All quiet on the sewing front

There is no sewing happening here at present and I am getting withdrawal symptoms! Firstly because we had our two year granddaughter here whilst her Mum and Dad packed up their home ready to move up to where we live. They all moved in here last Friday as the house they are going to rent is not available for another three weeks. We are surrounded by boxes and suitcases and toys. And of course a little dynamo who moves at the speed of light! I have two projects I should be doing and want to be starting but there has been no suitable time as yet. I am hoping to sneak in a couple of hours today. But then Wimbledon begins today and I LOVE WIMBLEDON! Again, not sure how much I'll see when Little Beauty is demanding Granny's attention. How can I refuse? Hoping to post a bit of sewing news soon.

Butterfly cushion

So pleased to report that I have finished the butterfly cushion for baby Willow.  This was made to match the Gwen Marston style quilt I made for my daughter to gift when Willow was born on Valentine's Day.


This is the quilt:

And here is the cushion.  I decided the butterfly wings needed to be made from scrappy strips. The background is Moda Essential dots, the fabric I used in the Owl quilt, that way keeping down the costs.

I felt the lime green plain fabric on the top left wing stuck out like a sore thumb, so I embroidered little flowers on it to soften it.

So, here's the whole package I shall be handing over on Friday afternoon:

I'm pleased with everything so I hope Mum  Nina is too!  Always a worry when someone asks you to make a particular thing!

Another finish, another Freckles Quilt

Suddenly every baby being born is a boy!
A couple of years ago, they were all girls and I was frantically making another girl's quilt to replace the last one I had gifted.
A few months ago I knew of three babies on the way and I made three quilts.  Two were definitely girly colours,

Emerging Butterflies Quilt, my own design

Rainbow Freckles Quilt, my first from the Scrap Republic Book by Emily Cier

The other one my first Freckles Quilt that I had made in an I Spy version.

I Spy Freckles Quilt

The first baby was born in April ............ a boy, so I Spy Freckles was gifted to little Edward.

Quickly I made another I Spy Freckles Quilt, this time with a pale blue background ( I had run out of Kona Aqua!). 

Second baby was born.  This time I was SURE it would be a girl.  Wrong!!! So I Spy Freckles II was sent to baby Elijah along with a knitted blanket and two Crinkle squares.

But I still had my two girly quilts so I rather took my eye off the ball.  After all I was busy creating an Owl Quilt and matching cushion and another cushion for my daughter's friend, Nina.

Then about a week ago I suddenly realised that the third baby which I was expected in July was going to be a boy.  The only one I had known the sex beforehand, and I had no boy quilts left!  Owl Quilt put on one side and I hurridly searched through my stash for fabrics.  The Freckles were no problem as I have loads of novelty fabrics for fussy cutting interesting I Spy bubbles.  But the background was more of a problem.  Not enough aqua or blue left, even if I did some clever piecing as Emily Cier suggests in her book.  How about yellow?  I was certain I had enough of that colour. Oh no, again only small pieces, I had used the rest on another I Spy quilt I made for baby James (see what I mean about all boys being born?)

Now the hunt was really on as I am determined to try to make quilts from fabrics I already have.  Ah yes, that large piece of Kona Ash may be OK.  About a year ago Kona Ash kept popping up in quilts on Flickr and I thought it looked great so the next time I replenished my Kona cottons from the Fabric Shack I ordered 1.5 yards.  However every time I thought of using it somehow it just wasn't the right fabric for that project, so it sat in the drawer.  Until last week.  I hadn't got time to order more Aqua, blue or yellow from America, so it was Kona Ash or nothing!  I had fun fussy cutting the bubbles and used Heat and Bond for fusing onto the background Kona Ash.  Looked OK.  Onto my favourite part, hand blanket stitching using matching embroidery threads.

Now another dilemma.  What backing did I have?  Loads of big pieces of girly fabrics, pinks, flowers etc or pastel baby style ones which really wouldn't have gone with the modern look that the Ash background had created.  Then I found a small roll of Moda 30s Playtime fabric, a remnant I had bought at a good price several years ago.  Time after time I have auditioned this fabric for the backing of a baby quilt and everytime it has been" wrong".  But this time it suddenly seemed just the one.

I decided to hand quilt with Perle cotton in the same Bubble style as I have used with all my previous Freckes Quilts but this time I chose a more dramatic Royal Blue colour ( still remembering the Diamond Jubilee celebrations perhaps?).  I am really pleased with the result, as the bright blue stitching makes the I Spy bubbles "pop" and livens up the pale background.

Again I decided this quilt needed a striking binding and went for a raspberry red dot Amy Butler I had in my stash.  The large spots complimented the Bubble designs going on in this quilt.  So, all finished and I'm pleased with it.  Mum- to -be is a modern sort of girl so I think this quilt will be to her liking...... hope so, anyway! 

And here it is:

I Spy Bubbles Quilt

And this photo shows the backing fabric:

 

Now I can concentrate on making the second cushion for Nina as I want to hand all of her commission items over to her next weekend.  So, I had better get cracking!

Thanks for stopping by!



Another finish, Hoorah

So pleased that I have finished the Funky Owl cushion to go with the Owl quilt I finished a few days ago. This is a commission for a little girl called Bethany.

I designed the appliqued owl for the cushion and based it on the owls in the quilt's feature fabrics. However I added two little ears to make it look more owl-like.
I am very pleased with the result as I think he looks like a young owl with a cheeky expression!

And here he, resting on the quilt.

I now have to design and make another cushion with a Butterfly motif in colours to match a Gwen Marston style Strippy quilt I already made and gave to Bethany's baby sister.

Only have a few days to make this as I hope to meet up with the girls' Mum next week to hand everything over.