Kaleidostar cushion complete

I’ve spent the last three days working on this cushion, sometimes paper piecing triangular sections for hours. I actually sewed and listened all the way through from Chris Evan’s Breakfast Show to the end of Steve Wright in the Afternoon on Monday whilst OH was sleeping as he’d just finished a night shift at 7am. Ken Bruce’s show always reminds me of being at my grandma’s house and the taste of roast pork with salty cabbage as it was on in the background. This is a good thing 🙂

Sorry for the lower quality pictures- I’m saving the good stuff for the magazine that the tutorial will be printed in. More on that when it happens.

Do you remember this post back in August where I showed you the mock up design? Well I took Simone‘s suggestion on board and called it the Kaleidostar cushion- thanks Simone!

The whole cushion is constructed from Oakshott shot cottons, specifically it’s the Oxblood, Apricot, Haematite and White Marble colours. They’re really nice to cut and to sew. I must say the Haematite grey is my favourite, I love the dimension in the different tone weft and weave threads.

I even put a fancy zip in with a flap for the very first time. I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew and adapted it ever so slightly to position the zip differently. It was easier than I thought!

Day 10 of Blogtoberfest today… are you getting bored of me yet?! 21 more posts to go!

Advertisement

Mouthy Stitches tote finished

I just need to make the keyring.

I actually messed up a bit- I’ve cut the points off the ribbon star when sewing the lining in and I was going to put an internal pocket in and totally forgot.

I’ve deliberately blurred out the bottom right as it will give away the recipient. I like the block though and I like the quilting- I was going to have a go at quilting Paisley but it always turns out as swirls, which still look good.

Really Big George- Finished!

In another avoidance tactic from sewing the other curtain (I really will have to finish that next) I finished “Really Big George”- based on a photo of Giant George. If you don’t know who Giant George, he was- until extremely recently- the biggest dog in the world ever!

This quilt is about a square metre and I have put it in my Etsy shop, but it’s not cheap 😉

There’s several different FMQ styles in there- my usual thread sketching but also I followed the design on the front on the background which gave a lovely effect. The fabric is from Heirloom by Joel Dewberry by the way.

The back is just simply Kona Natural, and the applique fabrics are a total mix of different manufacturers and designers I couldn’t possibly name them all.

Rose Star cushion

Earlier in the year, a block party was started to make English Paper Pieced Rose Star blocks and make a quilt. I was inspired reading Lucy’s blog and decided to have a play myself but there’s no way I have the patience to make a whole quilt. So I made this cushion!

I pieced it in front of the TV last night and machined it into a cushion this morning. I then put it in my Etsy shop this afternoon. What do you think?

For a vast array of beautiful rose stars be sure to check out this Flickr group.

The curtain fiasco

It’s time I told the (boring) story of the curtain fiasco that I hinted at earlier in the week. I now kind of wish I just made it into a quilt.

Firstly, you know how I was finding the piecing so boring? Well I finished enough to make one complete curtain, deciding to finish that one before embarking on the second. I added a band of white to the top and the bottom, but the measurements were based on guesswork. Holding it up to the window, it was too short by about 5″.

At this point it wasn’t a problem, I decided to add a 6″ band of yellow to the bottom. I then sewed the lining on, which is smaller than the front of the curtain so that the front curls round the back. Only when I actually had the curtain rings did we discover it was about 6 inches trailing the floor and they were too long! So I unpicked the yellow and stitched up the hem with just the white.

Only now it was several inches too short and it didn’t cover the bottom of the window! ARGH!

So what I have done is restitch the yellow back on yet again, but made the hem smaller and because it was stitched on after the lining, it makes the construction a little different. Some how this has made it the right length at last!

Bearing in mind I kept stitching the bands the wrong way round and had a lot of unpicking along the way I have really hated making this curtain. There’s loads of stitch holes from where it was unpicked that I’m trying to ignore, and also despite washing it there is still some really horrible brown stains that must have been on the fabric when I bought it. And I have another to do for the other side! At least I know what to look out for this time. I need to buy some more curtain lining.

I do kind of like it though, especially from the picture where I can’t see the problems and the faults as clearly. I love how it showcases my favourite ever fabric line.

On a happy note, my fabric arrived for the Japanese Charm Swap so I’ve cut my squares and they’re being posted today. And I will get 56 5″ squares back in all different japanese fabrics! I feel an eye spy quilt coming on.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday as there’s another curtain to go before the month is up!

My mini quilt arrived!

This morning before work I went to the sorting office to collect a parcel. I hoped it was my mini quilt from Brit Quilt Swap 3 but when it was handed over it felt like sticks of dynamite and was in an unassuming cylindrical shape with a label saying it was from an architects in Scotland. Puzzled, I drove into work and opened it at my desk. Despite being misleading to look at, I had got my quilt from Jeanette (Hobby lass on Flickr)!

I’d been watching the group and all of these mini quilts that I liked and was hoping were for me one by one went to different people. I really wanted one with a picture, rather than the sort of mini quilt that I had made as that’s more my thing and I planned to hang it on the wall. Luckily for me, I hadn’t realised that there was another pictorial quilt in the works as Jeanette  hadn’t posted WIP pictures, so it was a really nice surprise when it arrived!

I opened it at work so I didn’t have my camera on me, so please excuse the phone photos…

I’m really happy with it, it’s very me and I really like the applique leaves and the button eyes! I have chocolate too but who knows how long that will last on my desk!

Thank you Jeanette!!!

Phone case crazy

After my tutorial yesterday on how to make these, I have made quite a few more phone cases (until I ran out of decent wadding scraps) working with stuff I’ve rooted out of my scraps drawer. Basically it was a diversion from patching together the world’s most boring pattern curtains. I have done nearly a whole curtain of two though so I might be able to show you some actual progress later this week.

I’m adding these to my Etsy shop as and when the mood takes me this week, some are there already.

And then I made this one, sewed the pocket on the wrong way round and put the button on back to front. Oops. Hopefully someone will love it if I price it as seconds 🙂

Next I want to make some more cushions because I sold my badger one about a fortnight ago and think the soft furnishing section of my shop looks a bit sorry for itself!

Swap Mini Quilt finished!

That mini quilt for Brit Quilt Swap 3 I gave you a sneaky look at yesterday…. well it’s now finished 🙂 I stitched the binding and label on yesterday evening and now it looks like this…

It only uses scraps out of my scrap drawer- even the binding was salvaged from when I cut too much for my sister’s Good Fortune Snapdragon Quilt. There is one rubbish seam but I’m hoping it’s not too obvious. The middle is a button because I am poor at appliquing circles! It is stitched on tightly through the material on the button so you can’t see the raw edges underneath. 

And the back is lots of dots- a cheeky black thread has found it’s way on here, please pretend that hasn’t happened! I machine stitched the label, it’s not fantastic but it works. But I’m not revealing who it is for yet! I’ve added corners for dowelling- I’ve never used this way of handing personally but I’m hoping it works as they look quite small! I started off with 2/5″ spares and folded in half, pinned them in place and stitched on the HUGE binding over the top of them!

As a reminder, if you want this pattern for yourself, I bought it for $5 on Craftsy HERE.

As a way of curbing my expenditure I’m not buying any more fabric now til January! *gasp*
I am allowing myself to buy backing fabric and thread if I run out and I have projects to finish, but none of those pretty pretty buys. I did win a gift voucher the other day though so I will have some goodies to show you, I’m just not getting the plastic out until after Christmas as I have a big enough stash to sew pretty much anything.  I would like a fat quarter bundle of Patty Young’s Heaven and Helsinki range though for my birthday *hint hint family*

Right well I missed 3 days of listing stuff on Etsy so I’m going to get some pendants listed now. Come back tomorrow as I have naughtily started another project and I will share it with you then!

Olympic Procrastination

I have done very little of anything else but watch the Olympics recently. The odd bit of chocolate has been made and I have sewn a couple of hems on trousers but that’s pretty much the full extent of crafts, and don’t get me started on laundry, hoovering, etc, etc.

Anyway I have just about found time since a week last saturday to make these two new items for my shop. A frame purse using some of my seagull fabric and a simple quilt-as-you-go table runner using only my scraps. And I’m still on track with listing something in my Etsy shops every day!

Hopefully I’ll have a new notebook for my shop and get another cushion made before this time next week.

Ooh and please vote for Sullivan, Fletcher and my Art Quilt over on the Pets on Quilts competition. We are 5, 6 and 7, dog on quilt, other pet on quilt and then art quilt categories respectively. Thank you!

Penny and Fletcher – all finished at last!

It’s finally done, the binding is on, the sleeve has been sewn onto the back, the paint has been set, my label is attached and it’s in the post…

I’ve pretty much dedicated my weekend to this quilt. Aside from housework, a jaunt to Morrisons, a nap, reading Giant George’s book, watching Snakes on a Plane again and cooking roast beef, this is what I’ve been doing.

Saturday saw me finish the quilting after finally getting to grips with the free motion pre-flight checks I had to run on the machine, then Sunday morning was the painting and doubt stage (thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on the painting!), by lunch time I had set the paint and by tea I had sewn on the binding, made the sleeve (using this tutorial) and sewn that on too. By bedtime the label was tacked to the back and the threads had been tidied up and lint rollered to remove real dog hairs. It’s being posted today!

I would probably make another one. I say that- I actually quite liked the process and WANT to make another one, I’m not yet sure of the subject matter though. I’m planning on selling the pattern from the next one I do so it will take a bit of thought. Maybe a puffin from my photos last week? Or the vintage HMV dog (if I don’t sell the pattern), or maybe even a landscape. I’m really not sure yet but if you have any ideas of something other people might want to make too, you know where the comments box is!

One month today and I will be seeing it on display at the Festival of Quilts! Are you going?

“Penny & Fletcher” Technical details:
Finished size 48.5″ x 30″
Technique: Machine Turned Edge Applique
Fabrics used: Mostly scraps from my box- I didn’t keep track of them all, but there is some Pezzy Print by American Jane, a scrap of my own fabric, some Meadow Friends by Deb Strain and a couple of grey fabrics from Ruby by Bonnie and Camille.
Paint: Pebeo Setacolor in transparent black (with lightener), transparent tan and transparent dark sienna.
Piecing: Madeira Monofilament
Quilting: Machine quilted in thread painting style on dogs, bubbles on noses, squiggles (and name) on white and straight line on blue. Gutermann thread, mostly 414 but some dark grey, tan, dark brown, black and a varigated Aurifil at one point.
Backing: Peach Klona cotton
Binding: White Klona cotton

If you want to follow some other people making their first ever quilts for the Festival, see Ali (though she’s not giving very much away 😉 ) and Dvine‘s blogs…

Want to enter a raffle to win your own custom pet quilt like this? Click HERE!

Did you get here from Lily Pad Quilting’s Pets on Quilt competition? Click here to go back!