here it is...
with my gorgeous Prints Charming fabrics.
I'll be sending it off to be quilted soon, so will show it again when that's finished.
I have one more lesson to go, and I'm making a couple of cusion covers from my left over materials.
Cheers
Fiona x
Last night Emily and I went to an embroidery class over at the Prints Charming studio at Annandale. We had a lovely evening stitching and chatting with a lovely group of ladies. Here's our stitching pieces in progress, we both need a little more stitching to finish off our pieces. I'm very pleased to say I have finally learnt how to sew french knots correctly.
Below is Emily's piece. Her chain stitch was so neat and even (as was all her stitching)...
Any my funky flower piece (which is actually a bindhi design). I came home last night and continued sewing while having my cuppa tea.
The little hand printed motifs used in the class can be seen/purchased HERE.
The girls at Prints Charming are holding some fabulous classes over the next few months. Join their mailing list to be kept up to date. I so happy as I've booked into one of their patchwork/quilting set of classes for next term, so looking forward to that.
Hope you have a good weekend. Thanks for visiting.
Cheers
Fiona x
During one of my recent visits to the Central Coast (Phoebe's sports have been taking us far and wide of late) I managed to sneak away for a short time to visit Blueberries. [Yes, any opportunity to surround myself in crafty stuff when I should be watching sport I will take.] My goodness, Blueberries is such a beautiful store. I wish it was located closer to me with it's gorgeous selection of fabrics, although that could be very dangerous to my budgeting. I did buy a couple of Melly & Me softy patterns which I'd been wanting for a while now.
One pattern I bought is Phoebe the Elephant. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have this patten. It's very, very cute. I showed it to my Phoebe. I told her I'd make one for her birthday. I let her loose on my fabric stash. She picked out some blue fabric and I started making and stitching.
I quilted the little blanket and edged it with rick rack.
I usually hand sew little details, but I wanted to try using the blanket stitch on my sewing machine. I need to practice a bit more, but liked the machine stitched look.
Phoebe is a very cute elephant. And my Phoebe loves her.
Fabrics used (all from Hello Betty by Chloe's Closet for Moda Fabrics):
Thanks for vising my blog.
Still no news on the release of Australian Homesewn magazine, will keep stalking the stores.
Cheers
Fiona x
A little while ago I was thrilled to be asked by Mel Goodsell to create a project for a new publication, Australian Homesewn. Last week my copy arrived. It is just lovely, with so many sewing projects for kids, the home and of course, us girlies. Mel has created so many gorgeous projects for the magazine herself.
My brief was to create a stationery set with a matching pencil case, covered note book (which you can see on the cover, above) and a laptop bag.
I wanted to make something colourful, so I used some fabric from one of my favourite fabric collections, Park Slope by Erin McMorris, and mixed it with some lime chenille
The covered note book was fun to make with a place for your pen on the cover.
The pencil case....
and the lap top bag...
One of my favourite little details on my sewing projects at the moment, fabric covered buttons.
There are full instructions for these three projects included in the magazine.
Australian Homesewn is published by Derwent Howard. I've emailed Mel to find out when it will be on sale. To be honest I haven't ventured out over the last week to see if it's in stores yet, but when I find out, I'll report back here.
And in other news... 18 months ago I had braces put on my teeth. A little know fact to most and something that has not been well documented in photographs. Well, tomorrow I'm having them removed. YEAH!!! They've done their job. I'm not sorry to see them go, to be honest, but I did get a little sentimental this afternoon that I didn't have much photographic evidence of their existence. So this afternoon I dragged Phoebe outside to have a photo. Yes, a self portrait taken with Phoebe's little digi camera, a quick snap shot, a little memory captured of this little stage of my life. Bring on tomorrow!
I seem to have lots of other little things to report on, but have been really busy with family life and birthdays and Ribbons Galore. So I will attempt to post some more little projects very soon.
Thanks for dropping by.
Cheers
Fiona x
New ribbons pouches/pencil cases/make up bags are now available at the Handmade store at Ribbons Galore.
Some pouches feature new German ribbons. This Babushka Dolls ribbon is just beautiful.
Some pouches are decorated with some of my favourite Portuguese ribbons...
Little Red Riding Hood ribbon.
There have also been some changes over at Ribbons Galore.
I have replaced the Ribbons Galore blog with a WHAT'S NEW page, where I'll be adding news as it happens.
The IDEAS GALLERY has been replaced with a new look gallery.
I have also added a TESTIMONIALS page. I receive lovely feedback about the Ribbons Galore website and the ribbons, so I thought it time to give these a home.
While I'm giving a Ribbons Galore update, I have also created a Ribbons Galore group on Flickr. If you have a creation using ribbon from Ribbons Galore, please feel free to add it to the group. I'd love to see how you use Ribbons Galore's ribbon.
Thanks for visiting. Have a great weekend.
Cheers
Fiona x
School holidays are over, time for a crafty catch up.
Firstly I'm going back to before Easter. I did finish my other Easter basket for Emily in time for the Easter bunny. This was our last project from the Easter Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. Here's the finished product.
The cute birdie fabric used on the outside of the basket is manufactured by Timeless Treasures Fabrics. The only details I can find about this one is its code name on their website, it's mod-c4867-sorbet. The lining is another fabric from the same collection, but I can't find any details of it at the moment. That fabric has small hearts printed in matching colours.
And here are the baskets together on Easter morning.
I have been quite productive over the holiday break. We went up to Hawks Nest for a few days and seeing the weather forcast I didn't think we'd be spending much time outdoors, so I packed my sewing machine, fabrics and ribbons and settled in for a few days of sewing.
I have made a few changes to the Ribbons Galore site. One being a dedicated section for my new Handmade at Ribbons Galore goodies. And here is a batch of new pouches/pencil cases in the making, the result of my holiday sewing.
A few favourite designs are coming back.
Little Red ribbon pouch:
Snow White ribbon pouches:
And a few new designs...
The Snow White ribbon is now available in pink at Ribbons Galore. Here's the pouches in the making:
Tea Time ribbon pouches are coming soon too:
Golilocks ribbon pouch:
I have several new favourite ribbons which can all be found in the Fairly Tales and Fables collection at Ribbons Galore. One ribbon which I've loved using is the Babushka Dolls ribbon:
If you would like to pre-order any pouches before they are available at Handmade @ Ribbons Galore, please send me an email, info@ribbonsgalore.com.au and I can send some more details about the designs.
That's about all for now. Have a great week and thanks for visiting.
Cheers
Fiona x
Well here we are, our last day, day 8, of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganz.
I'm sharing some photos of a fabric Easter basket I've made for Phoebe. [I have a basket for Emily half sewn and will share photos of that one when I'm finished.]
The idea for the fabric basket came from Liesl's disdressed blog, where she made a very cute Easter fabric basket with bunny ears.
I've made a similar box style basket. The handles of my basket are semi-circles of fabric. I have quilted both fabrics (the outside and lining) to give the fabric extra body.
The finished basket measures about 20cm square, which gives a very generous space for the Easter bunny to fill with eggs on Easter morning.
I finished the top edge of the basket with rick rack.
I loved this cute fabric for the lining of the basket. It is a Japanese fabric by Sevenberry. The brown fabric for the outside is a Michael Miller fabric called Espresso Pod Ditz.
One of my blog readers, Julie, asked about the girls bunnies. We still have Bubbles and Butterscotch, they are nearly six years old, which I believe is "getting on" in bunny years. I admit to being a bit slack when it comes to taking photos of our little darlings lately (that's the bunnies, not the girls). So this afternoon in the fading light, I quickly took some photos of beautiful Bubbles.
Bubbles is still very cuddly and loves a snuggle.
Butterscotch was reluctant to leave the hutch this afternoon.... I will have to try one the weekend to take a better photo of her.
I'd like to thank everyone for visiting my blog during our Easter Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. Mel and I have chatted abouthow much we've enjoyed sharing our Easter ideas. We're hoping to bring you some more crafty ideas sometime soon.
Have a happy Easter.
Cheers
Fiona x
Hello and welcome to day 6 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. Today Mel and I have made some EggIE softies.
Meet Egg-wina, Egg-ward and Egg-berta, the EggIE softies for Easter. If you go over and visit Mel's blog, you'll have the opportunity to meet Egg-na.
I designed this EggIE pattern recently and I'm very happy to share the pattern and step by step instructions below.
Download Fiona's EggIE SOFTIE (A4) or Download Fiona's EggIE SOFTIE (letter) (for the US letter paper size)
EggIE softie tutorial (a pictorial step by step)
Step 1: Download pattern.
Step 2: Fold fabric and pin pattern to both layers. Cut out the pattern.
You will now have two pieces of fabric. We'll think of each as one side of EggIE.
Step 3: Take one piece of the fabric and fold along the "side" line as marked on the pattern. Sew the "side" seams above and below this fold line. Repeat for other piece of fabric.
You now have the two sides of EggIE.
Step 4: Place one side inside the other, right sides together. You will be sewing the front seam only. Leave the back seam open at this stage.
Turn EggIE right side out, so you can work on the eyes, etc.
Step 5: Cut two eye pieces. I used felt.
Position the eyes on EggIE and pin in place.
Sew eyes in position. I used a blanket stitch around the eye pieces.
This is the stage you can sew some ribbon around the EggIE. [All Easter eggs need a bow or decoration, including EggIE]. It is easier to sew the ribbon around the Eggie before we close the back.
Sew on some extra decorations if you would like.
Step 6: Turn EggIE wrong side out and matching the back seam, sew along the back seam, leaving a small gap for turning and filling.
Turn EggIE right side out and stuff. When you have finished stuffing, hand sew the opening closed.
You should now have a finished EggIE happily sitting with you.
The fabrics I have used to make my EggIEs are from the Charm Bracelet fabric collection by Windham Fabrics. The colours and patterns in this collection are perfect for Easter fabric projects. Ribbons are from Ribbons Galore. I have made the felted flower and circle pieces using the Clover felting gadget. I have also made my own buttons, covering self-cover buttons with fabric.
I'd love to see any EggIE relatives that may be created. Leave a link to your EggIE image in the comments field so I (and all readers) can pay him or her a visit.
Thanks for dropping by again. We've received some lovely comments and emails, so thank you for those as well.
I have been asked a few times about the Clover pom-pom makers I used in the previous post. I think Spotlight has had them, Mel has mentioned Big W has also sold them. I haven't had a chance to find them online yet, but I will do that later today.
We'll see you on Friday Monday for the next day of our Easter crafting ideas.
Edited: We've both had some sicknesses in our families this week, and our next post has been postponed 'til Monday. See you then.
Cheers
Fiona x
Hello, and thanks for dropping by for day 4 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza.
Today Mel and I have made some bunny softies using another bunny pattern which caught our eye out in blog-land. This bunny pattern has been designed by revoluzZza, and here is the link to the RevoluzZzionary Easter Bunny pattern and tutorial. Mel and I made this pattern into little bunny toys, but the pattern is great as a template for any Easter craft, as you will see in RevoluzZza's post.
This bunny pattern is so quick and easy to make, you'll be whipping up several of these little guys. I have used some pinwheel corduroy I bought recently from Spotlight. Spotlight had some gorgeous bright colours available in this material. The patterned fabric on the fuchsia bunny belongs to the Park Slope fabric collection by Erin McMorris. The small blue printed fabric on blue bunny is from Spotlight. Rick rack trim from Ribbons Galore.
Mel's bunny, Cocoa, can be seen on her blog. She has used a felted sweater and buttons to make Cocoa and she looks good enough to eat!
Hope you have a great weekend, and find a little time for your Easter crafting. See you Monday for our next post with some Easter crafting ideas.
Cheers
Fiona x
Welcome to day 3 of our Egg-ceptional Egg-xtravaganza. Mel and I are sharing some Easter bags and pouches ideas today. Our little bags and pouches are perfect for filling with Easter goodness and sharing with friends.
Mel has made some very cute little bags, you can find her post HERE.
I have made some Easter pouches. Last year I made little felt Easter egg bags which were super easy. This year I've changed these a little to make pouches from bubble corduroy and ribbons. These require a little more sewing than the felt bags, but they are still very quick and easy to make.
Easter project: Bubble corduroy Easter egg pouches.
Here's some step by steps to making my Easter pouches.
Step one: Cut fabric pieces 12cm x 28cm. Turn top and bottom hem over and sew.
Step 2:Create little ribbon tabs for threading ribbon in a later step. I cut grosgrain ribbon approximate 5cm long and sewed them onto the fabric approximately 2-3cm from the hemmed edges.
Here's a close up of the ribbon tabs:
Step 3: Sew a piece of ribbon across the fabric. I've used some cute bunny ribbon from Ribbons Galore.
Below is a photo of what the pieces of fabric will look like at this stage:
Step 4: Fold fabric right sides together and sew side seams.
Step 5: Turn the little pouches right side out. I often talk before about production line crafting when making several pieces of the same project. This certainly can be applied to this project. Take one step at a time, cut all your fabric and pieces of ribbon. Then have your little pile of fabric at the sewing machine and stitch each step at a time. You'll soon have a little stack of bags.
Step 6: Thread ribbon through the tabs. Fill you little Easter pouches with goodies and you're ready for giving.
Thanks for joining Mel and I again today. We hope you'll visit us again on Friday for our next egg-ceptional egg-xtravaganza posts.
Have a great day.
Cheers
Fiona x
