Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (17th October 2013)

This week it feels like quite a lot has been achieved on the sewing front, but yet I have very few photos to share with you!

The Apple Day bunting is complete and fortunately it looks as though the weather may actually remain dry on Saturday for the event too. I was starting to have visions of my beautiful bunting out in the pouring rain! No photo of that because I'm saving the "reveal" till it gets used.

I'm also ploughing on with my Christmas quilt. Lots of cutting of fabric and nothing I can really share because it is a secret...

I've also made progress with Carol's block for the FQR Bee. Carol is making a quilt that has the theme 'It's A Wonderful World' and she asked us Bee members to make a feature block on that theme and possibly a filler too. So I made my feature block but I wasn't happy with it.... So now I'm making a new one...

Poor Carol even had to send me some more low volume fabric for the background - she probably wishes I'd just stuck with the brief!

I've also made the filler block too....

So it looks like Carol will get three blocks from me in the end! I really curse myself sometimes for my inability to walk away from a project before it's right (I won't say 'perfect' cause I never quite achieve that!)

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (3rd October 2013)

This week I had a lovely project finish which I am very happy with the result of, but I can't show you it because it's part of a secret swap - Hate that! Talking of which we are heading into that time of year aren't we? We'll all be starting on our Christmas projects soon and having to keep them quiet. I don't know about you, but my family's appetite for quilts never seems to end. Every year I think I might be let off the hook and then as the weather turns colder the hints start being dropped!

At the moment I'm just pulling together a few ideas and trying to work out what's realistic to achieve in 12 weeks (yes, that is all we have left!) and in the meantime I'll be making Carol's block for the FQR Bee....

And making some bunting for Apple Day (more to follow on that in a few weeks, we are organising something brilliant in our village!)

 What have you been up to?
 

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (26th September 2013)

My sewing machine is back and normal service has resumed - woohoo! Just in case you are remotely curious, the problem was 5 years of (over)use which had resulted in lint building up in inaccessible parts of the machine. I had told the repair man that sewing with it was like wading through treacle and it turned out my analogy was pretty spot on. The lint had apparently become so densely packed that the machine parts were moving through something that had the texture of felt. It explains a lot, everything in fact except why the repair man in Scotland didn't spot it two years ago... Grrr!

So with the sewing machine returned, this week I finally got a chance to make Moira's block for the FQR Quilt Bee. This is my first bee and I am indebted to Liz for introducing me to the group. The fabric is Glimma and the pattern is a paper pieced tippencanoe block.

I also made Theo a pair of yellow cords. If you've been paying attention you may remember that yellow cords were on my autumn clothing wish list for me, but having not found any for myself I have inflicted them on him instead! The pattern is not the same one I used for his shorts, as I found the results from that too flared for trousers, so I used Dana's free Kids Pants pattern instead...

Now I've tried two trouser patterns I'm considering trying a couple more so I can review them all side by side. Has anyone seen or tried any I should add to the list?

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (22nd August 2013)

So.... I finally finished the summer skirt I started making about a month ago! Or rather I finished making the skirt and finally got round to photographing it! If you remember this is the skirt I got a bit cross with and I'd like to explain why, because despite appearances this skirt is far from perfect...

My first lesson was that gathered elastic waist skirts are not super-flattering on anyone above the age of 10, and that is doubly the case if you use (as directed in the tutorial) twice the width of fabric you need for the back panel and then gather in using nothing but elastic. This is kind of obvious now I write it down, and that's why I was kicking myself so much! I'd advise anyone thinking of using the tutorial (or a similar one) to use 1.5 times tops.

Also of note is that gathered elastic waist skirts are really really unflattering on adults when they go below the knee, as they tend to balloon out at the hips, which is why this one ended up a little shorter than I usually wear. I did consider remaking it completely, but with summer rapidly disappearing, I thought there was a real danger my motivation to complete it would dwindle. So it is was it is, wearable, but not the most flattering item in my wardrobe. As always though, a sewing project is never a wasted experience, many lessons have been learned.

And so it is time to move on to new projects! I am trying hard not to buy new fabric, but it is not easy! Particularly as I think I've fallen a little bit in love with the Camp Sur fabric range from Birch...

This would make such a good boy's quilt and I've just finished one for Theo. I have no excuses to buy it - Help!

X Factor Swap - Round 6

This morning I came home from the dog walk to discover a parcel from Saskatoon in my mailbox. Saskatoon is about 4 hours from where we used to live in Canada and as Canada is a VERY big country, that makes the sender our former near-neighbour, exciting enough for a Tuesday morning frankly.

But more excitement awaited, inside was my pillow cover from the X-Factor pillow swap. If you aren't familiar with how the swap works, everyone contributes a cushion and then after secret voting you are assigned a pillow according to how highly your own contribution was rated by other swappers.

I let my parcel sit on the kitchen table for a good 10 minutes. I love this part of the swap, where like Schrodinger's cat, several possibilities simultaneously exist before you open the package...

I made some tea, unloaded the washing machine and waited for a quiet moment before I opened it and I was astonished at what came out of the envelope! There were 3 or 4 pillows in the swap which I absolutely loved and I never expected to receive any of them, but I was wrong!

This pillow was made by the very talented Lisa and I LOVE it. How cute is the fabric and that fussy cut Dalmation dog and the quilting is perfect. I photographed it in Theo's room because our sofa is looking rather tatty, but it's not staying there - something might happen to it n the night!

 

Lisa's pillow is so lovely I'm actually a bit embarrassed to show you the one I contributed, but here you go...

 

The next round is low volume and I think I have a fairly good idea of which design I'll be making. I'm hoping I might be able to pick up an appropriate fabric bundle at the Festival Of Quilts later this week. Anyone else going?

 

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky

In retrospect it probably wasn't a brilliant idea to start a Brit Sewing Linky on the day that most Brit Sewers headed off to the Fat Quarter Retreat, but thank you to those of you that gamely supported the first week, lets see how many sewers and quilters we can find this week...

This is what I've been up to...

Finishes...

This week I have had two finishes, both pairs of shorts for the boy made using the Parsley Pants pattern. One long (fabric from the stash) and one shorter (fabric not from the stash, oops!) With the continuing warm weather the expansion of Theo's summer wardrobe has been most welcome and taken the pressure of the household laundry a bit!





I can't wait to start making some trousers for the winter with this pattern, not least of all because it's going to save me constantly hoiking up his shop bought trousers which are always too big on the waist.

In progress...

I've also started making a skirt for me using this tutorial, but I'm in the process of unpicking it at the moment, as due to an obsession with wearing skirts on the hip, I went too far and made it way too big. I reckon I need to cut off about 4 inches from both front and back panels, but it will be worth it on the end.

Unusually for me there are no quilts in progress at the moment, I think it's the warm weather, the thought of getting wadding out at the moment does not inspire me...

So what have you been up to?

Another shopping tote and a winner!

The decrease in sewing output that plagued me earlier this month is over, temporarily at least. I've even had time this week to make another shopping tote for me!

Normally being the second recipient of any sewing project means you get the improved version, but in this case I substituted the canvas fabric I used on the last bag's base for a denim fabric, it's fine, but not as good as the original and it doesn't stand up so well, so I will revert to the canvas for the next one.

Thank you to all of you who entered the Terry's Fabrics cushion giveaway. Random.org picked the winner from the comments left...

And it's Claire Holmes. Congratulations Claire, I'll be in touch to get your address. In the meantime hope everyone has a great weekend, I'll be back next week with a post about our annual Canada Day celebrations...
 

Terrys Fabrics competition and giveaway

I was contacted by terrysfabrics.co.uk last week who are running a competition for bloggers. They are offering creative bloggers two 1/2 metres of fabric and a cushion form for free to make an 18x18" cushion. In return one of those cushion designs will then win a £250 voucher.

From Terry's selection I chose the medium vichy 9274 curtain fabric rose (pink gingham) and the camper van pink fabric to work with. Both are heavyweight (ideal for curtains or bags like my shopping tote) and the camper van has quite large motifs which are great for fussy cutting.

I mixed my selected fabrics with some Kona snow and pink polka dot ribbon to create the quilted front of my cushion and I used the medium vichy to make an envelope back.



I think this kind of design would be perfect for a pre-teen girlie bedroom and as Terry's Fabrics have been so generous with their materials, I thought I'd share that generosity by giving you a chance to win the completed cushion including the form.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED So if you fancy winning my girlie pink camper van cushion all you need to do is leave a comment on this post before midnight on Thursday 27th June 2013. I'll select a winner on Friday so make sure you check the blog then. UK residents only I'm afraid due to postage costs.

Bloomin Quilt As You Go Cushion

I have been very slack on the crafting front recently, I haven't sewed in weeks. The fabric I cut out for my shopping tote is still sitting on our kitchen table and my list of projects is getting longer not shorter.

Mostly it is because I have got heavily involved in a wonderful and important local project to save an ancient orchard. It's stimulating and enjoyable, but I still wish there were more hours in the day and I could take on more things, and still do all the other things as well. Don't we all?

Anyway, today I finally have a finish! This is my Bloomin Quilt-As-You-Go cushion....

Observations on making it? Firstly it takes up a lot more fabric than you expect, so be prepared. The blue on the edges of my cushion front were a natural progression, but not part of the original plan. Secondly the quilt-as-you-go method is lovely! Very precise, very neat, very therapeutic, I'll be doing it again. And finally, in retrospect my design turned out a little too square, next time I do it (and I will do it again) I will make sure to use an odd number of strips on each layer to give it a rounder shape.



The back is part of my journey to make friends with zips! I love the finish they give, but hate putting them in! I used Chrissie D's tutorial and despite the fact I sewed it with the flap up first time, and had to unpick and resew, the result looks ok... I think zips and I are on the way to being friends! As they say, every day is a school day! 

Oh and one other thing. I have after many months of indecisiveness, switched the domain of this blog to maybushstudio.com. Blogger says anyone following on the old blogspot domain should be forwarded, but if you could leave a comment to say you've seen this it would help reassure me!

Beach Hut Shopping Tote

We're off to a barbecue tomorrow at the house of some relatively new friends. I found out a few days ago that it's not just a barbecue, but also the hostess birthday. She's a fellow crafter so it followed that the gift would be handmade and I settled on making a shopping tote (because they're useful for everyone surely?) Only after I made it did I realise that actually it's strangely appropriate...

We met these new friends because the host started a conversation with Jim at our local train station about his bag. Yes you read that right, two men, at a train station, talking about bags. Weird.

So it is a bag that was our introduction and now it will be a bag that will be our gift. There's a joke in that somewhere.

I used the Bijou Lovely market tote tutorial and the beach hut fabric is decor weight cotton by Clarke & Clarke. Only thing I did differently is not bothering with interfacing and scrimping a little by using some curtain lining I had for the interior.

I also added the personalisation which is an idea I stole from Prada (dahhling!) I saw these bags in a Grazia quite a while ago and have been meaning to do something similar...

One of the great things about giving handmade is that you can personalise, so I try and do it all the time. The letters are felt attached with Heat N Bond ultra (no sew) and the font I used is Collegiate which you can download from dafont.com

I have to say I'm really happy with the end result, in fact so happy that I think I'll be making one for myself next week...

WIP Wednesday (5th June 2013)

My blogging friend Liz posted this week about losing her sewing confidence, which I think is something we've all been able to relate to at one point or another. This last pillow swap has literally given me sleepless nights with feelings of inadequacy and anxiety, so I'm quite relieved it's over and ready to move on...

I thought the best form of therapy for me would be to make a couple of pillows for myself and to try out all the things I want to try (different closures, zips, binding) without the pressure of worrying I'll screw up. So first up I'm trying the Bloomin Quilt-As-You-Go pillow.

I started it on Monday and have absolutely loved the way it evolves, though I've already realised it's not quite as I intended as the bloomin is more square than others I have seen on Flickr.  Still it's proved to be quite a relaxing activity during the light evenings after Theo has gone to bed...



Unfortunately it has made me realise I'm in dire need of a cutting mat upgrade. My 18 x 24" is just too small for trimming a pillow/cushion to size on. Looking at the prices I realised why I have put off buying one for so long! Urgh...

As far as quilts go, a small update on my grand project of our bed quilt. This project has been ongoing for years. I find it utterly impossible to stick with an idea for more than a week. A month or so ago I convinced myself I was definitely making a log cabin, and it would be co-ordinating fabrics. I bought the fabrics, made two blocks and hated them...

So then I decided I needed to make it scrappy and multi-coloured. I bought more fabric, made two blocks and hated them...

So now I don't know what to do! I really want to create a beautiful long-lasting quilt for our bed and to invest the money in getting it longarm quilted, but I don't want it to be in fabrics or a design that will date or tire. Any suggestions anyone?!

PTS 10 - complete!

I finally finished my Pillow Talk Swap 10 cushion this week, but have spent a few days waiting for the right size form to arrive ito photograph it. My partner on this swap has been VERY quiet, I haven't even seen what she's working on for her partner, so I have struggled a bit making something that's not so much to my tatste (not a massive fan of grey...or pink) with no real guidance.

As always the standard of this swap has been stupidly high and some days I've come away from looking at the Flickr pool feeling quite deflated and wanting to scrap my cushion and start again. Anyhow, I have learned a lot (wish I'd added binding/piping for one!) and I'm itching for the next swap to begin to that I can move forward, try new things and do it better next time.

So will you all do me a favour and let me know if you see any swaps recruiting? Particularly pillow/cushion ones or mini quilts?  I try to keep an eye on the Flickr groups, but there is often such a small window of opportunity, it's easy to miss the sign-ups...

Peek-A-Boo Pin Cushion Tutorial

My partner on the PillowTalk swap on Flickr asked for circles to be included in her cushion design and so I have spent a bit of time over the last couple of weeks experimenting with circles. Last night I also made her a pin cushion to match in the same style and decided to turn it into a tutorial. This is actually my first tutorial so all feedback will be much appreciated...

What you need. Fabric for your fussy cut centre, fabric for the middle circle, fabric for the pin cushion front and reverse as well as a pen/pencil/marker and two different size circles. In this instance I used the top and bottom of a glass bowl. The key to it all is that the smallest circle needs to be the same size as the area of fussy cut fabric that you want to show through.

Start by cutting two squares of your middle fabric, and place them right sides together. The size of your fabric will depend upon the size of your smaller circle.. Allow the top fabric (wrong side up) to be about an inch wider all round than your circle template and the fabric beneath (right side up) to be about two inches wider.

Then sew the two layers together by sewing around the circle you have drawn.

Next cut a hole in the centre of your circle going through both layers.

And take the middle out of the circle leaving about a quarter of an inch margin between the hole and the stitching   

Snip around this quarter inch margin circle being careful not to cut through the stitching of the circle.

Pull the smaller piece of fabric through the hole and onto the wrong side of the larger square

 

Once it is pulled through, iron in position. (I repeat this step with the red fabric further down which may make it clearer)

Place the square right side up on top of the fussy cut fabric, position and pin in place.

 

Then top sew around the circle close to the edge.

Next check the size of your larger circle by placing your template on top of your middle fabric. You can see here that this shows how much of the cream fabric will show through at the end.

 

Once again cut two squares of fabric (the larger of which will be the size of your pin cushion) and place them right sides together with your larger circle template on top. I don't bother to accurately cut the fabric at this stage, as all the stitching, pulling and ironing tends to warp it out of shape. It's easier to do it roughly and then trim when that bit is done. 

 

Sew around your circle and cut the middle out.

Pull the fabric of the smaller square through to the wrong side of the larger square

Turn over and pin the top layer to the middle layer (with fussy cut fabric attached)

Top sew around the circle on the top layer, attaching fussy cut layer + middle layer to top

Trim the top layer down to a neat square/rectangle and cut a piece of the bottom fabric to match. Place right sides together and sew the back to the front leaving a gap of a couple of inches in one side to allow you to turn it inside out and fill it. Then trim the corners off.

 Using the gap you left turn the pin cushion out.

Stuff with a filler of your choice and hand sew up the gap.

Ta-dah! One pin cushion. You can also use this principle for larger cushions or indeed quilt tops. Let me know how you get on or if anything isn't clear.

 PS - I would like to make it clear that yes, I am wearing an apron in these photos and no I don't normally wear it to sew, but I was multi-tasking and baking bread at the same time.. Must sort out my sewing wardrobe next time!