Bunny Cushion!

The birthday party day has arrived and the present was finished with an hour to spare!

The pattern by Elizabeth Hartman was really easy to follow but the cutting out was quite intense because there are pretty small pieces of fabric!

I made the bottom of the bunnies face a little bit bigger so he has a nice chubby face.

Once I had finished the piecing I decided to not quilt the bunnies face apart from the nose and some whiskers. I then concentrated on the background. Into to this I quilted carrots and swirls. A bunny needs carrots after all!

The picture of the finished cushion is not great - no light here today!

I hope that the birtdhay boy loves it as much as I loved making it!

Colour: Blue

Blue is next on the list for exploration.

Blue is a beautiful colour, full of harmony and has the wonderful effect of calming people - just think of staring out at a bright blue sky.

Blue is the colour of the ocean and the sky, it is full of depth. There are so many blues in the world, each one conveys a different feeling to the viewer.

Indigo has a long history as a dye and is the colour of blueberries and blue jeans! The first demonstration of peaceful disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1917 was in support of the indigo farmers. The process of extracting the pigment from the Indigo plant is lengthy and leaves the worker with indigo coloured hands!

Ultramarine is a vivid, deep blue that was widely used in paintings to produce the intense blues we still see today. The process to get the pigment from lapis lazuli is so complex that Ultramarine was more expensive than gold!

One of my favourite paintings, Girl in the Pearl Earring by Vermeer in 1665, uses Ultramarine mixed with lead white to create the blue in the head scarf. It is an amazing blue!

Another one of my favourite blues in Cerulean Blue, which is a synthetic blue developed in 1812. It is the paint used by Claude Monet in his paintings and give his paintings an amazing grey/blue. When I was teenager my mum and I spent a wonderful 4 days in Paris exploring the Musee D'Orsay. We spent a wonderful afternoon gazing at Monet's paintings.

The Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877

There are so many different blue's to explore, from the ones derived nature to synthetic pigments. Each one is calming and has an interesting story to tell....

Little Elephants

Last week I finished my blue elephants quilt for the son of my lovely friend Liz. It was a first birthday present for him.

 

 

It is a really simple design, taking inspiration from Film is in the Fridge blog. It is strips of blue matched with gorgeous little elephant fabric...  I love those little elephants!

 

It is the second time I have free motioned a quilt from start to finish - the first time as back in February for mini. I used my Craftsy class by Angela Walters to improve my quilting skills. The back looks just as lovely as the front:

 

I used pebbles on the solid blue strips:

Angela recommends using a pen and paper to sketch out the quilt design. Really helps to think ahead when you are actually quilting.

The texture was great! It made it feel gorgeous!

I decided to use the figure of eight pattern on the border... this one needs some more work, but I did enjoy giving it a go!

I really loved making this quilt and trying out new techniques.... just need to find another small child I can make another one for!