Work in progress (every other) wednesday

I missed last week's Work in Progress post due to a lack of progress (!) and I almost missed it this week due to lurgy.  Yep, I'm writing this from my sick-bed - some weird shivery, ear achy thing.  One of the few downsides of being a mum is catching all the minor (hopefully) illnesses that babies (and their baby friends) seem to get :(

Anyway, that aside, there have been a couple of finishes this week... here goes with Work in progress (linking up with Freshly Pieced!)

Projects completed:

• Cushions for the shop in Hastings.  Done, and handed over!  You can see three here, and the last I finished last night is below.  When I got there this morning, they'd already sold the sample I'd given them - good start!

The shop in question is aptly named "Made in Hastings" and it's deliciously relaxed but stylish in all in go. We had a chat about me doing some baby quilts too, if I can get the pricing to work.

• Bee Europa March block - a purple strip for Muriel

• A mug rug for Mothers Day - in my rush to post this in time for Sunday, I forgot to take a picture - darn!

Work in progress:

• Sliced coins quilt - still on hold but the metro circles in fuschia for the backing arrived yesterday - hoorah!
• Supernova quiltalong at Freshly Pieced - am SO enjoying this quiltalong.  Was hoping to show you three colours completed, but lurgy has meant I haven't got round to sewing them together! You can see the red block here, and orange and yellow progress below.

New projects taken on this week:

• Bee Europa April block - Miriam would like us to make a block based on this piece of artwork! (Anyone got any tips for piecing curves?!)

• "Dressing a girl around the world" - this is an initiative which believes that all little girls should own at least one dress, a encourages sewers to make simple pillowcase dresses that will be distributed to poverty stricken areas. I found this via Louise at Sew Scrumptious and was touched by the idea and opportunity for me to help...so I've committed to make a dress by June. (see below for two dresses being modelled beautifully by girls in Haiti)

If that weren't enough, also on the list is:

• A trial baby quilt for Made in Hastings
• A set of cushions for my brother's dining room chairs
• A bench cushion for my friend Sian's new house

I love it that there's lots to do!

x

The InspiredbyFelix love-in

This post might be a little 'gushy', for which I apologise in advance.  The thing is I've been a little overwhelmed with the loveliness of people inside (and outside) of blogland this weekend. I promise that I'll highlight the flowery and effusive words I intend to write in the next couple of paragraphs so that readers can skip over them to prevent tiredness or nausea, should it all get too much :)

First off, I was awarded the Liebster blog award (for newer, smaller blogs) by Nic from SupercuteTilly.  I feel very honoured because Nic makes THE most gorgeous things (I have her hairclips to prove it).  Check out her shop if you have time, it's delicious.  Thanks Nic!

The rules of this award state that I can pass it onto three other blogs who I think deserve some recognition.  After some thought, and sifting through my google reader, I've opted for some blogs (who I don't think have received this award before), that my lovely readers might like to visit. Here are my choices:

• All this for them - Mary Jo is super productive on the sewing front, I don't know how she achieves it all with two little ones!
• Mrs Cheese - there are always beautiful and inspiring images on Mrs. Cheese's blog, go check them out
• Handmade by Alice Apple - Not such a small blog, but I lust after Alice's zingy fabric designs on such a regular basis!

Congratulations all.  Don't feel obliged to pass it on if you don't want to, this is just my way of saying I really like reading your ramblings!

Next up in the InspiredbyFelix love-in is Moo and Mouse.  Yesterday, I won her giveaway for a cute (and no doubt, beautifully stitched) lavender bird.   Moo and Mouse is a new blog, written by a spendid lady called Emma who bakes yummy cakes and makes scrummy makes.  Thanks Emma!
And finally, to top off a lovely weekend, I got an email late last night from Jane Foster, who yesterday picked my comment to be the winner for one of her adorable Tilda dolls.  This doll will be Felix's first ever, and I'm just so chuffed that she will have something so stylish!   You must (must must!) check out Jane Foster's blog and shop sometime, you'll get drawn in by all the scrumptious, funky things to buy!

Phew!  can you see why I gave the warning up front?  I'm not making it up though, I do feel very pleased to be part of the online crafty community and really appreciate that people take the time to comment and also make me feel welcome on their blogs...

Right...back to normal service (!), let's finish with a little patchwork - here are the humble beginnings of my Supernova Quilt which I'm doing as part of the Supernova quiltalong over at Freshly Pieced.  I feel an orange block coming on next..will keep you posted :)

x

Three down, one to go

Phew!  have been beavering away and have finished three of the four cushions for the shop in Hastings.  The last one is almost done too, just got to stitch the back to front.

I submitted this sample to the shop over a month ago along with photos of other things I'd made (I didn't mention it on the blog because all the stuff in this shop is GORGEOUS and I wasn't that confident they'd have room for me!). Anyway, the response was that they really liked the spring greens and interesting patchwork (rather than just traditional squares).

 So, that was my brief, four more cushions in spring greens and a bit more interesting than square patches...

By the way, the colours on these two are brighter than they appear, darn my DSLR camera for being more advanced than me :)

Hopefully these fit the bill!  They're all envelope backed, with a contrast binding on the envelope and have my label tucked on the inside. 

I'm going to make a couple of extra (in the vague hope these sell quickly!) so would love your input...

Would you be more likely to buy a square or a rectangular cushion? and do you prefer the brighter colours or the lighter tones in the duck-egg blue one?

Any input gratefully received!

x

PS Big thanks to SupercuteTilly for awarding me the Leibster Blog award (and for saying Felix is gorgeous!).  I will post about this properly soon!

I still love Spoonflower

I still love Spoonflower, the fabric printing website, despite them not putting my Dizzy Dinosaur design through to the next round of the Project Selvage competition!.   This is because:

a) All of the 75 semi-finalist designs are super professional looking.  I was very impressed, and felt all of them were deserving of their place. There are some real gems in the selection and I really think Michael Miller should produce more than one new line of fabric from this competition. Go check it out if you get time.

and

b) Look at my labels!   

 I printed these using the Spoonflower website because most other fabric label websites I found only allow you to choose text, but not your own logo/fonts.   I ordered a yard and got at least 400 labels, now who's the professional eh?   :)

Til tomorrow x

More sewing (and shopping!) than blogging this week

I've been a bit quiet on the blog front this week.  This is because I found that whole evenings were consumed by browsing other blogs, updating Flickr and writing posts and I wasn't actually getting any sewing done.  Please, other bloggers, tell me I am not alone in in this affliction/addiction? :)

Anyway, to redress the balance and more importantly meet the deadline for the cushions I am making for a local shop, I've been a busy stitching bee over the last few evenings.  I've pieced four cushion tops and am going to start on the backs tonight, pictures will follow when they're complete to prove I've not just been bunking off :)

In the meantime, I made a little fabric shopping trip to Eastbourne today.  Felix has decided that sleeping in her cot during the day is "so last month" and therefore trips in the car or buggy are a good way of getting her to have a rest (this is my excuse, and I'm sticking to it).  This was also the last of my splurges on fabric for a while as I've decided not to return to work for a bit.

First stop, a new find, The Owl and Sewing Cat, which stocks a great range of modern US fabrics.   I bought this lovely selection of prints:

Plus some polka dots.  Can one own too many polka dots?  Clearly the answer to this question is no :)

And a couple of fat quarters that I couldn't resist.

I then headed over to C+H fabrics, which have a more standard selection but do my favourite shot cotton in grey which I'm using for the cushions.  I finished their roll (3.9m) and also went for small amounts of other tones to try and break me out of my current grey addiction  - except that another grey linen snuck in somehow - how did that get there? :)

Ooo and to top it all, I found this pattern in a charity shop (for 50p) as Felix and I were wandering about

It's definitely been a successful shopping day :)

x

Work in progress wednesday!

Hmmmm, this week there seems to be an awful lot of work in progress, and not a lot getting done!  It's prompted me to link up with WIP Wednesday held over at Freshly Pieced to help me focus on making some decent progress with these projects in the next week!

OK, here goes:

Work in progress:

• Sliced coins quilt - this one is on hold until the lovely Metro circles in Fuchsia I've ordered for the backing arrives!
• Bee Europa March Block - Muriel asked us for a strip rather than a block and sent me these lovely purples. 

 Here's a little sneak preview, it's not quite finished but well on the way

New projects started this week:

• Cushions - my exciting news this week is that a gorgeous little shop in Hastings Old town wants to stock my cushions (yeay, and double yeay!)  They are taking 4 to start with and like the spring greens used on the sample I sent them.  I managed to cut three cushion tops the other morning when little F had an unusually long sleep.

• Supernova quiltalong - Here's the fabric selection I'm mulling over for this quilt - 9 stars all in different colourways.  The thing is, I daren't move these piles of fabric from our bedroom floor now, in case I forget what I've decided!

Projects completed this week: (just one!)

• Charley Harper Quiltalong Mouse for Felix's room.  You can read about this here

Right..back to it :)

x

Meet Charley and a growing To-do list

Yeay!  The mouse has arrived! Click here to see the previous work in progress and inspiration for my Charley Harper Quiltalong efforts. And since he is a Charley Harper creation, I had to name my version in his creators honour!   This measures approximately 21 x 18 inches is a wall hanging for Felix's room which is currently lime green and grey but with no other scheme (it used to be our room)  So not only do I now have a piece of wall art, I have the beginnings of a theme for her room (think murals of trees and other woodland creatures!)

For those of you that are interested, here is a run down of how he was created (ignore the next paragraph if you're not!) I used only fabrics from my stash so he's a bit of a freebie...

I pieced strips of patchwork cotton together with a piece of soft brown furnishing fabric (learning: should have interfaced this!).  The hole was marked with a dinner plate, cut out and bound with chenille wool. The leaves are all stash cotton fabrics that have been fused to felt. I machine stitched the detail and only attached them at the centre line so they would stick out and add to the 3D effect.  The lizard is fused and then stitched on - I used my free motion embroidery foot to work his feet. The mouse is pieced, with appliqued nose and eyes and machine stitched whiskers.  The whole piece is lightly quilted with a lime green backing and I intend to add a chocolate brown binding.

He may not be the most sophisticated mouse in town but I think Felix will love him :)

(edited)
Oooo, and I'm linking up with the fabulous Quilt Story (love their blog!) and Fabric Tuesday to share a little Charley joy :)



Now to the growing To-do list.  I got some exciting crafty news yesterday which will add to my list (more about that in another post with any luck) and being a glutton for punishment I've also signed up for the Supernova quiltalong over at Freshly Pieced.  This is a gorgeous looking quilt and doing it will hopefully help me learn a few more techniques!  My brother has asked for a quilt/playmat for his bump (little girl due in June) so I'm thinking this might be the perfect gift!

Yikes, better get cracking!

x