A simple gift tutorial!

Today I'm sharing another very simple tutorial for Christmas gift giving. 

Did you find yourself a pretty saucer??

I bought mine for 10c at the op shop. It's blue and white spots, a perfect match for the blue and white pindot fabric scrap I've been saving!

 

Using your saucer as a guide, draw a circle onto the back of a piece of complimenting fabric, making sure you still have enough fabric around the circle for a 1/4 inch seam.

Fuse a piece of Whisperweft to the reverse of the circle, and add some applique or embroidery to the centre of the circle. Cut out the circle 1/4 inch outside the drawn line. 

I used a flower shape from another project I am making, then added some backstitch and cross-stitches. 

Cut another circle the same size from your fabric (or a piece of solid cream or white homespun), and hand sew a gathering stitch just inside the edge.

Fill the inside with polyester toy filling or something similar...

Draw the gather in tightly and secure the thread, but leave a bit of an opening as I have done.

Hand sew a gathering thread around the outer edge of your appliqued circle and place the stuffed circle inside...

Pull the gather in tightly, but again, leave an opening just slightly smaller than last time.

You will have a 'ball' like this...

Using a hot glue gun, position in place onto the centre of your saucer.

Take some red fabric and make a tie. Wrap this around the bottom of the pincushion.

Add some gorgeous pins (mine are from Pincess Pins HERE) and you have a beautifully simple gift!!

 

 The saucer keeps the pin cushion stable, whilst also allowing you room to rest your embroidery scissors and threads!

If you make one of your own be sure to send me a photo, or leave a comment with a link to your blog post! :-)

Enjoy your Sunday,

Hugs

Jenny

xxx

My flag cushion tutorial..plus Show and Tell Friday!

There is only one project to share today in Show & Tell, but as I haven't issued a challenge this month I'm sure you understand why. :-)

However, this project is gorgeous! Jean has been making my Shabby Roses 'A Christmas Story' quilt, and now she has finished it!

Jean, it's a beautiful quilt and I am so humbled to always see how others bring my mental sketches to life with needle and thread in their own unique way. Thank you!!

~~~~~

Now, I got to thinking while I was stitching away on my gifts for this year. Sometimes I see an item in a magazine and think, "I can make that!", but then forget all about it. Do you do that? 

One of my favourite non-craft magazines is the British edition of 'Country Living' (wonderful website HERE), and in it I saw a picture of a cushion made into a British flag - as soon as I saw it I wanted one (my ancestors arrived in Australia as convicts on the First Fleet so my British roots are solid), but it was priced at around £60!

Yesterday I looked over at my stash of Rural Jardin (my favourite ever fabric range) and the brain went silly with excitement at making my own version of the cushion - and then I thought perhaps you'd like to make one too!? Even if you're not British, you can use the same idea for your own country's flag. 

(*maybe* we could  make this the challenge for October????!)

Start with:

One, 16 1/2 inch square blue tonal fabric (cushion front)

Two, 10 1/2 x 16 1/2 inch rectangles blue/red floral fabric (cushion back)

Two, 2 1/4 x 24 inch strips beige tonal fabric

Two, 1 1/4 x 24 inch strips red tonal fabric

Two, 2 3/4 x 16 1/2 inch strips beige tonal fabric

Two, 2 x 16 1/2 inch strips red tonal fabric

3 red buttons

Sew the 2 1/4 x 24 inch strips beige tonal fabric diagonally across the cushion front.

(I am leaving raw edges as I wanted that 'shabby' look after washing)

 

Sew the two 1 1/4 x 24 inch strips red tonal fabric the same way, centring the strips on to the beige stripes.

Sew the two 2 3/4 x 16 1/2 inch strips beige tonal fabric horizontaly and verticaly on to the cushion front.

Lastly, sew the two 2 x 16 1/2 inch strips red tonal fabric onto the centre of the strips.

Fold one edge on both 10 1/2 x 16 1/2 inch rectangles blue/red floral fabric (cushion backs) over by 1/2 inch. Press. Fold the hem over again by 3/4 inch. Press. Stitch down.

Add your 3 buttonholes, and 3 buttons. 

 Do up the buttons, and stitch the two piece together along the side seam with a scant 1/8th inch seam.

Lay the cushion front down onto the cushion back, right sides facing. Stitch around the square with a 1/4 inch seam.

Trim the seam back to 1/8th inch. Turn the cushion right side out, and make a French seam by stitching around the outside edge with a 1/4 inch seam - this prevents any fraying and loose threads.

 Wash the cushion cover in your washing machine to give it that old and frayed appearance...

...and maybe add an extra touch of British history.

Can you believe I found this brooch for 50c yesterday at the op shop while my cushion cover was drying on the line!? Thanks God! :-)

~~~~~

Blossom wants an Italian flag cushion now to celebrate her father's Italian heritage. Guess you know what I'll be doing today?

What do you think? Shall we make this a challenge for the last half of October? They would make great Christmas gifts for friends and family!

Hugs

Jenny

xxx

PS: This is a great way to use up some of that stash....

We *might* have a house...

I think we've looked at more homes in the last week than we have in our entire lives before then.

We have finally found one that we put an application in for, and tomorrow we'll know if it will become ours (to rent) for the next 18 months. 

Nightimes and very early mornings have been quite productive for Blossom and I. It helps to keep busy when your life is a bit topsy turvy!

Look what we've made...

Blossom loved the look of THIS tutorial and made her own version on some baby shoes...

...and then she decided to play with a tiny pack of 2 1/2 inch Frolic squares that Dawn sent her. She made the sweetest fabric envelope (her own pattern!)...

Then she gave it to me. :-) I'm going to put all the lovely little notes she writes me inside it.

~~~~~

Have I ever told you that I have a real zipper-phobia?? Well, I truly do. I hate them - they scare the bejeebers out of me! When Blossom and I made those clutch purses the other day (you can see them HERE) I finally began to build confidence in working with those zippered teeth.

I found THIS tutorial and increased my zipper-skills by making two really sweet cosmetic purses last night...

...then today I finished my Handkerchief Purse (a gorgeous pattern of Judith's). I had done the stitchery months ago, and had the fabric chosen for the finish, but just kept holding back because of the stupid zipper. Not anymore! \o/ All my beautiful vintage hankies now have a safe and pretty place to dwell.

Not content to stop whilst I was on a roll, I decided to make another zippered purse, this time using my own 'Little Bird In Tree' stitchery...

Oh, forgot to mention that I coloured my stitchery, too. Those Golden Delicious apples look scrumptious!

Have you begun your July Challenge yet? 

Look at Heike's beautiful pillow! She has made my little design her very own, and I love it!

~~~~~

 Tonight I am going to rest. We may have many days of moving ahead and I think I can slacken off a bit with the sewing, don't you? (But I can hear Blossom turning pages in pattern books....)

Hugs

Jenny

xxx

PS: I was asked if it was ok to use green for the leaves in the Daisy-Do BOM. Dear friends, please use whatever colours you like - make the block *your very own*. Give yourself permission to be creative. :-)

Biding our time...

Each day has become a bit like a treasure hunt as we look at every rental house fitting our criteria, searching for THE one. All the homes we have liked so far have been taken by the time we get back to the real estate office, or the owner decides to sell instead, or the agents can't contact the owners...it seems doors close on us before we can squeeze our little toe in...and our days to move are running out. 

~~~~~

Yesterday was Sunday, the day of rest, and so we did. We really needed it! After washing all the quilts, runners and doilies (in preparation for the move), Blossom and I spent the day in my sewing room. We decided to play around with some online tutorials and use some favourite fabrics along the way.

My friend in Norway, Synnoeve, made Blossom a clutch purse for her birthday, and I recently found the tutorial for it HERE, (you can see the purse Synnoeve made for Blossom HERE)

We put a dvd on my laptop and 'listened' as we stitched. Blossom used some cute Japanese fabric she'd bought from BeBeBold a couple of months ago...

...and I used some lovely Verna.

We both chose buttons - Blossom chose a vintage flower, and I chose a Theodora Cleave snail - to embellish our creations,  and fortunately I had the right size and colour zips in my stash. We had a FABULOUS afternoon, and our finished clutch purses are gorgeous!

Blossom then began working on a koala softie, but I'll wait until she's finished to show you.

My next project was another online tutorial from HERE. I love the fabrics she has used in this bag and I will be searching for something with that texture once we've moved, but for now I used some black and white floral and pindots to make my own version as a test-run... 

 

As soon as I finished it and showed it to Blossom she said, "OOOOOOO, I love it!! I want to make one!!"

I wonder what fabrics she'll choose?

~~~~~

My nights have been spent stitching small gifts for some lovely friends of mine overseas. I wanted to finish them and post them off before we move.

This is another of my new bird designs - very simple but lovely, with added seed beads and a plaited satin ribbon hanger...

 I'm re-stitching it larger, and using different stitches this time, but haven't decided on beads or embellishments yet.

I used a pattern by Natalie Lymer to make this needle book. It was a free pattern but cannot remember what site I downloaded it from. Natalie has another free needlebook pattern on her site and I am stitching that one at the moment.

...and this is a postcard I made with raw silk, featuring a design by my friend Vicki of Tozz's Corner.

So I need to pack up these parcels and post them away! 

~~~~~

Have you made anything with my July Challenge stitchery yet?

Hugs

Jenny

xxx