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Thanks to signing up to the Aurifil Colour Builder club at Oh Sew Sweet Shop I've been able to add to my collection of Aurifil 40wt threads. Sea Turtle is this month's selection and these green threads - shades 2890, 1147 and 2908 - really are beautiful and are great for machine quilting. 
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These gorgeous fabrics by A Spark of Happiness were purchased back in 2016 from Fiona's Fabrics in Woodbridge. I'd already used some of these fabrics when I made a Sew Together Bag in 2016, and then a case for my Samsung tablet last year. I'd recently used them for making a case for my laptop, and had just enough scraps left over to make a notebook cover to match. I used the ByAnnie The Write Stuff pattern and adjusted the size to fit an A5 notebook. I made the cover with a piece of ByAnnie Soft and Stable and used a thinner piece of wadding for the outer zippered pocket. The zipper tape as always is number 5 continuous zipper tape from Zipper Station and I chose the same bright green colour zipper that I'd used for both the tablet case and laptop case. A decorative fabric pull is attached to the zipper tab...
...inside the case there are several pockets - the notebook slips into the larger pockets and there a few other smaller pockets too. Again, it would be easy to add a vinyl or mesh pocket too if needed. Another nice feature is the fabric bookmark, which is stitched into the top seam of the cover...
...a fabric tab is stitched onto the back of the cover, folds over and fastens on the front. Rather than use a magnet for this as suggested in the original instructions, I used an extra large snap fastener purchased from Empress Mills and attached a vintage button on the front of the tab as decoration...
...there's plenty of room for the notebook in it's quilted cover to be stored inside my laptop case too. My home office bits and bobs all look very smart stored in these co-ordinating covers and cases!  I'd wanted to make a case to use for storing my laptop for simply ages, and when I saw the ByAnnie pattern for the Executive Carryalls II I knew I'd just HAVE to make it! The pattern has instructions for 2 different bags - the Executive Carryall which is slightly larger and has more pockets along with a carry strap, and a Widescreen Laptop case, which is designed to fit inside the larger Executive Carryall and is the one I chose to make. As always with ByAnnie patterns, the instructions are extremely well written. I picked out these bright A Spark of Happiness fabrics that I'd bought back in 2016 from Fiona's Fabrics in Woodbridge. I'd used them to make a Sew Together Bag, and last year I'd used them to make a case for my Samsung tablet so they were the perfect choice for a co-ordinated home office set! As I'd already used a few of these prints for other projects, I didn't have enough to make the front and back with the same fabrics, so I improvised by making the case quite scrappy. The back and front were made with ByAnnie Soft and Stable to give it plenty of structure. The front pocket is also quilted - I used a variegated YLI quilting thread and a very simple quilting design...
...I chose this bright green continuous zipper tape for this project ( I buy mine forom Zipper Station as they have a great selection of colours) and it didn't take long to get the front pocket completed. The inside pocket is made with ByAnnie mesh, which I bought from Oh Sew Sweet Shop - they have a super range of ByAnnie patterns and products! I absoloutly love this bright pink mesh - I really was mixing up all the bright colours for this bag...
...the back of the back has a short handle attached and the mesh pocket is attached to the wrong side of the back panel. The front of the bag has a zippered pocket attached to the front...
...the corners have been rounded off which makes binding and constructing the bag much easier. The zipper strip has also been quilted very simply...
...the zipper strip is inserted between the front and back of the laptop case, machined in place and then all raw edges are neated with a bias cut double fold binding. All the binding on the zipper tapes are neatly topstitched, and fabric strips are tied on all the zipper pulls...
...the great instructions make sure that the bag looks fabulous with a very orofessional finish. I couldn't resist sewing a cute Kylie and the Machine label on the front pocket of the bag - there weren't TOO many swear words uttered over making this one although it would've been much easier if I'd sewn the label on before I'd actually constructed the *!&# thing!...
...there aren't any pockets on the back of the case, although it would be very easy to add a a slip pocket or another zippered pocket to the back if you wanted to. Overall, this has been a great bag to make and is absolutely perfect for storing my laptop and charger...
...my tablet (in it's matching protective padded case) will also fit inside, so all my electronic devices are neatly stored away together, and all of my "home office" equipment have very smart, co-ordinating covers. There were just enough pieces of fabric left over to make a very scrappy notebook cover too, which I'll share a picture of tomorrow.  This pretty quilt, Say it with Flowers, was this year's mystery button club quilt, designed by Lynette Anderson Designs. I'd ordered the patterns and a fabric pack from Coast and Country Crafts and Quilts and each month received a pattern, complete with full size tracable stitchery design, full size traceable applique templates and a cute wooden button. The quilt had been pieced together and spent a few weeks on my sewing table while I deliberated over how to go about quilting it. I wanted to keep the quilting simple and eventually decided to quilt straight rows in the background blocks half an inch apart. I didn't want the quilting to detract from the pretty applique and hand embroidery, so I used a fine Aurifil 50wt thread in a neutral colour to blend in with the colour of the background fabric on top, and used a dark grey to blend in with the backing fabric in the bobbin...
...a simple crosshatch design was quilted in the 1" sashing squares and I've quilted "in the ditch" of the outer borders. Once the quilting was completed, a narrow single fold binding was added, this was machined to the front of the quilt, with mitred corners. The binding was folded over to the back of the quilt and hand stitched to secure, using ladder stitch....
...once the quilting and binding was completed, the blocks were embellished with the beautiful hand painted wooden buttons that had been supplied with each pattern...
...I'd prepared a hand embroidered quilt label a few weeks ago, and this was hand appliqued to the centre back of the quilt. Using a strip of left over backing fabric, I made a quilt sleeve. This was hand sitched to the top of the quilt. A narrow rod can be passed through the sleeve to enable it to hang on display...
...and here's the finished quilt, ready to display in my sewing studio. I'd ordered a new quilt hanger online from The Cotton Patch that I thought was much more appropriate for this quilt as it's decorated with lots of flowers! This quilt was such a delight to stitch, and each month I really looked forward to receiving the next pattern. Now this one is finished, I can titdy my sewing table and get ready for making a start on another mystery quilt!  What do you do when you have leftover scraps? I've making a very simple cushion for my grandson's nursery to match the We Are Family quilt. I made the lion block for the centre, which was hand embroidered and hand appliqued. Several strips were added around the block that were left from the quilt, including a border made with leftover backing fabric. The front of the cushion has been hand quilted using the same DMC perle threads that I'd used for the original quilt... 
...the back of the cushion was pieced together using the last of the leftover strips, and was hand embroidered with the words stitched with love by Nanny - honestly, stitching these words absolutely melts my heart! Making my projects just that little bit extra special really is all in the details, so I also added a tiny appliqued lion next to the hand embroidered words before the zipper flap was lined and a bright orange zipper stitched in place to add a pop of colour...
 ...still incorporating details of the quilt and making use of the double gauze fabric, a wide double fold binding was used to neaten the raw edges when the front and back of the cushion cover were machined together. The corners were mitred and the binding was folded over and hand stitched to the back of the cushion cover using ladder stitch...
...and finally it was filled with a plump feather pad. Now it's all ready to go in my grandson's nursery along with a few other cushions to make a comfy nook where his mama can sit with him and read him a goodnight story. Another gift stitched with so much love and affection for a very special little boy!  I've been dipping in and out of an assortment of projects over the past few months. This project was on my very long list of Norwegian kits, and is called Britt-Lisa’s Blomsterkurver (Britt-Lisa's Flower Basket) by the Norwegian designer AnnAKa. I'd initially started this tablerunner back in May, with lots of machine piecing, making several basket blocks...
...the fabrics in this kit are beautiful, and I chose a few Valdani variegated threads for these hand embroidered flowers, in colours to compliment the fabrics. The stitchery design was traced onto the background fabric using a lightpad and a Micron Pigma pen with a very fine nib, size 005. A lightweight interfacing was fused to the wrongside of the background fabric to give the fabric structure and to prevent shadowing of the embroidery the embroidery threads. Once the embroidery was finished, the handle was appliqued in place by hand using an Aurifil 80wt thread, and finally the handle block was machine pieced to the basket block...
...once the runner had been pieced together, it was ready for the quilting process. I like the back of my runners to have pretty fabrics too, and saw this one on the Sew and So's website. Once the runner was basted together with the backing fabric and a layer of waddjng (my favourite is Vlieseline H630) it was ready to be quilted. As I was busy stitching other projects, it was put on the "to be quilted pile" where unfortunately it stayed for several weeks...
...having a week on a quilting retreat in Yorkshire recenttly gave me the perfect opportunity to finally get the quilting completed! I've used a King Tut quilting thread in shade for both the top thread and the bobbin. I've machine quilted around the baskets, inside the handle, and a few straight lines around the 2 borders, then lots of wiggly-woo free motion quilting was used for the rest. This does take lots of practise, and my stitches are in no way perfect, but hopefully any wobbles won't be too noticable! I prefer to use a narrow single fold binding on my tablerunners, so this was then machined to the front of the runner...
...the binding was then folded over to the back of the runner and hand stitched into place. This runner is embellished with buttons on each of the squares along the borders. I've used small wooden buttons which have been stitched in place with a DMC cream 8wt perle thread and a spot of fray check is on each knot to prevent it unravelling...
...once all the buttons were stitched in place it was all ready for a photoshoot! The original pattern has four basket blocks for the runner, but I added an extra one as I wanted the runner to be longer for my dinging table. I also made a smaller runner with three blocks for my coffee table. This kit was originally purchased from Lappedilla in Norway back in 2011 - I'd bought several Norwegian kits that year, and now I can happily tick another one off my long list of kits, although I still have several more to make.
 Thanks to signing up to the Aurifil Colour Builder club at Oh Sew Sweet Shop I've been able to add to my collection of Aurifil 40wt threads. Red Panda is this month's selection and these red threads - shades 1103, 2250 and 5002 - really are beautiful and are great for machine quilting.  Here's the final reveal! This beautiful quilt was designed by Susan Smith, and I'd bought both the pattern and fabrics from Pincushion Pantiles last year, when I found out my daughter was expecting a baby. This has been hand appliqued and hand appliqued, Once it was layered with bamboo wadding and backing fabric, I had deliberated for several weeks about ho to quilt it and finally decided to hand quilt kit with DMC perle thread in a selection of colours - light grey, ecru, orange and blue. This quilt drapes beautifully, it's so soft and snuggly. I gave this quilt to my daughter and her partner yesterday, and I can't wait for my little grandson to sleep snuggled up under this quilt!  I've been doodling several ideas for a label for my We Are Family quilt and was struggling to fit everything I wanted to say in just one label so ended up making three! As usual, I'd drawn my label in pencil first, then drew over the pencil lines with a very fine sharpie pen. When my paper template is completed, I tape it to a lightpad, then tape my fabric over the top. Using a Micron Pigma pen (my favourite is a brown shade with a fine nib, size 005) I can then trace the wording onto the fabric. Lightweight interfacing is fused onto the back, to give the label a bit of body, and to prevent any shadowing of the embroidery threads. I usually incorpoate fabric scraps that are leftover from the front of the quilt for the backgrounds of the labels. I didn't have many low volume scraps left, but then I thought - why use one fabric for a quilt label when you can use nine? I've kept the overall design for these first two labels very simple, with the wording hand embroidered using the dark grey embroidery thread that was included in the kit...
...this shows the first label, made with nine low volume background fabrics - I've included the name of the quilt, We Are Family, and my grandson's name. The wording says "stitched especially for my grandson. Quillted with love and pieces of my heart." The next label was a bit of fun - and says Quilt Care Instructions - cool machine wash, dry in the shade, do not iron, suggle and use often...
...all of the labels were made using Karen Kay Buckley Bigger Perfect Circle templates to get the circular shape and then they are hand appliqued onto the back of the quilt. The third one says stitched by Nicola Foreman, and has a small lion's head appliqued onto the middle. The lion was my favrourite block from the front of the quilt...
...now the labels are all appliqued onto the back lof the quilt, it's ready to be gifted to my gorgeous little grandson. I can't wait to see him suggled up under this!  I absolutely LOVE fun labels from Kylie and The Machine and when I saw this super tin to keep my collection of labels in, I just couldn't resist purchasing one from Minerva. It will certainly keep all my KATM labels safe and tidy!  |
 About me...Hi - welcome to my quilting blog! My passions are my family, my dog, my friends and sewing, not necessarily in that order! 
 
 
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