1 hour basket… or maybe not!

Having seen this little basket all over Instagram, and in need of a quick sewing fix, I decided to give it a try. But I thought it would be more interesting with a patterned front and had also wanted to try paper piecing – so found this economy block which was supposed to be a good starter project. I used grease proof paper to trace the design onto, and made 6 little blocks. This took me 3 hours and I think I need to improve my accuracy as I managed to cut off some of the corners of the squares.

The actual basket did then take me about an hour to complete – although I spent a little extra time adding a little hand embroidery.

I enjoyed the process so much that I then made a second basket for a swap that I took part in (but that is another story!). It is a little pink and pretty for my tastes – but then is was made for someone else.

Heart blocks

Getting the lining ready

A little bit of hand stitching/

Finished

I would recommend these little baskets as they are quick and easy to make – and make a great place to stash all those fat quarter samples.

Happy stitching everyone!

 

Advertisements

SAL 10- Double bubble

Sew…… over the last 3 weeks I have made some progress – but have not actually got any further! I can see that you maybe a little puzzled. Many kits that I have tried often supply enough treads, beads, wires etc. to make more than 1 of the finished project. So I decided to make a second fish! This is what I had completed last time…

1 little fishy

 

And this is the second fish – just need to find a bead from somewhere for his eye. It is funny that, even with the same resources, both fish look quite different.

2 little fish

I hope to get a lot more sewing done now that the weather is getting brighter and the days longer. A walk around RHS Wisley garden this week saw many signs of spring this week. All the bulbs were out as well as the Daphne, Edgeworthia and Hamamelis – it smelt as good as it looked!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.  And a very big welcome to Sharon who is joining us – look forward to getting to know you and seeing your projects progress.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, DebbieRose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Catherine, Connie, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn.Sharon

Birthday bunny..

Just thought you might like to see the Tilda bunnies that I made. The first was for a first birthday present and the second was for the ‘Send a little Love’ swap that I took part in recently. The pattern is easy to follow and the bunnies were completed in 3-4 hours.

 

Putting the elements together.

Edging with machine embroidery.

Finishing the dress.

Making the ears.

I was also very pleased with myself as I finally found out how to use my sewing machine’s embroidery function – which speeded up some of the little details around the hems of the clothing.

Here are the finished bunnies.

 

I think they look quite cute – so was happy to give them away!

Happy stitching everyone!

Catching up on the canvas work..

It seems like a very long time since I have put any work into my canvas work piece – so this weekend, as I was a little house bound due to having slipped a disc in my back, I decided to try and finish the ladies blue coat. After a lot of indecision I finally decided to use encroaching triple cross stitch – as this would lay quite flat against the horse shape.

Starting point

Finishing off the coat.

I was so pleased with my progress (just hope I won’t be asked to unpick it when I go back to the RSN) that I decided to make a start on the horses head. Here is a look at my progress at the end of the day.

Close up

Todays progress

I finally feel as if I am getting somewhere with this piece – but I don’t want to speak too soon.

Hope that you have had an equally productive day stitching….. xxx

SAL 10- Fish face!

Not a lot of progress on my little fish I am afraid as I decided to take part in another swap. I had told myself that after Christmas I was going to focus on my own sewing – but I could not resist the ‘Send a Little Love’ swap – it was such fun last year.

I have managed to finish the long and short stitch over the entire fishes body, highlight the eye and add a little seed bead – but that is as far as it goes. I promise to do better next time!

Here are the before and after pictures – a little game of spot the difference.

You might prefer to look at a shot of my winter sweet in flower in the garden – despite the cold weather!

Thank you for popping in. Happy stitching and I hope to see you all in another 3 weeks.
We are a small group of crafters using a variety of different techniques. Please check out the fabulous stitching by all the other members of the SAL. If you are interested in joining us you can contact Avis for details.

And a very big welcome to Carmela and Jocelyn who are joining us  – look forward to getting to know you and seeing your projects progress.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Catherine, Connie, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn.

 

 

All good things come in little packages!

I have been trawling through Pinterest looking for little projects to sew and found a lovely pincushion design by Heidi Staples. It is a larger cushion with a pocket front for sewing accessories. I ordered her, ‘Sew Organised for the Busy Girl’  book, but was too impatient to wait for it’s arrival – so had a go at making something similar.

I started by cutting 9 squares (just over an inch square) and sewed them together. I then bordered these on all four sides with 4 strips of  complimentary material (I did the two sides first and then put larger strips across the top and bottom of the squares). After placing some interfacing behind I quilted across the block in simple straight lines.

A lining piece was sewn to the back of my rectangle and then I cut two larger rectangles to form the main body of the pincushion – I can’t quite remember the dimensions that I used – sorry!

The front pocket was then layered on top of one of the larger rectangles with right sides facing uppermost. A lace trim was placed along the top and the other large rectangle was placed over all of this with right side facing downwards.

I then sewed around all the edges leaving a gap at the bottom to turn everything in the right way, stuffed the pillow before sewing up the gap.

It is a little rough around the edges, but I do quite like it. The book arrived after I had completed the project but there are still a number of projects that I would like to try.

 

Sew…what did my swap partner send me?

I know that Christmas is over, but I thought you might like to see what my swap partner, Dawn of Positive Dawn, sent to me for the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ swap. The swap was organised by Tracy of Mad about Bags and the idea was to create 12 gifts that could be opened, 1 day at a time, for each of the 12 days after Christmas. Dawn made many of her gifts which included a tote bag large enough to fit the dog in! A button box for all my sewing threads, a coin purse, a little pouch made from the cutest Dalmatian themed material, and a quilted Christmas table runner.

A huge tote bag

A button box

Coin purse

Dalmation Pouch and purple thang

Jewellery case, seam rippers and snippers

Table runner

My favourite gift was a little pin cushion with a lovely sheep design on the front – which as you can see, has been in permanent use ever since.

My collie, Pip, wasn’t left out as he received two new collars and a matching lead. Doesn’t he look smart?

Collar and leads

My beautiful baby.

I was also sent….. some lovely local chocolate, a notepad and pen (always useful), a lovely new decoration for my tree and some sewing notions (thread cutters and snippers).

Local chocolate

Notepad adn pen

Hand blown tree decoration

It was great fun having something to open each day – even more so when you know how much effort has gone into each gift. A big thank you to Dawn for taking so much trouble to make my Christmas special and to Tracy for organising the swap. I will certainly look out for this swap again next year.