New pin cushion and some Tilda makes

The house is quite today. Both the Cheebies are at my parents in law and I cant believe how productive my day has been as a result! I have a clean house, I have hoovered mopped and ironed, and I managed to squeeze in making this little pin cushion from my book.

I have quite a few of those terrible ill fitting over pants that go with little girls dresses. I can understand the need for them for babys but they still seem to come with older girls dresses. My daughter has never worn them and so I picked a pair apart for its fabric- thats the flower/butterfly fabric I used for this pin cushion.



I thought I would post these tilda makes as Kandi had reminded me ThatI still have them. The goose is from the crafting springtime gifts book and the dog and bear is from the homestyle book. I made the bunny too but ended up giving that away as a gift so I dont have a photo of that one.








Right, im off for tea and cake before I have a noisy house again.
x

Box bag tutorial link and Applique tshirts

I've been scouring the internet to try and find the best box bag tutorial.This one was both well written and had great photos which helped explain everything.



I then decided to have a play around with the dimensions.



Heres a peak at the lining:



Just the right size for storing fat quarters!

Keen to address the balance between makes for both my children, I made these tshirts at the weekend for my son, and ofcourse I had to make sure it matched the shorts I made him a few weeks ago.





It was boden that inspired me. They have such beautiful clothes but the prices are so inflated I really cannot justify spending so much on a tshirt. I got the plain white tshirts from Primark at just £1.50 for two and decided to raid my scrap tin to make the applique.

Thats all for now
x

My Quilted Cushion Cover

...is finally complete!

In between my sons birthday a few days ago and our wedding anniversary today I managed to finish the long awaited pillow.

I have never been keen on the idea of making a quilt. A lot of the ones I have seen in books are old fashioned and mismatched and I was never really all that inspired by them...until a few months ago when I found a new blog that completely changed my mind.

Kellies modern and quirky applique designs are a breath of fresh air, the detail and the finish are just perfect. Being completely new to quilting I had to make sure the project was achievable for me. Not something that was to time consuming but something that fulfilled my need to recreate some of Kellies work.

I really fell in love with one of her designs in her shop called Lilly Pilly, but I thought it might be a bit to big for my first attempt, so the free flower garden pillow tutorial on her blog seemed to fit the bill perfectly. She has since added more designs to her shop and I love them all! I would love to be able to make one of her larger quilts one day but I think a proper quilting machine will be in order as I had a lot of trouble with quilting a pillow alone on my standard machine.

So here it is, the finished result:





There are several things I would have done differently, but you'll have to see my next attempt to see if those things will make an improvement. For now, to satisfy my quick fix, I will be making a few speedier items and once I feel the urge for another challenge I will certainly be visiting Kellies blog again.

Beth from sew mama sew, contacted me yesterday to ask if she could feature my ironing board cover image on her Amy Butler/Kaffe fassett highlights post, being a big fan of sew mama sew ofcourse I was honoured!

Its my wedding anniversary today to we went down the pub for lunch. I actually managed to get a non blurred shot of my little boy. It was his birthday a few days ago and I didnt get many good photos.

I'll leave you with a picture of my son (wearing one of the bibs I finally finished) out with us for our anniversary lunch, delighted with his efforts at tracing his own hand (with the help of daddy)

Unfinished business...

I've made these bibs using up the last of my boy fabric and minky which were super quick and easy to do. They arnt finished yet as I cant seem to find anywhere that sells large covered popppers. So Im posting this to find out if anyone knows where I can get them from??. I really dont want to use velcro, not only because my son can pull them off but because I really dislike having to remember to do them up before I wash them so all the velcro sticks to everything else in the machine...not a good look!

Please please, if you know where I can get them from (in the U.K) let me know!!

Apart from that, Im really pleased how easy and quick they were to make. I just cut my own pattern, used some fleece lining and backed with minky. I think these would make great gifts.



I also made another pencil roll. whoever said these were addictive was right!!...well I couldnt leave my daughter out now could I?!





I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with the fat quarterly blog/ezine. But I was approached and asked if I would be interested in featuring on there agony aunt section due to the issues I blogged about having with my quilted pillow (which should be ready in a few weeks- promise!)

I had some really helpful advice that I thought I would share here.

Bye for now
x

Blanket and Pencil Roll Tutorial links

I LOVE magazines! Not that I get much time to read them but they are just fabulous for getting inspiration for colour combining. The walls in my sewing room are covered in various cuttings and clippings which inspire me. I really love this colour combination.

My fabric order from the U.S arrived and it only took 7 days so I will definitely order again and Im far less worried about ordering overseas now. I ordered a huge amount of 2d zoo fabric as I just love it!



So I made this huge blanket to go on Jacobs bed. He needed something light but cosy for the summer months and it will also be great to add in winter as an extra layer.

I was going to make him a patchwork quilt but this fabric is so busy I couldnt find a combination I liked enough and decided less is more in this case and just backed it with a lovely soft Minky fabric.

Minky can be a bit daunting with how slippery it is but this tutorial was very helpful

My next project which I've been waiting for ages to complete is this pencil roll.

I've found lots of tutorials for crayon rolls but crayons dont last very long in my house, they get broken ( my kids seem to love the snapping sound they make!) and they pick off the paper labels and its all such a mess! So this was the perfect alternative!





This is the first time I have attempted any sort of binding so I'm quite pleased with the result.

The tutorial and be found on this clicky.

Still running with the colour theme, I finally got around to making Jacob his own door stop.



I still have loads of 2d zoo fabric left, so I hope I dont get bored of it before I've used it all up!

Toy bunkbed makeover

I bought these bunkbeads a little while ago for £2.50 from an NCT sale. They were plain wood and the sides were a garish pink colour and covered in stickers. So I cleaned them up, painted them white to match my daughters bedroom and made a mattress, pillow and duvet set so she can put her dollys to bed.

I figured when she gets bored of them I can use them to keep my fabric stash in!



For anyone who has babys/small children and dosnt know what an NCT sale is, its like an indoor car boot sale, but all items are baby/child related. Most items are in exellent condition (hence nearly new)so you'll be sure to find a bargain, and if you offer to help out at these sales then you get to have first dibs on everything. Im helping out at my local one tomorrow so fingers crossed I come back with some bargains!

To find your nearest sale click here.