I apologise for the long absence on the blog here, we're only just at the point where it's still light when I get home from work so I can take photos! So forgive me here for a shamless photo dump....
I can't seem to get this one the right way around but I started cutting 4.5" squares in various blue toned fabrics and laying them out but I didn't get any further than this. Just acquiring loads more fabrics for it in the mean time.
I made this for my Brownie pack leader and good friend's recent birthday as aside from meerkats and owls she is mad about scotty dogs! The felt dog was my third attempt and I was about ready to give up but black seems a forgiving colour to hide all my sins.
The doll's shoes are hand sewn with about a thousand sequins which took about an hour per foot. The cuffs on her trousers also caused me much pain but she looks gorgeously chic and was instantly adored by the recipient :D
Here are my finished ladies from February! I tackled this tricky looking jumpsuit pattern and attempted for the first time to make two dolls simultaneously. I fell in love with both fabrics, especially since one is very Marimekko and the other has a lovely vintage granny feel. Both have cute almost cross stitch floral ribbon belts and diamonte buckles. The above lucky lady also acquired a floral jacket which was horrendous to sew with as it was so stiff! Mum quickly claimed ownership of her.
The miniature watering can is by Tilda.
I whipped this up using a remnant of this adorable London map print fabric, which is £24.99 a metre but extremely wide so I just had enough without adding seam allowances to the pattern. I finally used some of the awesome London underground print cotton for the lining and some more patriotic ribbon which reads 'everything stops for tea'. I'm thinking I might also add some big black buttons with crowns on.
This is from a range called 'Nevermore' by Michael Miller. Somehow I thought one panel would fit the giant 24 x 24" cushion I bought but I'm having to make big borders with the Essential Dots by Moda fabric. I'm planning to quilt it in free motion once my machine decides to co-operate!
This is made from a whole charm pack - 'Birds and Berries' for Moda. I liked it for a while until I decided to buy the last one and make it up for our sick kitty Bilbo. But it turned out too nice and way too big for his basket so I gave it to Mum for Mother's Day. The backing is a sort of hotch-potch from 3 fat quarters I got off eBay in my favourite print of the range. I also made binding from two different colours which was rather effective when finished. I'd definitely do it again and it was so easy! I just need to work on the binding stitches, I used cream thread and wasn't very tidy.
You can also just about see that I quilted this with hexagons - Mum's favourite obsession! - I drew around a basic template and it took so long but was definitely worth it!
This last one is almost there, I just need a couple more white strips to bind it all together. The range is 'ABC 123' by American Jane. I saw it on a trip to one of our not so local sewing shops and bought what they had left over from kits, then hunted down as many as I could from the net. It was rather an obsession and only abated once I secured the sought after layer cake. The pattern is from here:
Flea Market Quilt by crazymomquilts
It's going to be HUGE and totally a pain because of all the white and not to mention our cats... It's probably going to be one I get stippled on a professional long arm quilter because myself nor my machine would cope.
Well I have more I forgot to photograph but that's a decent update of everything I've done since the last blog post aeons ago now. I will try harder to blog more regularly from now on, even if it's just shots of my fabric hoard to be drooled over!
