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!

FAL Q2 Scrappy Arrows

Awhile ago I started  a quilt using scrap triangles from the Tula Pink Quilt.

The quilt made it onto the FAL Q1 list, but I didn't manage to complete it! It then went onto FAL Q2 list... and it is finished!

It is made up of scrappy triangles sewn straight onto a white background. The seams are open to able to fray!

It did start out rectangular, but when I had finished quilting I realised that backing did not match up anymore!

So I took a rotary cutter and started cutting the edges into free hand curves!

 I have never bound a curvy quilt, so it I set off adding the binding quite nervously.... how was it going to work?

Turns out it worked a treat!

I quilted the quilt with pebbles, snail shells, swirls and feathers!

It was great fun and adding loads of texture to the quilt.

I love the back just as much as the front!!

So the last finished of FAL Q2 was a fun exploration into more curves and FMQ textures!

Making gifts...

At the beginning of this year I decided that I would start hitting the massive scraps pile I have generated over 16 years of quilting and make gifts for my family, friends and the boys teachers using them..

A fabulous idea in January, but now the end of the school year is creeping up fast and I have a long list of deadlines, Scouting stuff and general stress...

Anyway, I made a start last week with the blue cushion cover, which I love!

Over the weekend I started experimenting with using the idea to make a pouch. It is no where near finished, but it is looking pretty good:

I mixed scraps with the lovely Quilters Linen I got from M is for Make last week.

As you know I love FMQ, but there is something soothing about just using a walking foot to go in straight lines!

I love that I can pull the smallest scrap from my bin and make it work somewhere in the rose part of the design!

There is a way to go, but they will make perfect presents for teaching assistants - no pressure!

Using up Scraps

Today is my beautiful best friends birthday!

I decided that this year I am making gifts for friends from my fabric scraps. First was my friend's green cushion and then yesterday I made a small table runner for my friends birthday today.

Starting with a colour I know she has in her dining room - I really hope my memory is right! I pulled the scraps from the pixelated heart quilt and started building a strip piece.

I decided I wanted the quilting to stand out and I tried a new quilt pattern - risky move!

I decide to counter the strip piecing and quilt large curing flowers that run into each other. Great fun! And they added a really nice texture to work. The back is light grey so showed up the texture of the quilting really well.

This is my first go at the design and I got some of the scale off, but I love the overall effect of the flowers running into each other.

The scale of the quilt is just right to put into the middle of the table and put a vase on!

This morning I found this amazing wrapping paper. Patchwork and flowers! Perfect for my gorgeous friend!

Making presents from scraps is working so far!

Linking up with Free Motion Friday.

Quick Machine Applique

This is a tutorial for making super fast machine applique blocks without using Bondaweb or pins!!

You will need 

• Fabric Scraps

• 12.5" square of background fabric

• Fabric glue

Step One

Cut out 6 leaves, a stem, flower and circle centre piece from your scraps.

Step Two

Lay out the design, making sure you note the order the pieces are placed, For example the centre of the flower comes after the stem and flower.

Step Three

Next take the design off and carefully put some glue on the wrong side of the stem. You don't need a lot, jut a few small dabs along the length of the stem.

Place this onto the background fabric and gently press down.

Step Four

I like to relay all of the pieces back on and glue them carefully into place, this way I can see the overall design:

Again you only need a little glue. Once they are all glued into place, it is time to have a cuppa! The glue needs about 15 minutes to dry so it doesn't clog up your machine!

Step Five

Next comes the fun bit! Sew the pieces into place!

You can use a free motion foot to do this, especially if there are lots of curves!

Step Six

Once you have finished stand back and admire your wonderful work!

Please respect the work putting this tutorial together has taken. Do not be so rude as to steal the content without asking me first - I am a pretty friendly person. and I don't bite!

Scrappy Trip Along

Up until last summer I was a lone quilter - I stumbled along making quilts quite slowly and happy ignorant of the HUGE community online!

Now I have set up a quilting bee, The Anything Goes Quilting Bee, which has helped me to meet like minded quilters and I have watched Quilt Alongs online - even started the Hexy MF Quilt Along, but got side tracked...

So when I saw the huge crazy of  Scrappy Trip Along start between Christmas and New Year on Instagram, I just quietly watched whilst working on Maxi's quilt and starting my Swoon quilt..... then the huge volume of gorgeous quilts from scraps over whelmed me!

How can a quilter resist having a go when Katy from I'm A Ginger Monkey and Aneela Hoey post pictures so yummy I could eat them?

I just checked and there are 2,548 photos from quilters around the world who are taking part.... I just had to join them!

I am making slow progress after being away for a week, but 6 blocks are done and another 8 strip sets ready to go - it is super easy and fast, here is the original tutorial!

I have raided my scraps pile, which is huge and some of my fabric baskets for the strips. This means that each block is a true mishmash of colours and designs. The only rule I have set myself is that there is a dark fabric running down the middle. Individually I really don't like the blocks, but put together they look gorgeous!

I am just trying to mix everything up and throw one dark strip into the mix:

This afternoon after lunch I will be avoiding housework and putting together a few more blocks...

Have you been bitten by the Scrappy Trip Along bug?

Check out the Flickr Group for more yummy photos!

Sunday Morning Quilts

A few weeks ago I bought the new book Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison.

This gorgeous book is all about using your scraps, and I mean all you scraps! Nothing is too small!

There are great ideas for storing your scraps by colour:



The patterns are clearly laid out and easy to follow. The quilts are really inspiring:

Last week I had the privilege of having a lovely young lady working in my studio with me for the week. Her cutting skills using a rotary cutter needed building, so I showed her Sunday Morning Quilts. There is a great quilt made up of scraps cut into strips of different widths and heights. I handed her a bag of greens, pinks and blue scraps.

We agreed the height and width range and she set to work. It was a great exercise in using the ruler and cutter. She had to be accurate and make sure there were lots of different sizes. She did a fabulous job:

So I now have bags of strips organised into different lengths. There is still loads more work to go, but it was a great cutting exercise!

If you want to get a copy of Sunday Morning Quilts, don't forget to support your local indie bookshop. Mine, The Yellow Lighted Bookshop, is a fabulous place to order books!