Some views from Flowerville

While making small projects is lots of fun and very satisfying, BIG projects are my passion.

I started working on Flowerville, a stitchery quilt by Rosalie Dekker Designs, in January 2016...I always like to have a big stitchery quilt on the go, and after finishing her two previous quilts (Scandinavian Rose and United Stitches) I was keen to start another one.

It took me a little while to decide on the colour scheme for this one. Rosalie's original quilt was made in Tilda fabrics, and (believe it or not) I wasn't a fan of the fabrics at all. Obviously my Tilda obsession hadn't kicked in back then :)

I finally settled on a fabric range called Rosewater by Verna Mosquera, and matched up the colours with Cottage Garden Threads...my first time using these variegated threads which has proven to be another costly addiction!

Dresdens were a technique that I'd always loved but were too afraid to try, but I'm so glad I did! They aren't nearly as scary as they look, and I have plans for lots more in my future :)

Watching my blocks come together was such a fun process....

...especially once I started adding the delicious turquoise spot borders. You didn't think I'd make a project without spots, did you?

 As always, my furbabies were very supportive during each stage. They fabric tested, colour checked, and made sure all seams and stitches were up to standard!

I quilted this one myself, as I wanted to keep it very simple so that the embroidered work remained a feature of the quilt....and it was small enough to handle on my domestic sewing machine.

Binding is never one of my favourite parts of the quiltmaking process, so I made sure I didn't drag it out too long. This striped fabric from Daysail by Bonnie and Camille proved to be a perfect colour match...the benefit of having a nice big stash of fabric to choose from!

Label is by Tilda. I keep a quilt journal, so no longer feel the need to write all of the details of each quilt on the actual quilt.

There's nothing quite like attaching that hanging sleeve and displaying a finished quilt on the wall :) 

 A special thankyou to my Instagram buddies for all of the encouragement along the way...it really helped to get me over the finish line!

 And if  you've hung in this long....thanks for your patience and have a great day!

TTFN
Susan xxx

Closest to the finish line

Do you ever have days when you just can't settle on a project to work on?

It seems to be the story of my life at the moment. I have lots of projects on the go (even for me!) and lately I just can't seem to settle in and work on anything...and it's very frustrating!

When the postie turned up this morning with this lovely new book written by my friend Jemima from Tied With A Ribbon, I thought I'd post a photo on instagram to show her that I'd received it, and congratulate her on such a wonderful achievement. (it's a lovely book....a must for your crafty bookshelf)  I pulled a quilt from my quilt ladder to use as a background....photo taken, posted, and then...nothing.

 Well, to be honest, not exactly nothing. Lots of wandering around, pulling out projects, umming and ahhing over what to work on. Ridiculous really.

I was nearly ready to resign myself to an afternoon of netflix and dog snuggling when I looked again at that quilt from the quilt ladder, and realised I STILL hadn't attached binding to it. Oh the shame!! It arrived back from the quilters late last year, and I promptly hung it on my ladder (with edges folded under lol) and forgot about it.

So I invented a new game...I'm  calling it "Closest to the Finish Line". If I'm wandering around, stuck in a rut, overwhelmed by the number of projects I have yet to complete, I have to pull out the project in my stash that requires the least amount of work to finish it, and JUST GO FOR IT!

Even if it is the worst part of quiltmaking....sewing down binding. BLEH!

Hopefully I'll avoid playing this game too often, since my next few "closest to the finish line" projects also include binding. There's a definite trend there.

TTFN

Susan xxx

Foxy Happenings

Foxy Happenings

My focus this year on small projects has lead me to my UFO stash....

obviously the fact that projects only require a couple of hours work

 to finish them doesn't preclude them from being tossed aside when

 a new shiny project comes along 😳

A few years ago I was lucky enough to attend an event in Sydney 

called Urban Stitches. Along with some lovely projects from Rosalie 

Dekker and her lovely sister Melly, we worked on a gorgeous felt fox 

with the divine

 Jodie Carleton from Ric Rac.

I  had managed to stitch and stuff a few of the body parts over the course
 of that weekend, but that's where my poor fox was left...unfinished and
looking rather disjointed!

A few hours of hand blanket-stitching, and he was looking MUCH more handsome.

This is a totally hand sewn project, and was such fun to watch come to life!
 Now my fox is happily sitting in my craft space, I'm thinking I may just pull
 out some of the other kits I bought that weekend...the pig and giraffe are exceptionally cute!

While on the subject of foxes, I thought I'd share my next instalment of
 Foxley Village...Part 7.

Only two more blocks to go on this one! The quilt top is a really nice size
now, so it's tempting to just get in and finish it off (if only I didn't have so
 many other projects on the go!)

 As always, my furry assistants had to test for comfort and durability 😆

I've set myself a May deadline on this quilt which may be pushing it a bit?
 I'd better get stitching!

Thanks for popping in to visit...and have a lovely weekend! ITS FRIDAY!
YAY!

TTFN

Happy Flower QAL Blocks 3 and 4

Week 2 of the Quilt-a-long, and so far so good!

 I've added some more polka dot backgrounds, and stuck with the Little Ruby prints by Bonnie and Camille for now....although I can't guarantee that this will always be the case :)

Most of all, I'm loving the simplicity of the blocks. They are very achievable and don't take a big chunk of time.... Saturday nights when there's not much on seem to be my perfect time to pull out the fabrics and at least choose what I'm going to use.

My lovely local quilt shop have ordered me in some of the elusive pink that I'm using for the borders, so I should be all set!  It's called Betty's Pink from the Bella Solids range...it matches beautifully with Little Ruby.

Are you joining in the QAL? Please leave me a comment so I can check out your blocks! If you're on instagram, my username is suzitee1 😀

TTFN

Susan xxx

Blessings

Cushions are my new favourite thing to make, it would seem :)

This one has been in production since way before Christmas, and was intended as a Christmas gift for a very special friend of mine (oops!) Luckily, she is the kind of friend who saw the humour in recieving a cushion top , half stitched and held together with safety pins on Christmas Eve.

The stitchery design is by Rosalie Dekker Designs, and is stitched with Cottage Garden Thread 1301 Rosalie, which quite possibly is my favourite of all CGTs.

                                      

The background was created by piecing lots of 2.5 inch squares in random order, backing that piece with some wadding, then quilting a smidge on either side of the joining seams. It's a simple technique but gives the cushion a gorgeous cuddly feel.

I used a dinner plate slightly bigger than the design to create a cardboard template. I then cut the stitchery roughly in a slightly bigger circle, gathered around the outside of the fabric and placed it over the template.  If you pull the bobbin threads firmly but carefully, your stitchery will form a neat circle over the cardboard.

I  iron the stitchery then remove the cardboard....this leaves you with a nice round circle, which you pin then stitch onto your prepared background. I always machine stitch :)

 Thankfully she loved it.

Perhaps I should start making Christmas gifts a little earlier this year?

TTFN

Susan xxx

A Foxy Tale

What to give a girl for her 16th birthday? That was my recent dilemma with my daughter fast approaching that milestone.

Last year, I made her a simple quilt for the end of her bed. On an expedition
to our local quilting shop, she had fallen in love with the soft florals, and mix 
of pinks and greens which is Tilda's Apple Bloom collection, so I bought the 
quilt kit and constructed the quilt over a weekend. She was totally surprised 
and loved it!

( Since I hadn't actually taken any photos of it, I thought I'd include some
here.)

The pattern is a simple log cabin design, and is available at

 www.tildasworld.com if you'd ever like to make one :) I had it quilted with 

an overall pattern of swirls 

and flowers...it's quite stunning, actually.

 Anyhoo...this year I really struggled with what to gift her. She loves anything handmade, and she also loves nothing more than to snuggle with a good
 book under her quilt, so I decided to create a reading nook in her bedroom.
The idea was to drape her quilt over the back of a really comfy chair next to
her window, cover it with cushions and also provide some extra light for those
 late night reading sessions.

 

 I set about making her a cushion using the quilt offcuts :) I've been making
lots of Dresdens lately, so this was an obvious choice for my cushion design.
 I was a bit stuck for what to use in the centre...I was leaning towards a stitchery or a monogram, but finally settled on a fox. She adores foxes, and
has several plush versions of them sitting around her room.

I resized one of the foxes from my Foxley Village quilt, blanket stitched it in
place using the vliseofix method, and chain stitched a double border with
co-ordinating colours.

She LOVED it (phew!)

While she was at school, I cleaned and rearranged her bedroom to
accomodate her new furniture.

That was last week, and I always know where to find her now :) snuggled
 in her chair doing her homework on her laptop, or reading quietly in her
reading nook.

(Is it wrong to admit that I am very jealous? I'm thinking a stitching corner
 in the master bedroom....but I'm not sure how keen my husband would be 
on that plan!)

TTFN

Susan xxx

Happy Flower Quilt-a-long

The Happy Flower Quilt-a-long had my name written all over it from the minute I saw the hashtag pop up on instagram 😄

 From the very first time I saw the amazing book by Atsuko Matsuyama several years ago I was in love with the pink quilt on the front cover...SO much pretty! However, the book was printed in Japanese and I really didn't think my quilting skills could extend to understanding instructions in another language!

The English version was printed in 2016, and I managed to get my hands on a copy earlier this year...yay! I wasn't actually planning on making anything until I saw that hashtag, and all of a sudden my head was swirling with ideas.

One (very late) night last weekend, my heart settled on my Bonnie and Camille fabric stash, in particular my Little Ruby fat quarter bundle. How perfect would all those tiny prints be?

The rest is history.

The polkadot backgrounds were a no-brainer...although I may have to stock up on a few more colours  over the course of the QAL ;)

Already, a happy little community has formed over on Facebook and Instagram, and I'm sure you would be welcomed with open arms if you choose to give in to the temptation.

I'm hoping to keep up with the group's goal of two blocks per week, but if not I'll be happy with however far I get. Just making pretty little 6 inch blocks is enough to give me joy :)
(speaking of 6 inch blocks, I must remember to show you my Splendid Sampler blocks....oh and my Farmers Wife blocks...and my Farm Girl Vintage blocks....there's a trend there!)

Have a happy day!
 TTFN

Susan xxx

There's a club for that!

It seems I'm not the only person obsessed with Tilda....in fact, there's a whole community of people worldwide who love anything and everything created by Tone Finnegar and her team at Tilda. Who knew? 😀

You can imagine my joy when I discovered that there's even a Tilda Club! It's a bi-monthly subscription, and you receive a pack FULL of Tilda goodness. I receive mine through my local quilt shop, Care2Create in Woodvale, WA....a must-visit if you're ever in the area.

I signed up immediately, and received my first pack late last year. It contained some pins, fabrics, and a pattern to make a tablerunner....such pretty colours!

The top was finished at a retreat I attended in December, but I pulled it out recently and finished it off.

I kept the quilting simple...just echoed around the main shapes and along the pink lengthwise strips. It's even reversible!

 The binding, of course, was my least favourite part of the whole process, but being so small, was knocked over in no time.

The February edition has just landed at my house, and contains some gorgeous buttons, and a pattern for a lovely cushion using the new range, Bumblebee.

Now to find a spare hour or two to make a start!

TTFN

Susan xxx

Tilda Bunny

The internet is full of great FREE patterns. 

In fact, you could almost type in any article that you'd like to make, and you'll probably find a freebie (and possibly a YouTube video) showing you how to make it :)

The Tilda website is one of my favourites....not surprisingly 😉  Not only does it have the latest Tilda catalogue to swoon over, but there are lots of free patterns for quilts, soft toys, and other bits and pieces. Well worth a look!

This precious little bunny is a free pattern, and was quite a simple (but very fiddly) little project to make. Yes, she is sitting inside an actual eggshell inside an actual eggcup.

My plan was to make several to give away as small gifts at Easter, but after making just two of those teeny, tiny ears I will definitely be re-thinking that!

TTFN

Susan xxx

Pixie Stars

Another finish for my Year of Small Projects, and the first for #2017sewingbookchallenge...YAY!

As I outlined before, the idea behind the challenge is to make things from your craft books, instead of just collecting them (oops...guilty!)  I chose a Tilda book (since that is my current obsession) but totally balked at actually cutting Tilda fabric for a small project...it's so precious!

The cushion matches a single bed quilt, but I wasn't feeling quite that adventurous.

As it happened, it turned out to be more the size of a European pillow than a cushion! The fabric is Pixie Noel by Tasha Noel, and it was very VERY hard restraining myself to only red and green. The navy and aqua prints are just gorgeous.

I find Tilda instructions a bit tricky to follow, and there wasn't much in the way of finishing instructions, so I just winged it. I made some striped piping out of the co-ordinating red/green stripe, which finished it off nicely....reminds me of candy canes :)

I possibly made it more time-consuming than it needed to be by layering and quilting the cushion top, but the texture was totally worth it!

The characters in this fabric are way too cute! If you look carefully at the finished cushion, you'll see I've also fussy cut lots of little kissing rabbits for the small green squares :)

 It's going to be hard putting this one away until next Christmas....but that's what you get when you make Christmas projects so early in the year I guess!

The dogs hardly batted an eyelid while I was taking the photos....it's a hard life!

Have a great day, and thanks for popping in.

TTFN
Susan xxx