Pencil Cases

I'm starting a sewing & quilting club for the pupils at school. The long term plan is to make a large display quilt to hang in the school hall, with pupils making squares that represent something about the school. 

To teach the pupils the basics of quilting I'm going to start by showing them how to make small items that they can use in school - quilted notebook covers and pencil cases. 

I've been making some example ones to shoe them, and then hopefully will sell them at craft fairs. they make great makeup cases too!

Lou's Baby Quilt

My lovely friend Lou is expecting her first baby this summer. She will just be the most wonderful mum, and I wanted to make her something special for her daughter.

Using fabrics from my stash pile I made her a patchwork baby quilt. Even though she's having a girl I didn't want to make it too pink, as I think this gets a bit boring - plus Lou is a classy lady! ;)

The backing fabric came from Ikea - my current favourite place to get fabrics, especially for quilt backing. Because Lou doesn't have a name planned yet rather than sewing on a quilt label I stitched on a small heart. All made with love!

Bunnies!

These little cuties have been so much fun to make! I purchased the bunny pattern from http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/

This included the patterns for the pyjamas and the smock dress & knitted cape.

Who doesn't love a bunny in pyjamas?!

Then I was asked to make a ballerina bunny for a little girl - and so Darcey Bunsall was created!

Her wrap top is removeable, fastened with a popper

I love her ballet shoes - she's always en point!

I added vintage ribbon to the skirt and top as a finishing touch

Remixed Flying Geese - Quilt in Progress

The finished quilt top

I'm still working on my 'remixed flying geece' quilt. It's huge! I'm making the Queen size version, in the hope that Ash & Bronwyn won't be able to steal all the quilt that way! Unfortunately the quilt is now so big that I don't have room in my house to lay it out to pin! I took it into school so I could use the huge tables in Textiles. One of my lovely pupils Ellie helped me pin it all out & it took the two of us an hour to do!

I've finished the quilt top - phew! - and have sandwiched it together with the wadding & backing. I've used Ikea fabric for the backing, white with grey writing, which worked out at the very reasonable price of £12 for the whole back. 

My job now is to quilt through the whole lot, which is taking AGES! I'm using free motion embroidery in a random scribble pattern in order to contrast with the straight lines of all those triangles. 

Photos of the finished quilt will go up once I'm done - currently I still have a third of the quilting to do and a very sore pair of arms from pulling all that fabric around!

Brian!

One of my lovely (and slightly mad!) year 11 girls, Kira, has a new puppy called Brian. I think you'll agree, Brian is a dude! I made him the personalised neckercheif he's modelling in the picture. He totally rocks the look!

Coffee Warmer

 

I'm currently working on ideas for items I can sell at craft fairs, in the hope that this little hobby of mine will turn into a business. 

To me, coffee is an essential. And cold coffee is a crime! I've been making quilted coffee pot covers to keep the coffee warm. The design is a simple rectangle, quilted through, bound with ribbon and done up using buttons. 

This project uses such a small amount of fabric that it's ideal for using up scraps. You could even make the front of it patchwork and really use up all those little bits of leftover fabric. 

Lap Quilt

Our house is pretty cold most of the time as we have no heating apart from a log burner in the front room. Therefore I thought it was high time I made a lap quilt for snuggling under while watching tv. 

The design is just simple patchwork squares in gold, mustard & blue. I particularly love this 'Lady Sybil' Downton Abbey fabric:

The back is a tablecloth I picked up in a charity shop for £1.50 - bargain! I've quilted it in a 'sunbeam' pattern using free machine embroidery. 

As with most things in our house, Bronwyn now thinks it belongs to her!