Friday 25 October 2013

Sew Something for Halloween

I bought a cute charm pack by Riley Blake called 'Too Cute to Spook' a while ago and talked about it here.  It is SOOOO cute.
 I planned to use this to make a couple of treat bags for trick or treating, but then I completely forgot and bought two new treat bags last week!  This was probably a good idea as making bags was unlikely to happen in the time frame involved.  I decided to use the fabric before Halloween and decided to make a cushion!
The charm squares were 5" square so I cut them into 4 squares which were each 2.5" on each side. I arranged them into a roughly dark and light alternating scheme which I think works.  I sewed them together and then made a quilt sandwich with batting and a lining for the cushion.  I quilted it by machine 0.25" from each seam. I used black thread for most of the quilting, but some white as well
I love the multi coloured stars best, and the mummys.  But once I had cut the charm squares up I had no whole mummys, or witches or monsters or the cuter characters in this cushion.  The colours are not what I would usually use but I really love it and maybe one day I will do modern quilting!  I think this is modern quilting....  But it is a pretty simple version I guess.
I had some black pom poms for trim and they were pretty tricky to use but so worth it - I love them.
In other news, last week I spent a lot of time making a teepee.  I basically have it sewn together and I am happy with the shape. The six sides are all straight sided triangles and if the poles are set up right it isn't too saggy.  Now I am waiting for P daddy to do the woodwork bit and fix the poles together at the top so they stay tied at the same height each time, and find some way of securing the bottoms of the poles so the sides stay straight.  Am I asking for too much?  I just don't want a saggy teepee! Once all that is done I can finish the teepee but heming it top and bottom, and setting it up in the boy's bedroom. I want to use more denim to bind the top and bottom of the teepee. 
Here it is!  I have denim around the doorway which I love. It needs some finishing and tidying up but I am really pleased with it.   Most of it is made with a pair of old ikea tab top curtains which we used for a few years and I have kept for 6 or 7 years for... making a teepee!
It has 6 sides and the poles are 19mm hard wood.  We could not buy cheap wooden poles here!  I didn't want plastic.  I wanted 26mm (~1") but settled for 19mm (~3/4") which is fine as they are not bendy.  The poles are 2.4m long and will be cut down a little.   I will make a round or hexagonal floor (quilt) to be used inside it.  My son keeps asking if he can sleep in it which is so cute.  He is so nice about everything I make for him.  I hope it continues.  The cushion is really for him to use in the teepee as he likes to have cushions, pillows and quilts in there to make it cosy. 
and the back is white, and part of another ikea tab top curtain.
 The cushion closure is a zip. 
More on the teepee when it is finished.

Friday 18 October 2013

Canvas Art

Recently it was council clear up which I absolutely love.  In my area it is twice a year and each day for 4 weeks a different road puts all its large items of furniture and rubbish they don't want out on the side of the road and it is collected by the council.  Lots of amazing treasure is thrown away and I always get a few great things.  I got quite a few canvasses this time.  I realised that instead of ever buying new ones I can simply take ones others have discarded and paint them white and they are brand new again.  The first ones I found had some cardboard stuck on them and in this case they need to be covered with something or something stuck on to cover the old adhesive.  This is what they looked like.
The cardboard pictures were stuck on really well.  Then once they were all removed and painted white they looked like this.
I used a pale grey matt paint because that is what I had.  I got several tester pots of pale greys ages ago as they came with some other paint I wanted and I knew they would come in handy. You could see the adhesive and paper stuck to it, so I knew I had to cover these ones.  I decided to find some really lovely wrapping paper and use that.
I found two I loved and one I liked less.  Even though one of the two I love says happy birthday, you can hardly see this, right?
I cut the paper larger than the canvasses so it went right the way around to the other side and could be stuck to the underside.   They were just wide enough to reach.
I stapled the edge of the paper onto the back.  I just used an office stapler because I couldn't find my staple gun.  The wood is very soft so this was no problem.   I could probably have used tape if I hadn't had a stapler.
And here is what they look like on the wall.  I found that two actually fit the space better so I still have the other one left over.  More vibrantly coloured paper would have been nice but I wasn't able to find too many really nice papers.  I will keep looking out for some now.  I actually got these three in the UK and brought them back to Australia recently.  The UK had amazing cards and wrapping papers.
I call this one cake girl
And this is umbrella girl.  So cute!

Thursday 10 October 2013

More Virtual Quilting Bee Blocks

I have now done 9 blocks out of a total of 16.
I am really enjoying this bee and I think it is stretching me a little bit.  I am using Pam Kitty Love fabric.  At first I just had the pink (?) and blue (tenderness) fat quarter packs from fat quarter shop, but I then bought the white (delight) one and I think the blocks really need this to tone down the blue and pink.  The blue and pink are all pretty vivid colours.
Block #8 above was the hardest block I have made so far.  One quarter of it does not line up very well so I will probably take it apart there and resew it. 
This is block #10 and it is called Mother's Dream. Really nice and simple and came together easily.  I am really happy with the fabric combination I used here.
Stay tuned for the other 7 blocks!

Thursday 3 October 2013

Cross Stitch Kits

I have always liked tapestry and cross stitch.  They just take so long.  Years and years usually.
I made this one and I can't remember how long it took.  I think less than 5 years.
There are a couple of mistakes in it, which is incredibly annoying once you have had it framed.
I just love the sunflowers.  It is a kit made by a UK company called Jolly Red.
I have started another one of their counted cross stitch designs and I have been doing it well over 10 years.
That is an incredibly long time even for me.  It takes so long just because I don't do it very often.  It was also in storage for 4 of those years.
But when I do finish it I have the next project already in my mind; Kiss by Emily Peacock.  I have the pattern and I will have to buy all the supplies for it.  It is very large but just so cute.  Cross stitches are a good thing to take on holiday as they aren't usually very big.  I did do some of my patchwork hearts once on holiday. 
I love that the kiss cushion is something I would want in my home.  Too many cross stitch designs are too twee and cute and you don't want the finished product.  Sometimes just the process of making it is enjoyable enough though, isn't it?