can anyone help? does this happen to you, or do I have a gremlin in my blog.

Working On...

A cushion using a gorgeous panel from Megumi Sakakihara which is so gorgeous. Combining it with Liberty flowers and applique. Not sure if I can stop at one of these cushions (I do have a pink panel too).

A little bag for a small boy, full of marbles

Cutting up Lucy's clothes that no longer fit, for a keepsake quilt.

Miniature stockings for little surprises

trying to stick to one project at a time... not working

Sewing Lessons & Smiles

My heart skipped a beat today when Lucy asked me if she could learn how to sew. We cut out some squares of fabric and threaded up my old Singer sewing machine and got to work, it amused her for hours whilst I caught up on a bit of work in between re-threading the needle a few times.  She was so proud of herself and asked if we could make a quilt for my friends new baby. We decided that a small quilt for teddy might be the best idea for her first project.

The most wonderful thing is that my machine still works as well as it did 30 years ago.

Just before falling asleep she said "tomorrow I am going to learn to thread the cotton through that tiny little hole Mummy"

Delightful.

Kaffe Nightie

I recently bought a bundle of Kaffe Fassett cutoffs and Lucy loves the colours in this gorgeous range so today we made her a nightie. The nights are starting to get warmer so these little 'sleep dresses' as Lucy calls them are cool to sleep in, pretty and so simple to make, I found the pattern in this gorgeous book.

The pattern calls for 'eyelet lace' which I am yet to find wider in cotton so I have been experimenting with the thinner version and threading ribbon through for extra detail. Next on my wishlist is an over-locker.

Liberty Love

Will the urge ever go away to buy Liberty fabric? nope! not in the near future anyway. I had a little of my birthday voucher left so I decided to build on my little Liberty stash and grab a few pieces. The Strawberry Thief is probably my new favorite and I love the story that goes with it...

This was designed by William Morris in 1883. It was part of a group of designs incorporating animals with flowers. Liberty first produced it as a furnishing fabric in 1979 and it has since been redrawn for tana lawn on a smaller scale.

I would love it on large scale for a cushion or two.

Another lovely find today was these little miniature glass Christmas baubles. It is a wonder I dont shy away from these as I sliced my knee open on a broken one of these whilst wrapping Christmas presents with my brother one year. I have a lovely scar that I don't mind as it is my Christmas scar.

Heather Bailey makes the most gorgeous colours in these little felt bundles too, another thing that is hard to pick on a few from a basket full at Calico&Ivy.

Chrissy Bunting

When I showed my Christmas Ornament Swap to my hubby he said "oh you have to call it Baby Bunting", funny guy. Now just have to wrap it up and post to my secret swapee.

I arrived home today to find a little parcel in my mail box containing my lovely ornament. A beautiful Christmas pudding made of felt, Japanese paper and crochet. I love the colours, the idea and most of all the lovely handmade element. Beky wrapped it beautifully and went to a lot of trouble to make my day - thank you so much for a lovely ornament

Bunny for Lucian

One of my besties had a little baby boy on the weekend. I have a funny story about making her a quilt for the  'girl' she thought she was having which turned out to be a boy, so mid pregnancy I stashed away the half made girl quilt and begun on making her a bunny instead. His little overalls are linen and lined with a gorgeous blue and white fabric, he is finished off with patches and hand stitched face.

Welcome to the world little Lucian James Doyle.