W.I.P. and a Couple More Cushions!!

Yes I have made a couple more cushions! I am preparing for a class making appliqué cushion covers, and wanted to provide a variety of machine appliqué techniques for the students to consider.  And, obviously depending on their machine's capability, choose one to suit their ability and machine.

So today I am sharing a sweet birdie cushion that was inspired by a t-shirt I saw someone wearing with birds all sitting on a line.  I also have a roll of washi tape with a similar design on it!

I just love this fabric.  It was a Tilda fat eighth bundle I bought last year from ebay.  Look at all these pretty fabrics!  I used the red with white stars to make the reindeer pillow.

On this pillow I have used a blanket stitch which I love.  I find it easy to keep it neat with this stitch and it just looks classic.

I then stitched the line across three times with a straight stitch.

This next pillow was just a bit of fun and I plan to add a few more of these abbreviations to the to do list!  Not all machines have a blanket stitch on them.  In fact most basic machine will not.  But they will have a zigzag stitch that can be adjusted in length and width. So for this pillow I chose to use the zigzag stitch.

You can see the stitches more clearly in the close up below.  I was pleasantly surprised with how this one turned out, having had mixed results in the past with zigzag appliqué!

And now for the W.I.P.  Well I bought all this yummy fabric before Christmas to make a baby quilt for my friend Lucy.

Again I had been drooling over it for ages and then when it came to buying it I had to source from all over the place again: Australia; Singapore; and America! For those of you who don't know, it's Little Red Riding Hood by Tasha Noel.

So far I have drafted the pattern and laid out my charms.  Now just got to start sewing! Lol!

Sharing today at:

What do you mean, you lost it?!

Doesn't it make you cross when your wee little darlings lose the things you make for them!!!  I made a fleece scarf for my daughter last year, even embroidered her name onto it, which if you read this blog you will know hand sewing and I don't really get along! Actually I loathe hand sewing!

We had bought her a new scarf as part of her Christmas present but it was getting really cold in the lead up to Christmas and I didn't want her catching a cold. So I caved and made another one! This time I didn't use the red though, stuck with turquoise and white.  

I thought we could pretend the daisies were snowflakes lol! This was made out of the same fleece throws I used to make the Christmas stocking for my brother's girlfriend.  They are from Ikea and cost £3 each for 170cm x 130cm.  Now that is pretty good value if you ask me.  Throughout the year they bring them out in a variety of different colours.

Sharing at Skip to my Lou's Made by you Monday and Stitch by Stitch.

Finished Cushion

The Jade cushion is complete.  I have made it as a mock up for an upcoming class, but of course it will be for my daughter in the long run as I made it with scraps from her quilt!

She loves it which is good.  But I think if I'm being totally honest, I prefer the neat blanket stitch that I normally do, but you know sometimes you have to try different things!

The other good thing about these cushions is that they come together fairly quickly!

Added a couple of butterflies just for fun.

Thanks for stopping by! Sharing at Sew Can She, Richard and Tanyas Quilts, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Spools Card

I bought a friend some bakers twine as a gift. So thought I would try to incorporate some into the card.

The spools stamp is from Unity, one of the kits of the month from a few years ago.

I used the RetroSketches sketch but rotated it 180 degrees.

And used the colour combination at ColourQ.  I didn't have the exact colours so I did the closest I had.  Really love that cute washi tape!

W.I.P. Appliqué Cushion

Just playing with rough appliqué. I love the look and use it on cards alot. I actually find it harder to appliqué like this as opposed to using the blanket stitch on my machine.

In the process of making my daughter a fun and simple cushion for her room with her name on. 

Love the lobster font I used for her name.   I plan to add some butterflies too. 

You can see the finished item here.

Sharing at WIP Wednesday. 

A Word About Linky Parties

For all of you who love to look at lovely things on Linky Parties.  And add your own.  I have just added a handy little page at the top of my blog that has links to lots of sewing linky parties!

There is also a section that lists some of the local places I like to buy fabric from.

I will be adding to both of these lists as time goes on.

Photo Booth Fun!

My daughter turned 10 late last year and requested a sleepover party for three of her friends.  So I got to thinking what could we do that was fun for these girls now they are a bit old for pass the parcel! Well, having seen lots of photo booth ideas and free printables on Pinterest, I decided to make a photo booth and props.

I just chopped up an old cardboard box for the booth.  Stapled some cute polka dot fabric to the inside and made the scalloped frontage from scrap-booking paper.  And added the camera and little moustaches to give it some interest.  The font is Hard Candy from DaFont. I printed it on printer paper and used the old fashioned way of transferring it onto the pattern paper using a pencil and then traced over it in black pen.

The props I made using the free printables and instructions from Accent the Party.

So here we have the Moustaches:

The mouths!

Pretty Bows:

The funky glasses, which I glammed up with a few sparkles.

These comic book speech bubbles went down well.

A jester and a queen made a great pair!

The nightcap provided lots of funny sleeping poses!

The girls had a blast with these.  I got them out for the New Years Eve party too.

Remember this?

Oh this little quilt was on the go for a long long time! It had been finished up as a quilt top for quite  a while.  Since February in fact.  But in March we started our next phase of building renovations and so any hopes of getting it finished kind of went out the window!  

But finally I got some time to get it finished! Here it is all pinned and ready to quilt.

Quilted and trimmed.

A few close up shots for good measure.

I love the yellow binding.

For the back I used soft flannel which made it so lovely and warm. Really wish I had ordered more of that fabric!

Linking up to Richard and Tanya's Quilts where they have a great giveaway on! Also linking up to Fabric Tuesday.

Commissioned by my Brother

Last year my brother asked me if I could sew his girlfriend a personalised stocking with a reindeer on. Of course I obliged.  

I was going to make it out of felt but then I remembered I had some fleece throws that I had bought from Ikea a while back in red and white.  I think they cost about £3 each and they are pretty big.  Each with a different fringe edging.  

Sorry for the rubbish photo! Not quite in focus lol!

As you can see I incorporated the fringe edging of the white one into the stocking.  Looks really cute.  I just modelled the shape of the stocking on one that I had at home already.

 

And here is the sweet natured Rudolph!

Think my brother must have bought quite a lot for the lucky Laura as he requested the stocking be quite large!!

And now for some cards!

It seems to have all been about fabric here lately, but I have been making the odd card during the blog drought too, so thought I would share them today.

Can't remember who I made this bright cheerful one for, but I totally love it for all that beautiful rainbow colour!  Got a feeling it was inspired/cased by another card on my pinterest cards board. [Yep found it! You can see the original here by Lucy Abrams.]

Now I do remember who I made this next card for! Ha it was for my motorbike enthusiast Dad! He has two old bikes that he has restored and tinkers with.  I saw this digi that was free at the time and it made me giggle thinking how that might be him when he eventually grows up!

I was sorely tempted to put my Dads name in the caption but resisted.  Didn't want to rub salt in the 'ageing' wound!

And this last card was for my sister's birthday, I think, quite a while ago to match the little birdie mini quilt I made her.  It uses all the same fabrics for the bunting.

Thanks for taking a look.