A Long Weekend

We've had a long bank holiday weekend at home with lots of time for sewing and gardening.

 

The Jolly Molly is finished and the wadding will hopefully not shrink in the wash quite as much as the wool blanket did.
 

 

The appliqued flowers worked fine and provide enough quilting to hold it all together.

 

 

I added some buttons to finish the flowers,

 but avoided these being on the ends which will be used to pick up the hot dishes.
 

 

The reverse was some more of the grey with white dots,

 a cotton poplin that I used to back my recent  quilt, Flag it up.

 

Next up was the door stop.
 

 

This is a pattern that I have used before by Lotta Jansdotter in her book simple sewing.

 

I used some herringbone wool fabric which was lovely to work with, and a scrap of cotton dinosaurs to brighten up the top.



 

I filled it with scraps of fabric

and a packet of old dried black eyed beans that had gone well out of date!

The beans weight it down and the fabric  stuffing help it to keep it's shape.

 

And finally I snuck in a shirt that was luckily already cut out a few weeks ago.

New Look pattern 6104, again one I have done before here, but this time I made view c but with slightly shorter sleeves and no tucks in the sleeves or front panels.
 

 

The fabric was from Truro fabrics around Easter time.

It's another cotton poplin with a very slight sheen

 and I had second thoughts about it after cutting it out.

You wouldn't know but the pattern is lots of rows of tiny snails!  

 

 

Now that it's made up I quite like it.

 

I'm hoping the fabric will soften and wear a bit when washed.

The pattern is definitely a favourite and is lovely and quick, with no fiddly collar.

The shaping works well and I even managed to find some recycled buttons for the front.

Learning from my mistakes..

 

This is my Jolly Molly made and blogged here not so long ago.

 

I used an old blanket to pad it with as I have done before without any problem.

Unfortunately this  time it must have been 100% wool I think and it shrunk badly (or well!) in the wash and the result is fairly useless.



 

So now this little lot is sitting on my sewing table ready to be put together.

I have used some left over wadding from my last quilt instead of the blanket this time.

I am also planning to quilt it by appliqueing the flowers on through all the layers.

 

I will be following my usual method which I put in a tutorial here if you want to have a go too.

 

Results to follow. 

 

 

And this is the other thing sitting on the table ready to go..

a new doorstop for the back door.

 

A friend gave me this lovely herringbone wool fabric

 and it is just the right weight to make a sturdy doorstop.

Pink Present..

 

This was a present for a special little girl who likes pink.
a simple zippered pouch, lined with pink shirt,

 

 

and filled with a bunch of pink goodies.
 

 

And a pink scrunchie to match.

 

I love making presents with a colour theme.

 

Flag it up!

 

It's finished!

 

This is a quilt that I've been working on for a while and the scrappy triangle blocks are made using the excellent tutorial by Ashley at FITF.

 

If you haven't found her website already you are in for a treat.

 Quilts, clothes, tutorials, household stuff and a shop,  it's great.  

 

 

She calls her quilt the Nautical quilt but mine reminded me of flags as I tried to get photos and it flapped around in the breeze.

 

 

I backed it with this grey spotted cotton poplin which I really like...

 

and bound it with a red which I can't find the name of, but was from Truro fabrics.

 

 

I think it would make a good cushion too.
 

 

I know the quilting lines aren't even but then nor are the flags.

I haven't done much straight line quilting before but I like the effect.
Washing the quilt when it was finished, really helped to sort of crinkle it up evenly.
 

 

The bright colours were fun to photo on a bright sunny day
with lots of blue sky and fresh green leaves.
 

 

And while I was out catching the late afternoon light,

 I picked up the eggs and some parsley for a quick tea of omelettes,
 

 

 because it was a bit late to start anything more complicated!

Bits and Bobs

 

Woops this is the wrong way up but never mind!

I have been quilting the scrappy triangles.

I tried using some lovely multi-coloured thread and quilted around the triangles first

but that got unpicked, it looked all wrong.

Then I did some straight lines which I haven't used before,
 quilted using the walking foot and they are by no means even but I quite like them anyway.
I certainly won't be unpicking these as it would take hours!
 

 

Now I need to trim the edges and bind it- will keep you posted.

 

 

I was given this lovely tiny pin cushion by a friend last week.

She made the felted ball herself.
 

 

I love it and am hoping it might save me finding pins in my cuffs when I'm out shopping!
I can see myself forgetting I'm wearing it though too which could be a laugh.
 

 

I took this photo of a lilac tree in the garden today.

The tree was a present about 5 or 6 years ago and it is just beautiful.
 

 

I wish you could smell it too.

I will be picking some for the house now that the tree is big enough.
 

 

And finally, a bit more purple from this patch of self seeded chives in the gravel.

The original clump of chives were in a raised bed but they self seeded and I can't bring myself to pull them out as they are so pretty.