New cushion cover designs....

 I started these cushion covers a couple of weeks ago now but they had to go on the back-burner for a week while I worked on Amelia's ottoman in my last post. The blue/purple/green 'brick' design cover is just a simple pattern I have wanted to try for a wee while now. It is made up of some scraps leftover from making these memo boards for Caitlin's room. It always feels good to use up leftover scraps doesn't it. The big pink flower design is an idea that came to me while doing some design doodling one evening and I decided to make it while the inspiration was fresh in my mind. 

 The centre of the flower is made up of 3 different sized yo-yo's with button centres. I do seem to have a thing about yo-yo's I think :-) and yes they did take a little while of sitting in the sun to sew them all on.

 The blue brick design cushion cover is just simply quilted with some fairly random wavy lines to break up the straight lines of the piecing.

The backs are a simple slightly off centre envelope enclosure using some of my favourite buttons on each.

Available in my shop from tomorrow :-)

Good things take time....

My first 5 Farmers Wife sampler blocks! These blocks take longer to cut out than sew up I think but I did enjoy the whole process of choosing just the right colour and print combinations to the actual sewing. I was a little concerned the larger prints wouldn't be suited to the smaller pieces as each block is only 6 1/2 inches square which makes for very small triangles and squares etc but I'm quite happy with them so far. I've decided that I will do 5 blocks each week which means this will take me about 4 months to complete. Good things take time you know :-)

And this is my other slow project for this year which I started in the middle of last year with Penny's quilt along @ Sewtakeahike. I'm in no hurry to finish this project. So far I have done 414 and I think I might just go for the goal of 1000. Making yo-yo's is quite a nice quiet activity that I can take anywhere. I've even taken some to do at one of my Mothers hospital appointments where an elderly gentleman took great interest in what I was doing and what the end product was going to look like. 

I did a few on camp the other week and have been doing a few each night since, so slowly but surely I will get there and once again 'good things take time'.

Leftovers....

I spent a good couple of hours today sitting in the sunshine, listening to National Radio and also enjoying the sound of the Tui's singing outside whilst cutting up these squares leftover from my 2 Bliss quilts.  It took me a while to come up with a design that would make best use of what I have leftover which also includes a few little yo-yo's.  I hope you are not tired of seeing this pretty fabric collection here as I'm afraid that this will not be the last project I make using these fabrics. I still have those triangles to incorporate into something plus I still have quite a bit of Bliss yardage left.

I think we are in for a pleasantly warm and sunny weekend which will make me want to get out in the garden rather than stay inside to sew. Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend too!

Another finish!

 

Just finished this little baby girl quilt early this afternoon and I'm feeling pretty chuffed to have finished 2 quilts in the same week! This baby bliss quilt is made up of leftover blocks from my original Bliss quilt and at 30" by 50" is the perfect size for a baby quilt. 

 

As you can see I went to town when I pinned it to make sure it didn't move when I quilted it and it worked. All those extra pins were worth it.

 

I did some simple straight line quilting down each side of each seam and also diagonally across the squares with the same variegated thread I used on the other Bliss quilt then added a little yo-yo to each intersection.

Here's a photo of the quilt back....I like how the intersecting quilting lines have made tiny little stars. And yes this is the same print I used on the baby boy quilt. I bought a couple of mitres as I knew they would go so well with a lot of fabrics in my stash.

I used one of the pink Bliss prints for the binding just to give it a really girly look.

I now have only 2 quilt tops left to quilt so I think I'm doing well so far in keeping that pledge I made here to have no more quilt tops hanging around waiting for their turn to be finished. 

This quilt is up for sale in my etsy shop :-)

Bliss pinwheels!

I finished hand sewing the binding on this quilt yesterday afternoon and took it outside for a quick photo shoot just in time to enter it in the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy. For those of you who are regular readers you will know all about this quilt but for those who are are visiting from the  Bloggers Quilt Festival I will give you a run-down on its statistics :-) Oh and welcome if you are new here! You welcome to hang around and have a look at what I get up to.

So this quilt was started with a jellyroll of that pretty fabric collection called "Bliss by Bonnie and Camille". The framed 6 inch pinwheel blocks were originally going to be sewn together to make 12 inch blocks but I decided that they looked better framed individually with the coordinating solids. I also added yoyo flowers to each pinwheel.

I then added a wide border in one of the pretty red prints then machine appliqued a meandering vine with clusters of yoyo blossoms. 

Once I finished the top I was a little stuck on how I should quilt it. I love the look of hand quilting but also like simple straight line machine quilting so I did a bit of each. Another problem that stopped the progression of this quilt was trying to find the right shades of Pearl cotton to hand quilt it in but I finally found the right colours after a lot of searching every time I went out of town. (I live in a small coastal town 2 hours drive from any city with a decent amount of shops.) 

The pinwheels are hand quilted with circles of Pearle thread and quilting cotton to give the idea of a spinning pinwheel. 

The border is hand quilted using the Pearl thread in a meandering line with little loopy flowers to echo the clusters of yoyo blossoms.

Here's a photo of the back to give you a better idea of the border quilting.

For the straight line quilting I used a variegated thread in shades similar to the fabrics.

I used a solid red to bind it which I think frames it all nicely. I always use a double thickness of binding for better durability.

This quilt, which measures 50"x70", is special to me because it's the first quilt I've made specifically to sell in my shop and also it's the first quilt I've made using just one fabric collection. I love how it turned out and would be quite happy to keep it if it doesn't sell. When I made the initial pinwheel blocks I ended up with too many so have made another quilt top (crib size and waiting to be quilted) plus a bolster pillow to match the quilt. 

I do hope you enjoyed reading about the makings of this quilt and thanks to Amy for hosting this fun Bloggers Quilt Festival. I'm off to check everyone elses entries now!

Hand sewing.....

Thankfully I have a couple of hand sewn projects on the go at the moment because that's all I feel like doing....sitting in the sun quietly stitching away and listening to the radio. I started to feel slightly under the weather yesterday which I think originated from a chest infection that Caitlin caught earlier in the week and which kept her home for 2 days. I'm hoping to feel better soon as I'm not used to feeling sick and also feeling unproductive. I finished machine quilting this quilt last week and am now up to adding some hand quilting to the pinwheel blocks. I'm using a combination of Perle cotton size 8, quilting cotton and stranded embroidery thread just to get the right colour matches. I think it's looking okay so far and it's not taking too long either so hopefully a finished quilt to reveal soon! 

And this is my yo-yo project, 170 yo-yo's completed so far although it's hard to tell there's is that many in this photo.

I'm using this picnic basket which is not too large for carrying around this project. It's great to have everything together so I can just grab it and pop it in the car at a moments notice. On Tuesday I and a sick Caitlin went up to Auckland with my husband and because I knew we would be waiting in the car for him while he attended a couple of meetings I took this project with me and got 10 yo-yo's done during one meeting/waiting time. Caitlin occupied herself by counting the competed yo-yo's for me.

Finally I just wanted to share where this cushion now lives. I sold it a few weeks ago on etsy to a lady in Texas who was expecting her second baby. Last week she sent me a link to some photos of her beautiful newly decorated nursery where my cushion sits perfectly at home on a chair. She has submitted her nursery design to a site called Project Nursery where viewers can rate each nursery design out of 5. I think hers is worth a 5 but I might be biased :-) 

Yo-yo's and yet more yo-yo's

I've finally started making some yo-yo's for Penny's 'Yo-yo along'. After finishing up my crochet blanket I needed something to keep my fingers busy at night in front of the TV as I just hate to sit and do nothing so making these yo-yo's is the perfect activity that keeps me busy but still lets me watch my favourite programmes. I've decided to do one colour group at a time so it doesn't seem such a daunting task although having a yo-yo maker certainly makes it quicker and easier. I'm up to 24 as of last night. Penny's making 1008!

And in keeping with the yo-yo theme this is a wreath I made with some of my leftover Bliss fabrics and a few yo-yo's. What do you think?

I really enjoy adding little details to my projects so I embellished the yo-yo's with a selection of buttons and sewed them on with some sparkly beads.

I also wrapped some white ric-rac around the wreath and did a simple running stitch with some pale pink perle cotton to keep it in place and a ric-rac loop for hanging embellished with some simple french knots. Pretty don't you think and its for sale in my shop here.

Starting new projects!

With my crochet blanket coming to an end I've been itching to pull out some fabrics for a new project or 2. Firstly I've decided to join the Amy Butler sew along over on Sara's blog Sew Sweetness. I love both Amy Butler's fabric designs and patterns so this was an easy decision for me to make and of course there's the added incentive of some prizes involved :) I've already have 2 Amy Butler bags but they are both in blues so I think I need a pink one for this coming spring/summer season. The pattern I've decided on is the Blossom bag which is a free pattern that can be found here. 

I'm also looking forward to finally starting on my yo-yo project for Penny's sew along that I signed up for a while back. I'm not sure how big I'm going to make this quilt yet but I have decided to use the above collection of fabrics because they are mostly small scale prints which I think would be nice made up in yo-yo's. I've had a lot of these fabrics for absolutely way too long just waiting for the perfect project. Some are vintage given to me from an Auntie, some were brought by my husband on a business trip to Portugal and some are Liberty prints and of course some I just bought on whim as you do when you like fabric :)

So looking forward to starting both these projects!

Been busy just you know doing stuff like....

...reading Jodi Picoult's books, a slight addiction here as this is my 4th one in about 2 months....

...I finished making this pillow last week and today has been the first day that the weather has been good enough to take photos. I've always wanted to make a bolster pillow and I love how this one turned out. It is made from 4 leftover blocks and yoyo's from my Bliss quilt and can be purchased here. 

And here's a sneek peek of another wee project I'm working on with some more Bliss fabric:)

And I've finally bought myself one of these Clover yoyo makers. Yes I've been doing it the old fashioned way in the past but I'm sure this will make, making yoyo's quicker and more enjoyable especially when I start this quilt along.

I have also been kept busy with teaching my youngest daughter Caitlin and her friend how to sew. They have been working hard on a rather ambitious project for beginner sewers but when they are both finished I shall share what they have produced.

I don't know why it is when people ask me what I have been doing that I can often never think of exactly what I have been working on. My mind seems to go blank somehow....

Yoyo-ing along......

Source: decoreblablabla.blogspot.com via Catherine on Pinterest

Inspired by this beautiful wall hanging found on Pinterest last week I signed up to join Penny's yoyo quilt along. Penny has assured us that this will be a long slow quilt-along finishing in Octoberish which is the perfect time frame for me at the moment since I have lots of projects I want to complete over the next few months. Penny will be making a single sized coverlet but I'm not sure whether I can commit to 1008 yoyo's so I'm thinking  something like the above wall hanging might be more achievable :) 

The quilt along is due to start this week so if your keen to yo-yo along with us go check out the details here I think this would be a great way to use up those fabric scraps that get accumulated from previous quilt projects.
Edited to add: Part one is up on Penny's blog now.

Making Yoyo's

The eating kind! Delicious even if the first batch were in the oven maybe a minute too long:)

And the embellishing kind! These yoyo's are going on my bliss quilt and I still have quite a few to make so I guess that's what I'll be doing in my spare time this weekend. I say spare time because Amelia's new bedroom is very close to being finished. I've showed small glimpses of her room here and here so it's been a work in progress for a few months now. It's looking really pretty and elegant so this weekend is moving in time. I'll give you a little photo tour soon.

Handmade Christmas - a fabric wreath

We had a rather cool and very wet day today as you can see from the rain on the windows in these photos. As they say "good for the garden" and I say good for some creativity in my sewing attic!

Everything I used to make this wreath is what I had on hand. I love it when I can make something entirely from my stash! Leftover scraps of  batting wrapped around the cane base, then leftover ends of bias binding were used to cover the batting. A couple of yoyos and a fabric flower leftover from previous projects.

The big red flower is one created by my clever Mother and was the perfect match for the colours on the wreath base. I have quite a few of these lovely knitted flowers just waiting for the right project to be matched with. Thanks Mum!

I added more yoyo's made from scraps and finished with various buttons from my button stash. The little Christmas tree is a ceramic button that I got a few years ago and thought I would never use. And for a little sparkle I added a few beads when I sewed on the buttons

So there you go another inexpensive and easy Christmas decoration and something bright and cheery to lift a dull rainy day.

Caitlin's quilt revisited......for the bloggers quilt festival

Since this is one of my favourite quilts I thought I'd bring it out again and re-introduce it. Before I go on I just want to welcome anyone who is a first time visitor and I hope you enjoy what you see here and are getting inspired by all the other wonderful quilts showcased in this bloggers quilt festival.

This quilt was made for my youngest daughter Caitlin when she was about 8 years I think and she is now 11. When I asked what she wanted on her quilt she wasn't totally sure but flowers and lots of hearts are 2 things she did want. So I put my thinking cap on and decided to make a sampler type quilt and sketched a few ideas and pulled out favourite patterns  that I'd always wanted to try. I had no idea how the final layout was going to look like but just kept making blocks as the ideas emerged. I included a few of Caitlin's favourite things and also some scraps of fabrics from dresses and skirts etc.. I had made her. It took me 6 months to complete including lots of freehand handquilting of mostly swirls and of course lots of hearts. I enjoyed every moment of designing and making this quilt even the recall of my maths skills when I had to figure out the final layout of the blocks.

Here are some close-up photos of some of my favourite parts of the quilt:

A mother and baby bird with covered button detail on their feathers.......

The house block with yo-yo flowers and beaded centres. This block is taken from a Piecemakers Calender and I had always wanted to make it.

Caitlin loved the Felicity Wishes books at the time so here is Felicity and her blue bird. I added beads to her wings to give them a little sparkle.

Caitlin's friends as she likes to have a lot of friends around her.

Another bird with little stuffed hearts. She's an animal lover so birds seemed appropriate and I had always wanted to do this block which is also from a Piecemakers calender.

I think I made this block when I was trying to work out the layout and needed something to fill in a space plus I had these little flowers leftover from the other garden blocks. The green gingham fabric has served me well as it started off as a pair of dungarees then when they got too small I made it into a pinafore dress and now bits of it are gracing her quilt.

Another block from a Piecemakers calender and one that stretched my skills as I had to hand applique it and I don't really enjoy hand applique but I love how this block turned out. Lots of echo handquilting which makes these pretty butterflies puff and stand out.

At one stage of making this quilt I raided my Mother's button tin and had fun making these precious old buttons into flowers with a little beading.  And I couldn't resist adding the little beaded spider.

And finished off with the perfect coloured striped bias binding. I hope you enjoyed seeing one of my favourite quilts and don't forget you can get more quilting inspiration over here at Amy's Creative side.