quick and simple stool recover

I was given this awesome stool from a friend. It sat in our spare room and I started using it as my sewing stool. It was a perfect height for me to sit and use my sewing machine.

The fabric is was already covered in wasn't exactly modern or fitted with our house decor. 

A quick trip to spotlight and to the cotton canvas area I spotted this fabric. It was $11.99 metre and I brought just over 1/2 metre $6.83.

The hardest part to recovering this was removing the screws that attached the legs to the bottom of the seat. I needed Mr B to remove these for me.

I just used enough fabric to cover the seat and folded it over a few inches so it wouldn't fray. 

I used the staple gun (with thankfully just enough staples for me to finish this project) 

I have a good amount of fabric left over from this project.

Once I got the seat back on it looked like a brand new stool.

Loving the new stool fabric! Such an improvement from the original pink swirls.

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Farmers Wife Quilt

I'm starting again on my Farmers Wife Quilt. This time I'm only using fabrics from my stash.

Last time I started I wondered why the blocks were not 6 1/2'' as per the pattern, turns out the default to print was 94% so this time they are all set to 100%.

This time I made sure the seam allowance was correct by doing a test by sewing on the paper pattern.

So now I've started on new blocks and this time my blocks are coming out at 6 1/2'' so the finished size will be 6''.

I've got a nice pile of block patterns ready to sew and iron.

Progress!

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I've made a few quilts

I've been bogging now for 4 years. 4 years is a relatively small time to be blogging but for me blogging has been a great way to keep track of our family and all the projects I've embarked on and things I've created and made with love.

I just love seeing all these quilts. Some are mini quilts and some are queen sized quilts.

They all start off as a drawing- a few pencil lines on paper- ideas and a vision of colours and importantly keeping in mind the purpose and who it's being made for.

Of these quilts I've made I have a few that I've made for us and they keeping us warm and are very loved- and they make great tents for the boys. 

There are quilts made as custom orders, baby shower gifts, quilts made for family and friends, mini quilts for swaps.

There is something special about a quilt. Purposeful and practical. 

I know that hand made items item can be seen as cheap but trust me the hours spent choosing fabric, ironing, cutting, sewing, basting, hand quilting, binding making, hand sewing is a labour of love and care. 

It's so worth every minute to see the smile and know the recipient appreciates the gift made just for them.

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80 squares and many many triangles

A lovely friend from craft group had a baby last October (this quilt has been a long time coming). I really wanted to make her a quilt for her boy. I knew exactly what I wanted to make (and this amazingly looks exactly like my original drawing)

The fabrics I choose are very modern and not too babyish or all from the same range- just modern bright fabrics. The plan homespun colours break up the prints. The Kona Ash grey is just a beautiful. 

I hand quilted using co-ordinating DMC colours to the fabrics I choose- just enough to hold the layers together and add some visual interest.

I just love how it came together and it's now got a new home 

with little boy who it was made for. A quilt just for him. xx

Last year I made this scrap quilt for another craft group baby.

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half triangles quilt

I started this many many half triangles quilt last year (**cough cough**) so much for getting it finished in 2014. But you know what- that is okay. I love how this quilt has turned out compared to my original vision.

The random patterns created are fun and striking.

I hand quilted it is simple lines of cream, white, teal, green and navy.

After finding a large piece of fabric from my stash for the back, it has been a perfect choice with the colours from the front of the quilt.

Finished quilt size is 41'' x 53''

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liberty + doll's house

I have a small love of doll's houses after I finally got my very own a few years ago and enjoyed renovating it.

I'm pretty sure most basic doll's house furniture comes accessorize'd with polyester, plaid or any other random off cut of fabric they can find. It's only cute because it's so small but in the long term you ideally want cute and wonderfully made doll's house furniture accessories.

This is where liberty saves the day! I was asked by a friend who suggested liberty quilts for her daughters doll's house furniture. I of course jumped in and said yes!! This gave me the chance to use the small cotton batting off cuts to make mattresses, chair and couch inserts, pillows and of course quilts.

Hand stitching 1/2'' hexagons together is the easy part. Making anything this size is a challenge when only using 48 hexagons- who can honestly say they have fully hand stitched and hand quilted, made binding and then hand sewn on binding to a quilt no larger than 6'' x 5'' .....the answer now is me!

Hand stitching has thankfully become easier and the process become pretty quick when you are making more than one of anything.

How adorable are tiny 1'' square liberty couch cushions?

This was a labor of love, and...........I may have gone a little over board but something tells me these dolls house accessories are going to be loved for many many years to come.

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a pile of fabric- blue addition

I had already made a start on the pink addition quilt. This quilt had me struggling for a while.

I made a start 3 times. I sadly and thankfully unpicked a fair amount of the quilt top.

I found  some inspiration from pintrest.

I am so pleased I brought 1/4 mtr of plain homespun that were also the full width of the fabrics I was using. It ended up being less bitsy and came together quickly after that change!

Ironing out all those seams was very tedious!!

I choose to hand quilt using dmc thread matching the thread to the colour in the row I was stitching. I made sure not to do every row. Just enough.

Completed quilt

Both quilts are now washed and dry and ready for their new home- even with a week to spare!

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a pile of fabric- pink addition

I was asked by a friend to make a quilt for each of her two children. We had decided on a bundle of fabric and then it was all up to me. Eeek!!!

It took a while to get what I wanted. Lots of stopping and starting. Lots of nerves and second guessing myself. 

I finally settled on a block pattern after some inspiration from pintrest.

 After lots of sewing and ironing....

I had a quilt top I was super happy with!

My favourite part was hand quilting this. I choose a few plain dmc threads to co-ordinate with the plain fabrics. Simple and very effective.

Quilt complete!

Check out the blue addition here.

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scrap vomit finished (finally)

I started this quilt last year. I kept looking at it in my unfinished pile of projects.

I was a little stuck on what to use for backing fabric. Deb was ever so helpful and sent me in the right direction. I settled on the red polka dot with red thread for hand quilting and black binding.

I'm so glad I settled on hand stitching across each row.

So thankful for a basket full of fabric..........a year later I have a scrap vomit quilt finally finished. 

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