I've been playing around with a selection of white and cream fabrics, and lace trimmings, and printing vintage pictures onto fabric (I always use EQ printable sheets that I buy from my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven). I made a scrappy log cabin block and added more fabric in random shapes and sizes until I had a piece that was approx 18" square. Once I was happy with the layout, it was layered onto a piece of muslin with some wadding inbetween (I used an off-cut of Quilters dream cotton wadding, select weight that was left over from another project) and spray basted the layers together using 505 spray. I quilted the layers together, and free motion quilted a large angular spiral on the log cabin block... ...once the quilting was completed, I machine appliqued the vintage picture into place, and stitched a few vintage buttons randomly. 3 rows of lace trimming were finally added. The front and back of the cushion were layered up, and the binding was added... ...I used 2 fabrics for the back of the cushion (I think this adds a bit of interest to the back, and like things that I make to look pretty on the back as well the front!) and used a concealed zipper as the closure. This looks really neat, and had a small label sewn into the side seam too... ...and here's the finished cushion. A plump feather cushion is used to fill this out. It was time for a quick photoshoot this morning, as it was raining when I finished this yesterday, then it needs to wrapped up for my baby sister who has a birthday coming up!
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Well I don't normally do 2 posts in one day, especially at the weekend, but as I'd spent the afternoon busy sewing yet another bag, I thought I'd share it now! I used some lace and vintage buttons and a suspender and a rather saucy ohhh-la-la picture printed onto an EQ printable fabric sheet that I appliqued onto the front panel of another toiletry bag. Again, this is based on the pattern "Anna's Sminkepung by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa... ...these ones are a bit larger, so can be used as a toiletry bag - it would hold several small bottles of all the essentials you'd need for a weekend away or a holiday, and is washable too so it doesn't matter if anything gets spilled inside it.
What better way to spend a cold and blustery Sunday morning than tucked up indoors with a nice cup of tea and some Lecien fabrics! The lemon floral print is from the Durham Collection - Anew by Brenda Riddle for Lecien, (I bought this on Friday from Sew and So's of Bungay) and was perfect for teaming with some pink lace and a vintage photograph printed onto fabric. Two panels were quilted very simply, using a variegated yellow King Tut quilting thread and a size 80 Schmetz top-stitch needle. Then the front panel was decorated with the photograph - after trimming the excess fabric away, I scored around the edges with a Clover Hera marker to mark some fold lines, tucked the edges under and machine appliqued it into place. I added some lace which was overlapped by the binding along thee top edge, and top-stitched close to the edge with a marching pale aqua Mettler quilting thread... ...and here is the finished result. This is a bit larger than the cosmetic bags that I usually make, and will be perfect as a toiletry bag. This is based on the pattern Anna's Sminkepung and is by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa. These patterns are available from quilt shops in Scandinavia and there are links to some of these shops on the right-hand side of my blog.
Well Alice is settling in at uni, but she's missing Jasper and he's missing her too! Anyway, she asked me if I could make her a cushion with a picture of Jasper on it - and of course I was happy to help out! I chose some fabrics that I'd bought from the Festival of Quilts back in 2011 and hadn't used, as I really didn't know quite what to make with them. I really love this "doggy newspaper" fabric! This photograph of Jasper was printed onto an EQ printables fabric sheet, and after soaking and rinsing and drying flat, it was ready to use. I quickly rotary cut some pieces of fabric, and started to piece them together, using the quilt-as-you-go method... ...I added one of my labels to the front of the cushion rather than the back, and stitched it through all the layers of the quilting. Then I added the binding - I cut strips of fabric 2.5" wide, and used the double fold method. This was machined onto the front of the cushion, and was hand sewn to the back using ladder stitch - here you can see the mitred corners... ...the back of the cushion is made with some more of the "doggy newspaper" print and black/white polka dot fabric. A clever flap covers the zipper - this is a smart technique, and one that I now use for all my cushions!... ...this is the completed back of the cushion, showing the binding too - I'm really pleased with this and hope Alice will be pleased with it when I give it to her later today, as I'm off to Norwich for a shopping trip, and we're meeting up for lunch! Oh and if you want to see bigger pictures of this cushion, just click on any of the smaller ones to enlarge them!
My husband's brother and his wife are celebrating their Ruby Wedding Anniversary today, and so I've been rather busy making their present. I borrowed one of their wedding photographs from my mother-in-law, which I then copied onto an EQ printable fabric sheet, and gathered together a collection of fabrics and lace and buttons and set about making it... ...I made the cushion using the quilt-as-you-go method, and added an assortment of buttons - some of these were the ones my mother-in-law gave me, and then decorated the cushion with some lace fabric and lace trimming too... ...it always looks "sew" much better once it's filled with a nice plump cushion pad! I normally use feather ones, but this one is foam, and does the job just as well... ...then I inserted a covered zipper on the back and added one of my labels too. I then machined the binding into place, and hand finished this on the back. Then it was time for the photo shoot out in the garden. Happy Ruby Wedding Anniversary Stephen and Betty!!
One of my colleagues had a VERY special birthday last week. Judy is a lovely friend, and she has been a great mentor at work - I really couldn't have asked to work with anyone nicer. I wanted to make her a special gift - so I set too with some fabrics and buttons and lace, and printed off a retro picture (I used a piece of EQ printables - these are really great for printing off pictures - they don't distort, and are lovely to sew with too) - I thought this picture would be perfect to have on a bag to keep all your beauty bits and bobs in..... .....anyway, I made up a rectangle using some other fabrics and a quilt-as-you-go method, then embellished it with some vintage buttons and lace. This was based on a pattern called "Anna's Sminkepung" by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa. Well now I've just got to get this wrapped up, as Judy is coming round for afternoon tea today - as I'm still off work recovering, I haven't seen her to give her this earlier - hope she doesn't mind it being a bit late!
It's Tuesday again and so it must be "Sew Cute Tuesday "- hosted on the Better Off Thread blog, you'll find lots of gorgeous crafty stuff - and each week Janice features her favourites from the previous week - and I'm really excited, as this week Janice has featured my "Sew Laugh Love" picture that I had completed!! Anyway, this week I'm adding a picture of the Memory Cushion that I made at the weekend - there are other pictures on my blog here that show this cushion in progress! Now I'm going to grab a cuppa and browse at all the other lovely "Sew Cute Tuesday" goodies - why don't you join me?
Last year I made a very special cushion for a very special friend, using a picture of her with her mum, who had sadly passed away earlier that year. I never really appreciated how much Fran liked it, until she asked me if I could make another one, using a picture of her with her mum, for her aunty Margaret's birthday..... .....Fran emailed me a picture of her with her mum, which I then formatted into gray scale ready for printing onto a sheet of EQ printables fabric. I gathered together a collection of cream and white fabric, and some lace and sketched out some design ideas, and set about making it up. I quilted the whole of the cushion in a mixture of straight rows, and angular spirals..... .....I had a good old rummage in my button tin, looking for an assortment of old buttons that would compliment the fabrics that I'd used. I made a covered zipper backing, using a soft grey floral fabric. I also used a piece of this fabric with some white and creams for the scrappy binding too. And then one of my labels was added to the back for the final flourish. The binding was stitched in place by hand. Well Fran was really pleased with this, when she collected it yesterday, and I hope her aunty Margaret is too!!
One of my colleagues, Juliette, had commissioned me to make a memory cushion for her husband's birthday. I borrowed one of her wedding pictures, scanned it, formatted it to black and white, and printed it onto an EQ printable sheet. This was then surrounded by a collection of white and cream fabrics, and embellished with vintage lace and buttons, and quilted..... .....I added a zipper with a flange to cover it on the back, and used a half-inch finished double binding, made with 3 different fabrics for a scrappy look. Then one of my labels "made with the hand, given from the heart" was added to the back, and the cushion was finished! Juliette was really pleased with this cushion - it looks great!
I've had a fantastic week away in Yorkshire, and will share all my pictures and stories on here during the next week, but firstly here is something that I took with me on my holipops! Last year I made Philippa a cosmetic bag as a small gift, and this year I decided to make her a cushion. I had already emailed her to see if I could "borrow" a picture that was on her website - it was taken by her father, when Philippa was 5 yrs old. I added the usual lace and buttons and lots of straight row quilting. This shows the back, with the binding sewn into place by hand, and a covered zipper. Oh and yes, one of my labels too... ...and here is the front of the finished cushion. It was such a beautiful sunny day when I left for Yorkshire, it was difficult to get a photograph without the sun getting in the way! Philippa was really pleased with it, and we had a super week on the course with her - I feel full of design ideas now - what a shame I've got to go back to work tomorrow - I could easily spend a creative week at home making crafty plans and putting all my new ideas together!
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About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! Archives
July 2023
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