Handwarmers, Totes, a competition win and more........

My main "thing" is quilting but after finishing a couple of big quilts, lately I just needed a few small projects that I could start and finish fast!  And the fun I've had! 

First I made the Fabric Wreath that I showed you yesterday.  Check out my first ever little tutorial if you haven't seen it already.  It's a no-sew project so suitable for everyone!  You will see the Tutorial Link at the top of the page, under the header!

Then, I made a few hand warmers for my mum and a good friend, Georgie who has Reynauds Disease so always has blue hands in the cold.  I filled them with rice and added a few drops of cinnamon to give them a nice smell. 

Next, I wanted to make something for my friend who has recently taken up crochet.  We've been friends since we were 10.  I have always been the one who was into "make & do" and always had a box of some craft or other in the corner whether it was glass painting, jewellery, card making and eventually, my total addiction, sewing/quilting and it's lovely to finally be able to share the love of making with her.  So, when I found this pattern online, I had to buy it and make it up for her.

It was my first time making a tote....... I have to admit, the base was a bit of a challenge so it's not perfect but it taught me alot!

I get fierce excited when I start to see a project come together so it takes a little longer because I need to stop regularly to admire it....... hence this picture of it before even adding the lining and it's turned right side out!

  It's a Crochet Tote.  It has a fine big center to hold up to 5 full balls of wool and then all the way around there are different sized pockets to hold the crochet hooks (or knitting needles), scissors and any other related notions!  I chose bright and cheerful colours because she's young and funky (just like me, ha ha)! 

And finally, I had bought some of the Gorjuss Fabric about 6 months ago and just didn't know what to do with it but finally, FINALLY, I cut into it and made my friends two little girls some bags.  I did some straight line quilting on them (which I love since I haven't mastered free-motion yet) and they turned out cute. 

It's hard not to turn out cute when you are using anything Gorjuss by Santoro........... it's just adorable!

I used a stem stitch and added their names on too.  You can't see the names because I hadn't gifted them when I took the picture so I covered it up with a bit of selvedge!

Now, before I go.............check out my little "win" on Instagram.  I entered a little competition with @colourmehappy2 and I won!!!!

I got orange chocolate ( my fav) (well, one of my fav's), a funky fat quarter, a mini Moda Charm pack, some wonder clips and hexie templates!  EEEEEEEEEK, I'm going making hexies!!!!! How cool...........

Daft pic won't rotate properly - sorry!

No Sew Fabric Wreath Tutorial

No-Sew Fabric Wreath Tute

I totally forgot I said I would do a quick tutorial on the super-easy, use-up-your-tiny-scraps Fabric Wreath that I made a couple of weeks ago. 

This requires NO SEWING whatsoever so is suitable for beginners!

Materials Needed:
Ruler
Rotary Cutter
Scraps
Florist Hoop (I got mine at The Quilt Shop, Tuam for €1)

Step 1:
Gather yours scraps.  You can use all one colour or for a truly scrappy effect, use a little (or a lot) of everything! I started with red and whites but quickly made my way through all the drawers for a rainbow of colours!  Selvedges with some text can add a bit of interest too!



Step 2: 
Cut the scraps to the desired length.  Mine are 1/2" x 5"
This takes some time but the growing pile of cut up scraps is really pretty all by itself!





Step 3:
Take your florists ring and a scrap and simply tie on!  Repeat this on both lines until your ring is chock full and you can't squeeze any more on.  The fuller, the prettier!







Please link back if you do try it........I'd love to see!

Scrap Happy!!

Scrap Happy, oh yes I am! 



I've had great fun this week so far, making things from scraps! 

First I made another zipped pouch for a friend who fell for the first one I made.  It's great when you make something with mad colours and you think it's a bit out there but someone loves it!  I also made another set of bunting which is currently winging it's way to Australia!

Yesterday I had loads of time with nothing to do.......... okay, that's not true, there were loads of things I could have done but it was the first day that all three of my kids were back at school after 10 days of sickness.  I had a quiet house and decided to make the best of it.......... but really I spent half the day deciding what to do !  Finally, at 5pm, I finally dug out the scraps and made this heart wreath.  I love it, it's totally scrapilicious!!!  There are dozens of different fabrics and colours in there!  It's hanging on the blue wall of my sewing room and pops with colour in reality - the pic doesn't quite do it justice. 
I will do a tutorial on this in a few days if anyone is interested!





Today, I got to the sewing machine earlier and when I found one single Eiffel Tower scrap, I chose to make a scrappy cushion cover around it.  I used the quilt-as-you-go method so it came together very fast.  By noon, all I had left was to put the backing on and I had a squishy, scrappy, pink cushion! 


Wonder what I'll do tomorrow morning!

Samples, Samples, Samples...

This week and next, I'm busy making samples for The Quilt Shop in Tuam.   They're simple little projects to show what can be done with certain items in the shop. 

Last week, I showed you the little cushion made with a Moda Mini Charm pack and Perle Cotton.



This week, we got a gorgeous bunting panel in and I was so taken with it that I bought one for myself along with taking one to make as a sample!  I think the patterns and colours are very similar to Orla Kielys patterns...I've a little obsession with her bags so that's probably why I like this so much. 

Bunting is very satisfying to make.  It's probably one of the easiest items to sew up and sometimes it's great to have a start to finish project done nice and fast!  

So once I had that panel made up, I pulled out another one I had bought a couple of months ago.  This one is super cute too but it has presented a bigger problem.  I think I'm going to have to redecorate my little boys room because I'm dying to hang it and it doesn't currently match at all!!  I'm easing my husband into the idea! 



So for this week, I have two small samples to make using 2 x 10" square pack each with 10 different colours.  Should be fun! 

 

                                                  

Pouches of fun!

Today was a Storm Day - the country called a Code Red on the weather.  Storm Rachel was heading in and all the schools were advised to close.  Hooray!!!!  Half the morning spent in bed watching movies with the kids and browsing for ideas of something to sew.  I decided on zip pouches because I've been wanting to try them for a while.  They're another thing that everybody said was easy but to me they looked difficult so I started small......... a 4" zip to make a small change purse.

Hmmm, it was easy but I used a metal zip which complicated things slightly.  Still loved it though and took out even bigger scraps to go to town on!



Then of course my boys came in and "needed" one each.  I love that they're interested in what I sew and always want one of their own.  They all picked the fabrics they wanted.  My youngest (by 23mins) is very particular and it had to be green with cows........ thankfully I could manage it.   At least 2 of these pouches are in bed with my boys right now!






 



I have to admit, I really enjoyed making these.  It's the first item I've made that I would gladly make over and over (other than quilts obviously)!   I had made this box pouch earlier in the week.  It's extra plush because it's quilted.  I love the space in it, the design would make a great make-up bag or nail polish bag but I'm using my to carry my perle cotton right now! 



This week I also made a mini charm cushion as a shop sample for The Quilt Shop Tuam.
I used a mini charm pack from Moda called Persimmon.  The pictures don't quite do the fabric justice, the colours are far lovelier in reality!  The complimenting fabric is called "grunge"!  I have yet to fill it with a pillow form that fits so it's a little lack lustre right now but it was a fun little project!

So, go on...........ask!  What has prompted this feverish fit of sewing all of a sudden?  I have been rather quiet lately and then all this?............ Well, it's my new baby Bessie!!  Or rather, my new Juki Sewing Machine!  She's pretty amazing - I had to give her a few test runs!  I'm feeling fairly spoiled with her to be honest, she has all the bells and whistles!!


Expect more from little Bessie soon :)


Just one last picture.............

Doesn't the excitement on his face make the time and effort worthwhile?

Storm At Sea Quilt

Sometimes you see something and you get a teeny bit obsessed with it.  I happened upon a Storm At Sea pattern a few months ago.  I can't remember what appealed to me first but I started googling the pattern and my search revealed a whole host of variations.  I was completely taken by it, it's total versatility!  The same blocks arranged and rearranged, the same blocks with 2 colours, with 3 colours with an array of colours, with an extra block thrown in........ the completely different patterns it can make are endless!

I spotted the picture below and knew this was going to be the variation I would make.  It reminded me of Moroccan and Tunisian tiled floors.  When I was 2 or 3 weeks engaged, I went to Gibraltar with my friend and fiancé and we took a day trip to Morocco......and we ended up in Tunisia on our honeymoon so you can imagine that I have lots of good memories from both places and wanted to recreate a little of that.......

Anyone who has happened upon my blog before knows that I'm a bit of a divil for the foundation paper piecing method and since this was going to be my first repetitious pattern in quite a while, I decided to go with this method again as it takes the guess work and the accuracy out of it.  I hate ripping anything back and when there are multiple seams...... this way is just easier. 

My sewing room floor.  My poor sewing room floor.  I meant to take a picture but I'd like you all to think that I'm a pillar of organisation and work only at a station of complete tidyness and order.....but those of you who have worked at paper piecing, you know what I mean by my poor sewing room floor! ;)  I took a little break in between blocks and made my little fabric covered box and it proved very handy for holding my little stack until I was ready to add them all together.

I stuck with the blue and white colour scheme from the picture I originally fell for.  I thought it was perfect and why mess with perfection.  I did however choose a navy "shadow" from Stof instead of a solid colour.  It gives a little more texture and dimension, I think.  I did hours and hours and hours of chain piecing and slowly my blocks built up.  Each block is easy but the process is very time consuming and a tad monotonous!  Let's just say, I can't wait for my new sewing machine which will have a built-in thread cutter so save me trimming hundreds of threads!  That alone sucked hours of my time!  Worth it though...

I moved my sewing machine from my sewing room, to the kitchen table, to the coffee table in front of the tv and back to my sewing room again..........just to change things up a bit.  In truth, I dislike repetitive patterns, I get bored easily.  I think that's why I like foundation paper piecing, you get to change things up completely and make very, very accurate tiny pieces with minimal points to match up!

I had intended to make a king size quilt for our bed....... everytime I look at it, I'm reminded of those first months and years together with my husband because of the memories it evokes but it wasn't to be!  My husband suffered from a case of labrynthitis not long after our twins were born in 2011.  It was caused by a simple ear infection but the ear infection was caused by those first few weeks of pure exhaustion brought on by 2 newborns in the house.  At the time, it was a terrible bout, he was off work for a good length (no joke for a self-employed person), he was so dizzy that he couldn't hold his babies and couldn't stand straight without the room spinning.   He still suffers when he's run down or overly stressed out and the dizzyness takes over........ well, I don't know what it says for my poor quilt because everytime he looks at it, he grabs the counter and turns away while muttering something about it being "lovely, dear".  I have joked about getting my own room if I do make a kingsize because I don't think he could actually get under this quilt but I'm not ready for seperate beds just yet!

So that's how my king-size plan converted to an over-sized lap-quilt.  It's probably more of a single quilt size but since I don't have any single beds at my house, this is going to be a throw quilt for the couch for our new conservatory when it's finished!

Can I just mention that while I do love paper-piecing, I am SICK of pulling those papers out.   Thank heavens I chose to use Carol Doaks actual paper-piecing paper as opposed to using standard printer paper as I used to.  This falls out in comparison but still it's a tedious job.  To those who always said it was therapeutic, I'm calling you in future to avail of free therapy at my house when I'm finished a paper-piecing project! You have been warned! 

I had planned on three borders, skinny blue, medium white and then a large outside blue border but I've decided I hate adding borders - not the look, I just ALWAYS seem to measure wrong and end up 3/8 inch short!!  Grrr, so right now, I've stopped at a skinny blue border........ I'll give it a rest and see if I can get the motivation to do the rest!

                                                   

1 less UFO, 1 more new project

Yes, this week I finished a long-term project.  So of course, I should move on to the next unfinished project and get some more knocked off the list........... that's what I SHOULD do, but this time Instagram won out.  I spotted the cutest little pattern, went on the hunt, found the sellers page and couldn't resist adding to my cart.  And sure, what's the point of an instantaneous pdf download if you don't start working on it instantaneously??? 

Anyway, let me rewind to my finished project first...

I started this quilt way back here.  The pattern is by Thimbleblossom and is called Swoon.  I added a paper pieced border of 3" flying geese to make it a little bigger and to add more colour.  I got the top done fairly quickly, it has enormous 24" blocks so it's satisfyingly swift.  When that much was done, I folded it up and put it aside!

Months later, well, nearly a year later, the ladies in my sewing class helped me baste it at our class (I've no floor big enough to baste a kingsize quilt at home) and when that was done......... I folded it up, put it aside and moved on to something new!!  Yes, sinful I know!

Eventually, I pulled it out again couple of months ago to decide finally whether it would be machine or handquilted and I decided to go with handquilting.  I know it's slow but I enjoy it and it's less likely to go wrong on me than using the machine.  I need to practice my machine quilting more! 

                 

I did a basic three line, cross section through each star that gave a nice trellis effect on the back, then between the stars and all around the border, I quilted in some different sized stars.  I am happy enough with this much but have a feeling that I may add more quilting over time but in the meantime, I squared it off and added the binding last night!  This binding (pictured above) is also the fabric on the back of the quilt, it's deep navy with a black shadow and a gorgeous silver swirly design throughout! I love it!



                                           


Ooooh, it's amazing how excited you can get about a quilt that has been hanging around the house for nearly 18months!  Adding the binding seems to have transformed it!  It pulls out the navy from one of the blocks and from the flying geese on the border!  I love how binding just frames the quilt and finishes it completely!  I'm delighted that I managed to get this quilt finished just before we hit 2015 too otherwise it would have been on the go for 2 years!!! 




Hmm, it's actually difficult to see the binding against the dark green of the grass but take my word for it, it frames it nicely!  And now, I can finally put this project to bed!  Well, on my bed anyway!

Now as for the new project........ it's too darn cute to sit for long (and it's small so won't take much time) so watch this space!

3 Years, 4 whole cushions

When I was younger and didn't know how to sew, I was envious of people who could make their own cushion covers.  To me, it was so complicated and I couldn't understand when they said it was "sooooooo easy" and "easiest thing in the world to make".  Nope, cushion covers were definitely complicated!

Fast forward to almost exactly 3 years ago and I took my first sewing class called "Getting to know your machine" with Pippablue in Galway.  I had taken a notion to buy an Argos Value Machine for a whopping €50 but didn't even know how to thread it, much less make it go!  I was reminded of this a couple of months ago when chatting with my good buddy Heather (who blogs here).  She said she remembered my excitement at that first class.  I went on a hunt to find the picture we took when we finished up.  Oh I was so nervous and delighted with myself that day.  Check out my first ever, teeny tiny cushion......... I'll admit, it's still on a chair in my bedroom, even more dwarfed by the size of the chair!




After that class, I didn't sew for months.  I was a little daunted by the thought of ruining beautiful fabric by actually cutting it up!  When I joined my quilting class a few months later though, I got over that and when I finished my first quilt, I made this cushion from the gorgeous nautical range by Sarah Jane called Out to Sea.  I made it for my son but eventually I "borrowed" it and it's sitting on the top shelf in my sewing room because........ well, it makes me happy!

                                                  

After this a whole 2 years went by before I made another cushion.  To be honest, I was procrastinating.  A soft green velvet cushion on my couch had worn out/shredded/wasted away and it needed a new cover.  I just couldn't get the motivation to use a dull fabric.  When you're used to the beautiful quilting fabrics we use, upholstery fabric is just BORING!  But finally, last week, I got it done.  It's the one in the center......... blends in pretty ok, doesn't it?

Excuse my poor tatty couch!

So that was it, I got my mojo back with that boring cushion out of the way so today, I grabbed a bunch of scraps from a gorgeous range of fabric from The Quilt Shop and sewed them up and finally, FINALLY I have a proper girlie cushion in my house!  It took less than an hour to make this 18" cushion. 

Feel free to squeal at the girlishness........I did!

When you live with a hubby and 3 male children, you don't get many girlish things in the house.  My small boys are happy for me - well, they were after they exclaimed in disgust "what is that girlie thing doing in our house?" while pointing and screwing up their faces.  I explained mummies need for pretty and they're ok with it.  I might even manage a few more!