Jubilee Crafting

I hope you are all having a lovely Jubilee Bank Holiday - I've managed to get in to my 'haven above' for a few hours today to make a couple of things that I needed to make my space a bit more me! I bought this Minky mini ironing board but hated the cover so I set about making a new one with some Cath Kidston duck cotton I had in my stash. This is a heavier weight cotton fabric which was perfect for the job. I think you will agree it looks much better now!

 I also needed a new cushion to match and decided to make one incorporating different techniques - patchwork, quilting and free-motion quilting. Firstly I cut out the fabric and arranged them to make sure I would like the finished effect - after a bit of juggling I decided on this configuration and stitch the blocks together.

The design is based on a design I saw on Edwina Mac's  blogspot 'Work in Progress' and features folded fabric to the right. I wish I could have matched the fabric print on these folded sections but unfortunately I only had a limited amount of this fabric so just had to work with what I had.

Once I'd made a sandwich of batting and calico backing I set about quilting the design on the Mega Quilter. When quilting - especially free-motion quilting/embroidering I use quilting gloves which enable me to grip the quilted fabric and have more control over the design plus it helps to keep the fabric clean.

I quilted using a contrasting thread - Gutermann Hand Quilting thread which works brilliantly in my machine. It is slightly waxed and quite a heavy thread which stands out - this was a pale denim bluey grey.

 I kept the stitch lines quite close together but put plenty movement into them. I absolutely love the stitch quality on my Mega Quilter - as it is a dedicated straight stitch machine the stitch is not compromised.

This is the quilted panel completed - I stitched 1/4" tramlines across the patchwork blocks. The finished cushion has a simple flap opening which is quick and effective and no messing about with zips.

This is the finished cushion - I am very pleased with the overall design and fabric/colour choice plus it's very plumpcious - I'm sat on it typing this!!

Enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday.

Donna x

New Addition to My Fabric Stash

I thought I would give you a sneaky look at some new additions to my fabric stash that arrived today from the lovely Maggie at The Fabric Frieze. This is Moda Papillon inspired by an antique etching.

 Last spring while perusing an antique market in Europe the 3 Sisters for Moda made a most exciting discovery. An antique quilt from the 1860s with a very unique backing comprised of bold, simple bands of large, faded florals to die for! Feeling quite inspired, the sisters scoured their vast library of antique fabrics to complete their next collection. The dramatic Jacobean and rose adorned florals are complimented by the occasional Papillon, which is French for butterfly. Paired with delicate botanical prints in the quilt’s original palette of pale, dusty pinks and aquas with faded red and stone accents, Papillon captures all the splendor of a lush garden estate.

 It is simply stunning fabric and unfortunately the photo really doesn't do the colour justice - it is a gorgeous pale duck egg blue. As with all Moda fabric this is a limited print and not repeatable so I will have to make sure that my project is something special. I may just have to start cutting this tonight!!!

Scrap Bags Big Easy Tote Completed!

Well my weekend flew by making the Scrap Bags Big Easy Tote. I'm really pleased with the way this tote turned out - to be honest it was a lot of work, especially those handles. When I make another one I will be making those handles a little wider. I love that the pattern included a woven Scrap Bags label which gives the whole look a more professional finish - I think!

Inside there are lots of useful pockets for my patchwork and quilting tools - the linen has co-ordinated quite well with the patchwork fabrics I chose - I must try my A3 cutting mat to see if it fits!!

Laying out all the various panels before I stitched just to make sure that I was happy with the way it looked.

Big Easy Tote Bag

I have chosen to make an easy tote bag to christen my new craft room. I've chosen some really lovely patchwork fabrics for the panels in black, brown and red with gold detailing and  linen for the interior. The bag is made up of 5" square pieces (ideal for charm packs) but I will make a few of these tote bags using vertical and horizontal stripes, hexagons and triangles.
 

It took quite a while to cut out all the pieces and decide on the placement but I'm quite happy with the final effect. There is quite a lot of work in these totes so watch this space - hopefully I will get more done tomorrow.

Slouch Beret

I only like to knit small items as I get bored quickly so I was really pleased to find this pattern for a lovely slouch beret which knits up really quickly. The yarn I used is a Debbie Bliss yarn which is amazingly soft made up of 80% Baby Alpaca and 20% Silk. It's not a cheap yarn but you definitely get what you pay for.

I tend to knit with bamboo needles as I find them very light and much more user-friendly. I completed this beret in a night and it just needs sewing together. I'm already half way through another one in red.

Hand Dyeing using Procion MX Dyes

 I've been experimenting with some Procion MX Dyes and hand dyeing some white cotton poplin to use on my quilts.

  
These small pieces of fabric have been scrunched and soaked with the primary colours - cant wait to see how these turn out. Hopefully I'll have some interesting sections for the orchid sections of my quilt.

  
These are larger pieces of fabric for backgrounds and I've pleated these to give a different look.

 Soaked with the dyes - I should hopefully have some interesting greens in these pieces suitable for foliage

  
A line of colour - :o) The neighbours must think I've turned hippy!

Love this piece - brilliant for background foliage - it almost looks like out of focus shrubbery. :o)

Welcome to "Donna's Room" - my 'haven above'!

This is the area for cutting material and general crafting - card making, painting etc.

I've got plenty of storage in this area with everything to hand.

This is my machine embroidery area with a unit as a room divider - again lots of storage.

This area is for my machine quilting - there is plenty of natural light in this area. I feel truly blessed to have such a lovely room and I'm hoping to spend many happy hours in here creating lots of lovely things.

Work in Progress!

This is going to be my dedicated craft room and is hopefully going to be completed in early May 2012 - the creation of Donna's Room - which will house a lifetimes collection of crafting materials.