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Wednesday 22 August 2012

Birthday Quilt

In my previous post, I showed you the Kanzashi flower that I'd made for a quilt that I was making. Well, the quilt is complete, and was given to my mother. It is a lovely quilt and she loves it. I hope she gets lots of use from it. But I thought I'd show you all what it looks like.  ..... Picture overload alert!!

I appliquéd a little parasol onto the quilt, and added a butterfly onto it, with invisible thread. I also stitched the flower on, so that it would be secure. It's so warm and snuggly. I also added some black & gold buttons all over it, just to add a little black to the orange.







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Thursday 9 August 2012

Two Tone Kanzashi Fabric Flower

When normal people get a 'How to ...' book, they generally tend to start in the beginning, with the beginner projects .... then progress to the intermediate, and then, in time, progress to the advanced projects. Yup. That's what normal people do. Those of you who know me, will know, I'm anything BUT normal.  I pick up the book, flick through the beginners pages, slow slightly at the intermediates, then look at the advanced and say 'Yup! I want that one.'

A week or so ago, I decided that I'd like a nice flower to go onto a quilt I'm making. Great. I searched Pintrest, and found loads of various tutorials. But they were fairly boring. So, I did my own thing. .... Of course. The tutorials called for a square of fabric. Now, never having made one of these in my life before, I set about making a half square triangle .... also a complete first for me .... and then proceeded to make the flower petals. Well, I can tell you, I was mildly surprised at how well it turned out. It's now been stitched to the quilt, and looks fabulous, if I say so myself. Pics of the quilt will be put on here soon - I'm only half way though the binding.
The quilt is a mixture of a printed fabric with oranges and yellows, and the plain orange in between. The black just helps to break the brightness up a little.
 I used a nice button for the centre, just to finish it off nicely.

More pics to follow soon. 

PS - By the way, the 'How to ...' book I refer to on this occasion is metaphorical. I didn't even bother with an actual book - the internet is all the books, and encyclopaedias one could ever wish for. :-D

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Tuesday 7 August 2012

I haz tools!!

URGH!! Finally, I have a new ruler and a rotary cutter (the mat is very old, but barely used). Trying to cut fabric with a scalpel and a square of cardboard (even if it IS sturdy) is anything BUT ideal. But that was what I was doing. But no more!! I now have a lovely luminous (almost!) yellow ruler and a rotary cutter that is very sharp. I know most others prefer a clear ruler, but I like being different. ;-) 


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Monday 6 August 2012

New Fabric!!

Hello!! A few days ago, I bought some a-maze-ing fabric!  So, I thought I'd show them off here. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to cut them, but I just hope I do them justice!

The fabric on the left at the back is on a light green background, with batic yellow & green flowers. It is sooooo pretty.
The fabric at the front on the left is plain blue poplin cotton, plain sage green poplin, and a tie dyed blue at the top. They're all lovely. BUT, the real show stopper, is the fabric on the right. It's been tie dyed, and the flowers have been hand painted one. There's little flecks of paint everywhere, and they're all imperfect - which makes them perfect.

One of the hand painted flowers & embellishments.

Another of the hand painted flowers & embellishments.



A couple of close ups of the flowers.

I really love that when I run my hand over the fabric, I can still feel the flowers that little bit. And it also looks like they've used some mica in the paint, as there is a tiny sparkle on the petals, which doesn't show up on the pics. It's not obvious like glitter, but a far more subtle, classier sparkle. 

I have no idea at all how I am going to cut this up. I'm not even sure I have the heart to cut it at all! Not even the assistant at the shop had ever seen it before. I don't know whether I should fussy cut the flowers out, or if I should just ensure they're inside a block. Whichever it is, I have some gold thread coming, and I intend to highlight these beauties as much as I possibly can! I also intend to take pictures all the way of what I do - I did take The Pledge! So keep an eye out for this fabric - I just know it's going to be something very special!!

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Friday 3 August 2012

Denim bag - again!

When I made the pink & denim bag from the last post, I loved it so much, that I really wanted to make another, but smaller. This bag is perfect for a phone, a bunch of keys and a few tissues. I'm not sure I'd get too much more in there. But I love it. It's the same pattern as the other, but resized down again.

I left the straps really long, so that it could be worn over the shoulder with ease.

The label and the zip came from an upcycled pair of jeans.

I put a loop at the back - it's good if you want to hook anything onto it, but I may put this loop on the inside next time. Also, with the bag being so much smaller, I didn't bother with the secret pocket.

Hope you enjoyed the pics. I'll be making another of the larger bags soon. .... It's on the list. ;-)

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Thursday 2 August 2012

The Process Pledge

I've taken a pledge, to show the process of my sewing. I'll do my best to take as many pics as I can, of work in progress. I know that I don't always do things the way professional quilters and sewers do, but I am largely self taught (from quite early on!), and I kindda do what works for me.

So! My next quilt will be photo progressed! ..... As soon as I've finished the one I'm currently doing.

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Wednesday 1 August 2012

Denim & Pink Handbag

There are many crafters out there who, like me, have very little money to spend. It is unfortunately the way things are at the moment for the masses. HOWEVER! There is a way around it. ... well, mostly. I had a PILE of denim jeans that had been worn out. Most were various shades of blue, and there was one black pair in there too. The first thing I made, was the handbag shown below. I used a pattern, but scaled it down quite a bit to suit me. I used all sorts from the jeans - pockets, labels, loops - just to keep the look. The rest of the jeans were used in the quilt from my previous post.

I used matching jeans pockets on the outside, and they look FAB!!


The back has a small zipper pocket (will change this next time!!) and ....

a secret pocket too! It's tough velcro, so a very safe spot for anything you want to keep accessible.
The straps were simple too - one side is pink strapping, and the other side is a strip of the pink fabric. It means that the straps stay put, and don't roll, and look good at the same time.

Pockets on the inside - I changed the sizes to suit my needs. But they're great, and don't flap open, so things don't fall out of them. The lining is white cotton. All the fabrics mean that it's totally washable, and fairly easy to keep clean.

It's a BIG bag. It's big enough for me to put all the kids stuff in when we're going out for the morning, or I can put my camera in it, with all the lenses, and other 'stuff', and still have space for my lunch. A great bag!!
The larger size (the unchanged pattern) would be perfect for an overnight bag. I will definitely be making one of these again some time soon!

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Denim Quilt

Hello. This is a new blog, where I can share a little about one of my hobbies. I may post loads in a one month, then nothing for ages after that. Either way, keep an eye out for new posts and pictures.

To kick the blog off, I've some pictures of a scrappy raggedy quilt I made a little while ago. All the denim squares are upcycled from old jeans, there's a few squares of stripy fabric, and there's loads of character added with the pockets, loops and labels. Some of the labels were taken from the jeans, others were stolen off of shirts my husband still wears. But they looked great, and I knew they'd be great on the quilt. It has a plain white backing. It is so snugly, I had to prise it away from the family to get pics - even the cat has tried to claim it as her own!

Prepare for a LOTTA pics.
The full quilt is a single bed size - huge for my first ever quilt!


I cut some of the blocks on the seams of the jeans for extra character, and added green buttons that said Levi Jeans. - Not that I ever owned a pair of Levis! 

Just one of the labels that I added.

I added 4 pockets - each are different, and face in different directions. Fun for the kids to put their hands in, or to hide secret notes. 



Hope you enjoyed the pics. I hope to put more pictures of my sewing hobby on here.

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