Sunday 30 March 2014

Sunday Stash - Lush

 
I was fortunate enough a few months ago to pick up 10 fat quarters of Lush by Patty Young for Michael Miller. I was immediately drawn the beautiful florals featuring large lily's and lotus flowers.


My selection consisted of mainly pinks and turquoises which fit together beautifully including a few simple style blenders.


I am thinking of teaming this fabric up with some grey shot cotton from my stash and making various sized sashed blocks into a queen bed quilt. Make sure you watch this space !!

It's Sunday so I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash weekly linky party.

Molli Sparkles


Till next time....happy sewing..

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Wee Wander Quilt - Work in Progress


You saw from my last post how excited I was to have my hands on this fabric and what was even more special is that I was able to use this fabric to make a little girl her first ever quilt for her bed.


The fabric really does speak for itself so I decided to do minimal piecing to really show off the intricate imagery in the fabric line. Sarah Jane has amazing detail in her fabrics and Wee Wander is no exception. You are immediately transported to an amazing adventure with horses and deers frolicking in the woods and I can't help but smile every time I look at this fabric.


The Layout:
The front is a large fabric panel with 2 distinct borders. The panel "Wander Woods in Petal" is 2 yards x WOF. The first border "Nature Walk in Pink" is 2 1/2 inches the second border "Meandering in Petal" is 5 1/2 inches.


For the back I also utilised another large Wee Wander print "Summer Ride in White". To link the front and back of the quilt I added a 2 1/2 inch strip from the first border and a large strip of the outer border. If you look closely at the outer border there are tiny little footprints wondering through the roses it is quite exquisite.

The quilt top measures 57.5 inches x 87 inches.

This is now off to my longarm quilter for quilting.

Till next time.....happy sewing

Sunday 23 March 2014

Sunday Stash - Wee Wander by Sarah Jane


There are just some fabrics that when you see them you know you just have to have them! Sarah Jane's Wee Wander collection was just that for me. When I first saw this fabric I ordered it straight away. The collection comes in two distinct colourways, Sunrise and Twilight. I chose to work with some fabrics from the Sunrise range and was fortunate enough to be commissioned to make a single bed quilt from this line.


These larger prints and so cute and feature children playing and riding horses. There is just something magical about hand drawn images like these on fabric taking us back on a journey to our childhood. These prints will be a key feature of the quilt.

 
I've also included some blenders from the range which will be perfect for some borders and some feature corners. The darker pink (Nature Walk in Magenta) will border the quilt perfectly.
I can't wait to get started on this one !!

It's Sunday so I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash weekly linky party.

Molli Sparkles


Till next time.....happy sewing...

Friday 21 March 2014

Purple Pillowness !!


I was super excited to find out at the beginning of the year that the Pantone Colour of the Year was "Radiant Orchid". After having just finished my purple King Bed Churn Dash quilt I couldn't have been more proud.

Having some left over fabric from the quilt I decided to make a beautiful quilted pillow inspired by the 2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge.

2014 Pantone Quilt Challenge: Radiant Orchid

I decided I wanted something fresh and went about designing my own block - I'm hoping to share a pattern for this one soon.



Combining HST's with some homespun white this lovely design just spoke to me. I'm really happy with the result and can't wait to make a full sized quilt with this block.


I quilted using straight line quilting a quarter of an inch each side of the seam with my walking foot and backed with a crisp white homespun and finished it off with an envelope enclosure.


The finished pillow measures 16" square.


Till next time, happy sewing....

Sunday 16 March 2014

"Bunny Hop" Nursery Set - Work in Progress


When I saw the new range Littlest by Art Gallery Fabrics I just knew I had to buy a bundle. It comes in two colourways, a peach for girls and green for boys. I decided to make a nursery set in the girl colourway.


The fabric is super cute especially with the little bunny rabbits. For inspiration on a quilting design I spoke to my fellow quilter and good friend Moira of CraftyPa & CraftyMa. You can see her beautiful work here. I decided on a simple square design with sashing and some strips top and bottom as I couldn't bare to cut up all those little rabbits.


Sashing was in a grey shot cotton from my stash and was a little difficult to work with given the difference in weave between it and the Littlest fabric.


But I persisted with it and am happy with the result so far. I'm still deciding how I'm going to quilt this one.


With the left over fabric I made up some cute little fabric wall canvases to match.



I also decided to make some bunting to complete this beautiful nursery set.


 
I can't wait to see this in a little girls nursery it's super sweet and the fabric just makes me want to smile. The set will be available in my store soon.

It's Sunday so I'm linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash weekly linky party.

Molli Sparkles


Till next time.....happy sewing...

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Personalised Fabric - A new way of thinking !!




I stumbled across this personalised fabric a while ago and decided to start a personalised range in my store. They are printed on Kona cotton so are good quality cotton as well. I love the fact that you can print any name in any colour and can also include cute little decals like robots and butterflies.


I also stock birth detail prints now which have all the important details like weight, time of birth, date of birth and length. I make these into wall canvases that have been popular in nurserys as they can be made to match any existing décor.

 
 
Birth details can also be made into pram blankets which I back with super soft minky to make them extra snuggly.
 


Blankets are also made without birth details and this cute one included little robots prints as well.


I would have to say the most popular product so far are my standard pillowcases made with a folded enclosure to keep the pillow safely tucked in and a complementary trim to add to that professional look.

 


 
 
Till next time...happy sewing...

Tuesday 11 March 2014

A Raggy Quilt


I've seen so many of these cute rag quilts around for babies that I couldn't help myself I just had to make one. As the weather is getting cooler these snuggly quilts are perfect. I have seen them made with cotton or flannel and inside made with flannel or cotton batting. Minky is not a good choice as it doesn't fray so you don't get the raggy look.

For me I decided to go with cotton front and back and batting all over which I already had in my stash. I had some left over stackers from the Riley Blake collection "Alphabet Soup" so decided they would be the perfect size at 10 inches square. I used 40 squares in total - 20 on the front and 20 on the back. I cut my cotton batting pieces at 9 inches.


It was simple just take one square, a piece of batting and another square to make a quilt sandwich and sew an "X" across to hold in place. Stitch all completed squares together in rows using a 1/2 inch seam allowance and stitch all the way around the completed quilt with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.


Then I snipped 1/4 inch along the seams, popped it in the wash and it ragged up nicely. So nice in fact I'm making more !!! I love these and so do my customers. This rag quilt is available for sale in my Madeit store here.


Till next time - happy sewing ...