Wednesday 24 December 2014

1 Christmas Star Quilt

It's been a while since I've made a quilt, so it was great to have an excuse for this one.


After making Sarah some cushions back in October I decided to use the leftover scraps to make a quilt. There was just enough to try out a lone star or two - perfect for a starry Christmas quilt.


The back was made up of a strips diagonally placed with some smaller scrap details.



The binding is a lovely grey with white dots.


The finished size is just right for snuggling under with some hot chocolate when its cold outside.

Monday 22 December 2014

10 Girls' Totes

Christmas presents for the girls...


I made these as presents for my friends and family this Christmas. I made up a large piece of patchwork fabric to make each letter. Using Bondaweb i draw out each letter and ironed them onto the bag before zigzag stitching them into place.





Sunday 7 December 2014

3 Girls' Aprons...

Christmas present SPOILER...


I've made these aprons as gifts for some of the girls this Christmas. I could have easily made a couple for the boys too but they have different gifts!


The best thing about this pattern (probably for 2-4 years olds) is that it fits a fat quarter piece of fabric (approx 50x50cm). For a couple of them I added some matching pom-poms!



 By making them lined it hides all the tie ends and the pocket stitches.




Monday 1 December 2014

Christmas Countdown

With just two hours to spare, Sophie's new advent calendar was finished and pinned into place!


I wanted to make something very different to Finn's wooden train and settled on a garland of mittens, stockings, envelopes, gingerbread men and birds.


I choose a range of colours that would go with her room and tried to avoid anything too obviously girly or christmasy. I wanted something that would last her for years to come.


 I think mitten 19 with an applique robin is my favourite!






The gingerbread men each carry a small bag (made from lovely liberty bird lawn) on their back,  for advent chocolates. 

The bird's wings are small pouches for carry tiny gifts and the envelopes have press studs so slightly larger gifts can be added.




I looped each item onto the wire hessian ribbon back through itself so that they stay in place whilst hanging.


 I then pinned the whole thing to Sophie's wooden wall shelves.

6 christmas stockings, 6 children's mittens, 6 santa letters, 3 gingerbread men, 3 calling birds and 1 little girl's advent calender!

Saturday 22 November 2014

Bookbinding

I'm lucky to be surrounded by creative people and so when the lovely Judy invited me for a day of bookbinding it became a date I looked forward to...


She talked me through all the bits you need.


And soon we were cracking on with a pamphlet style book.


Using the bone folder to make our folds super crisp.


Neatening up the edges.


Choosing the cover - paper made by Jude!


Folding and cutting corners


Choosing some coloured thread to bind it all together.


Adding the finishing touches - a title indent!





Some bubbles and the log burner and plenty of chat made it the most perfect way to spend a wintery Saturday!

Thursday 13 November 2014

Dometic Patchwork

This is clearly not the most exciting patchwork project I've done but much needed. Our ironing board cover had all but disintegrated and so I decided to recover using a picture I'd seen of vintage board covers as my inspiration.



It was a great wy to use up a lot of small scraps. I used mainly green fabrics to go with my newly painted wall you can just glimpse!



Monday 3 November 2014

Stop Motion

Not exactly a crafty make from me but still creative! I wanted to share our wonderful attempt at making a stop motion film using the Stop Motion app.
Finn was 4 when we started making films and soon grasped the easy to use interface and it wasn't long until he ditched me as a co-creator and went solo as Director / screen-writer / cinematographer!


We used toys from the basket and quickly came up with a story line. He understood quickly that small changes and lots of snaps made a better film!


We even added background music and our own sound-effects!

I'd definitely recommend  next rainy day!

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Patched Up


I love this cardi, its cashmere and also had holes in the elbows. So a quick DIY patch job was needed.


I found a cup which I drew round and then moved to create a longer oval shape. This was my template.


I used my chopped up jeans (cut up to make my super useful bag!) as the fabric. They will be strong, a good colour to complement the oatmeal of the wool.


I positioned the patches over the holes, pinned and used perle cotton thread to sew the patches in place.

Friday 10 October 2014

Warming Canon Street

Sarah's home has been a labour of love - bringing it from a shell with plenty of holes to a wonderful family home. Although there is still much to do, it was finally time for living room cushions l- yeah -  my house-warming gift to them.

After much discussion and link sharing the great cushion debate resolved with a set of seven fabrics ordered from M for Make. Sarah settled on 4 large square cushions, 2 smaller square ones and 2 rectangle sized.


The larger squares have contrasting piping.


The smaller squares and rectangles have different patchwork designs.