K and her matching owls

I made this Oliver + S Class Picnic Blouse for K recently with fabric I had used before.

Last Christmas I used the same owl fabric with a contrasting yellow to make an Oliver + S Ice Cream dress for a niece.  It was number 31, seen here.

Last summer I also made a shortened version of Oliver + S Field Trip Cargo pants for K using the leftover yellow and owl print.  I love the front pockets in these!  They were number 49 in my O+S count, here.  K really liked the owl print so I managed to track some extra down at Spotlight to make the blouse.

 

I adore the Class Picnic Blouse pattern and am getting very quick at making it.  K enjoys wearing it - and as a mum I like how it covers most of her neck/shoulder area from the sun.

This is number 67 in my O+S count.  :-)

I reached a plateau in my Christmas sewing by completing my final birthday gift and some festive presents for family in the North Island.  These were posted off yesterday.... along with a tree decoration and some hand-me-downs for the younger niece.

Table Runner

Our Playcentre is fundraising with a Housie night and are on the hunt for prizes.  I volunteered to make something and this is what I produced:

 I'll make this picture bigger so you can see the fabrics and simple walking foot quilting.

It is basically the 'Tasty Table Runner' from Jaybird quilts.  I took out the borders because I wanted to keep the project relatively simple.  The fabric is a mixture - with the same backing as my Papillon quilt from two posts ago.

It took a while to cut out - I used my new Hex N More ruler - but quick to sew up - it just pays to have two strips going at the same time, or make two runners and have four strips!

Oh - an update on the hens - we're now getting four eggs a day!  Omelettes are back on the menu!

New Cushion

I have a few projects that just need some finishing up - and a sunny day to take reasonable photos.
Here is the first - a cushion made with gorgeous blues, greys and yellows.

I cannot claim that I assembled the colours - the fabrics were all in a scrap pack of strips.  Most strips were about 1" wide and WOF long.  I started with a large square, 24" (I think) as a foundation block and pieced all the strips onto that starting from a diagonal centre line, working out to the corners on both sides.  When this was finished I trimmed it to 22" square and then cut it into 16 smaller squares.  These were carefully reorganised to get the finished quilt top.

My quilting on the front was not as good as it should have been - but I am pleased with the back.  After using one layer of fabric for the backing of my last cushion like this I stepped up and made a quilted backing this time - and am so pleased I did.  It looks and feels so much better.  Yes, it is a lot of work, but worth it.
Again I used the fantastic tutorial from 'Sew Mama Sew' to add the zipper.  I used the same fabric for the zipper cover.

I am super pleased with this project... and just have a few threads to finish on a similar one.

I have been stalled in my sewing projects as my precious Bernina 930 has stopped working and has gone to a local Bernina shop to be fixed  (very sad face here).  I miss it already - but have been able to continue sewing as I have a back-up machine - a Bernette 65.  But it is a bit like driving a mini after getting used to a volvo.  Just not the same power.  Luckily piecing is ok and simple work like sewing cushion inners.  I might get some cutting out done and maybe (if the weather improves) some gardening.  Yes mum - the house is tidy (cheesy grin here).

Little Scrap Quilt

In a scrap bag I purchased a while back I found a whole lot of 1.5" squares - some tan coloured, some white on white and some a mix of Kaffe Fassett.  So I challenged myself to make a small quilt from it.  I had to add two extra squares from my own collection and purchase some fabric for the binding but otherwise this is all made of 'scraps'.

The squares are 1" across so the whole quilt is only about 12" across

This project also gave me a chance to practise my free motion quilting - but I definitely have room for improvement!
I have always had trouble attaching quilts to the wall - but on Pinterest recently I saw a cunning idea.  Two small squares of fabric were folded  into triangles then sewn into adjacent corners as the binding was attached.  All it then needed was a piece of doweling cut to length.  I am super impressed.

Little Red Bag

I have a small bag in which I keep a knitting project - usually some socks - the bag is only about 20cm high.  This bag goes with me lots of places because you never know when you will end up waiting - and knitting is great for small time slots.

Then I decided that I needed another one for small stitching projects.  

 It even has small inside pockets to hold thread etc.  It is big enough to hold a small embroidery hoop as well.

The cord is too thick so I need to replace it sometime soon.  But I am very pleased with my little red bag and am getting better at designing items to match a need/size.

Currently I am working on a red handbag that has a stitchery panel on it.  Just the project to keep in my little red bag!