Friday, November 28, 2014

Welcome to the North Pole November update

This is the final update for the SAL. Some of you joined up 2 years ago and several did a wonderful job of finishing their quilt early this year. Then a few more wanted to start this year.
I have put mine on hold indefinitely while I get over my obsession with dolls clothes. All my quilts are patiently waiting.
If you haven't posted about your progress yet make sure you add your link to the linky at the end of this post. This is as far as mine got. I changed the design quite a lot because I wanted it to look like a scene. I have started the last blue row for the top. It has the moon and stars on it and the other two reindeer. It is put away in a box for now.


Thank you to all those who joined in along the way.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val



Thursday, November 20, 2014

Sew Buttons on with your Machine



I made a short tutorial about sewing buttons on using your button foot and your sewing machine. This is such a time saving procedure and very easy to learn.
The tutorial is on my Doll Clothes blog here.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Friday, November 7, 2014

A Christmas Present

My mum collects anything to do with The Twelve Days of Christmas. The local quilt shop near mum's place had fat quarters of this cute fabric by Anni Downs
I decided to make a place mat and two coasters to give to mum for Christmas this year.


The fabric has the cutest pattern.


I FMQ'd 'Christmas 2014' and 'valspierssews' on the bottom corner. It is visible but not a feature. I still have to soak out the marker pen.


You can just see where I quilted with a pear and a partridge over the centre.



I put a corner label on so the edges are sewn into the binding. The angle is on the fold and I just stitched across it. The backing fabric is cute too. I wish I could afford several metres of this collection.


The coaster is a bit bigger than normal so a cup and a biscuit fit on.



I pieced it with two pieces back and front. I left the diagonal seam mostly open on the back so I could sew all the way around the outside then turn it through the gap. I quilted with a cross, catching the seam in the back.


My other sewing has been doll related. I am supposed to be making some vest samples for the next pattern but just couldn't help making a little tote bag. I hd the idea drawn up in my notebook and I had some new pink fabrics. The bag is about 5" square.
I also had some fun making a little bag decoration.


The back has a zipper pocket perfect for a little girl to use as a coin purse.


My latest doll clothes pattern publication is a dress. See the link in my right sidebar at the top.

I am quite pleased with my finishes this week.


Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

A Mat for Stumpy

When we moved into the new house I decided to retire my old dressing gown. It was tending to be used as a lap blanket mostly anyway. It was Stumpy's favourite.
Rather than just throw it away I cut it up and made a little blanket for Stumpy. My main motivation was him sleeping on my ironing board. I needed to make him a nice place behind my machine.


I cut the biggest rectangle I could get from the front then squared the corners. I cut 2 x 3" strips from some cat fabric. I measured the long side and cut two border strips to size and stitched them on. I then measured for the second two border strips. Such a simple thing, but I had to learn that making the opposite border strips the same length kept my quilt square.


The cat fabric had the cutest selvedge.


I used my trusty 505 basting spray. A few squirts along the borders and a few waves across the middle and press it neatly into place on the backing. I didn't use any wadding. I just cut a second piece of the dressing gown for the backing. No fancy FMQ for the cat. I stitched in the ditch of the borders.


I also stitched around the edges after trimming the backing. I made some single fold binding with my binding machine. So quick and neat. I don't roll it up. I just feed it through by hand and let it fall off the edge of the table as it comes out.


It fits behind my sewing machine. Well, close enough anyway. Now all I have to do is get Stumpy to use it instead of sleeping on the ironing board.



DH and I also worked on some Glassapplique business. We have found a lovely couple who visit all the weekend markets and they love our dichroic glass jewellery. We hope to have a healthy wholesale business with them. Here are some of the pendant sets we made. They are not fine art but they are great at the markets. I will get back to playing with the glass soon.


Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Update:


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