Fabric Mutt
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Busy Girls Sews - hexagon cushion and time saving household tips!
I am so thrilled to be part of the Busy Girl Sews book tour for Heidi Staples new book Sew Organized for the Busy Girl: Tips to Make the Most of Your Time and Space.
This book made me smile, from the gorgeous projects and beautiful layout to Heidi's honest and fun approach. It is an inspiring book with small and larger projects, some of which are perfect for gifts and others that are great for when you want some selfish sewing. There are brilliant tips for organizing from Heidi as well as other quilters and the whole book felt to me like a good friend giving great advice. It's warm, real and hugely motivating!
I could have picked any of the projects to make for this tour but my love of English Paper Piecing won and I chose to make the 'Dotty Hexagon Cushion'. Turns out I had just got the most perfect fabric to work for this pattern and I immediately fussy cut hexagons from Swedish Kitchen, Lighthearted by Ayumi Takahashi...
and then created a rainbow from my stash using mostly 30s reproduction fabrics:
I love how fast glue basting is! I laid them out according to the book pattern and stitched them together. Once I was ready to quilt it I kind of wobbled, should I echo the hexagon shapes? Straight lines? And then I decided to do something different, a kind of scallop effect that makes those fussy cuts look like flowers and softens the angles. I used a spool of thread and matched the curve of the spool to the corners of the hexie. Then used my Sewline Styla pen to trace the shape and perle thread to hand quilt it.
Once those blue lines were rinsed away it left a subtle and pretty texture:
I deviated slightly from the book pattern (which has instructions for a zip closure) and I decided to add a touch of whimsy with a pom pom trim, which I had never done before but this tutorial by Angie has great tips to make it easy.
I used Swedish Text, Lighthearted by Ayumi Takahasi for the back and even used the selvedge to finish the envelope edge and did some simple straight line machine quilting.
I am thrilled with my cushion and will certainly be making more projects from Sew Organized for the Busy Girl: Tips to Make the Most of Your Time and Space! This was another check off my FAL list :)
Here is the tour list so you can blog hop:
March 30 - Lynne of Lily's Quilts
April 6 - Jodi of Tales of Cloth & Angela of Cut to Pieces
April 13 - Lindsay of Craft Buds & Debbie of A Quilter's Table
April 20 - Leanne of She Can Quilt
April 27 - Fat Quarter Shop
May 4 - Erin of Why Not Sew?
May 11 - Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts
May 18 - Svetlana of SOTAK Handmade
May 25 - Lucy of Charm About You
June 1 - Maureen of Maureen Cracknell Handmade
June 8 - Becca of Bryan House Quilts
June 15 - Beth of Plum & June
June 22 - Jessica of Quilty Habit
June 29 - Caroline of Sew Can She
July 6 - Heidi of Fabric Mutt (Tour Wrap!)
I thought I would share a couple of little things I do around the house to stay organised and save time (so I can sew more). My sewing isn't often organised and I still need to sort out my scraps (great tips in the book for that!) but with three kids I have to try and stay on top of the household stuff! I can also enjoying my sewing more if I know the house is in order.
Usually I do one bigger weekly shop and when I'm putting the food away I wash all the fruit and separate it into small resealable bags. This means I can grab snacks for the kids quickly or they can help themselves without eating it all! I do the same thing with 'grown up' snacks, sometimes adding some Bombay mix and always nuts and seeds. Yum! I try to buy nuts in larger portions because they work out cheaper but then separating them into portions means I don't eat the lot!!
I generally enjoying cleaning and have got a good routine going thanks to Clean Mama - check out the free printable calender.
Recently I realised it was WAY past time for me to clean the cooker, which is not a job I enjoy and, having started making my own cleaners using white vinegar, I really did not want to use conventional chemical oven cleaner because that stuff stinks, even the warnings on the packaging put me off using it! My sister mentioned putting lemons in the oven and after a quick google I found this site for how to clean an oven naturally. So I cooked lemons for half an hour and then once the oven was cool left baking soda sprayed with water sit overnight... I was sceptical but in the morning I literally just wiped it away and all the grease/gunk was gone!! I couldn't believe it, it was SO bad, embarrassingly bad, hence no before and after pictures. After cleaning it naturally (and cheaply) it was sparkling! Just trust me, if you've been too busy sewing to clean your oven try doing it naturally :)
My final tip is one I live by everyday. Write it down. Pen and paper makes all the difference for me. To do lists, sewing lists, my planner. If I write it down I don't have to spend time thinking about things or remembering stuff (I only have to remember to look in my planner!).
Happy sewing busy people!
brighten up Mondays {link to giveaway}
I am thrilled to be part of the Busy Girl Sews Tour, the blog hop for Heidi Staples' awesome new book Sew Organized for the Busy Girl. Full of helpful organising tips and useful ideas, that really are practical and realistic, as well as fun projects to make for yourself and as gifts. I found this to be a sewjo restoring book, that encouraged my joy and inspired my sewing. The result of which you will see towards the end of May!
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Each Monday for the next few months the tour will take you blog hopping to see projects made from the book and provide inspiration for us busy girls and guys. The tour starts today over at Lily's Quilts with a giveaway - 3 lucky winners will receive a copy of the book. Hop over to enter!
Here's the schedule for Busy Girl Sews:
April 6 - Jodi of Tales of Cloth & Angela of Cut to Pieces
April 13 - Lindsay of Craft Buds & Debbie of A Quilter's Table
April 20 - Leanne of She Can Quilt
April 27 - Fat Quarter Shop
May 4 - Erin of Why Not Sew?
May 11 - Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts
May 18 - Svetlana of SOTAK Handmade
May 25 - Lucy of Charm About You
June 1 - Maureen of Maureen Cracknell Handmade
June 8 - Becca of Bryan House Quilts
June 15 - Beth of Plum & June
June 22 - Jessica of Quilty Habit
June 29 - Caroline of Sew Can She
July 6 - Heidi of Fabric Mutt (Tour Wrap!)
Vintage Holiday
I have finished my Vintage Holiday blocks but despite joining a QAL I didn't make a proper quilt, I made a tree skirt instead. My son helped pick out which blocks would be featured!
I am determined to get a real Christmas tree this year and it seemed like the perfect pattern.
Rather than have the baubles facing one direction I positioned them to go around the centre and I couldn't face cutting a circle out of a bauble so I used some great Father Christmas fabric for the middle panel. I really love how it adds to the retro feel. This has some of my favourite fabrics in it and I know I'll be smiling for the whole time the tree is up! I used part of a vintage sheet for the backing that I had left over from the Shattered Stained Navy. It matches nicely with the Flea Market Fancy I used for the sashing.
It was free motion quilted using a holly and berry design I sketched out and I'm really happy with how easy it was to do and how it looks:
I attempted to make bias binding for the whole quilt but my pregnancy brain totally messed up when I was cutting and it was pure luck I could rescue enough to make straight binding for the outside and have enough bias binding for the curve. Not sure what I did wrong really but it just didn't work. If anyone has a fail proof tutorial for cutting bias binding please let me know!
Hoping this will look great under the tree... I should maybe work on some cute decorations too.
it's not right but it's ok
I have a little finish this week...
I bought a preggy dress (can't squeeze into anything anymore!!) and decided it was calling out for some embellishment. I chose this cute asian flower pattern from Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray.
Love it! I'll be wearing this tomorrow to the festival of quilts - so you should be able to recognise me if you're going!
I've finished a little baby gift for my also pregnant friend Nat, who will be my partner in crime for the day at the festival, but since I want it to be a surprise for her here's just a peek:
I've been working on my friend's quilt for her baby boy. I've just got to put the binding on. I hand quilted it and loved every minute! Here's a shot of the hand quilting from the back:
Now onto some blocks.
First up the Tetris QAL block 5, I'm really sad this one's nearly over, I love playing along each week!
I made three of the pieced star blocks for the How Far Will You Go? QAL:
They went together really well but I goofed the orange one, I'm still not sure whether I can face unpicking and making it right. I'm actually thinking it won't be so bad in the grand scheme of the quilt and I'm more inclined to go with the thought that 'it's good enough'.
I will be adding this picture to the helpful and hilarious Flickr group When Sewing Goes Wrong created by Allegory.
I also didn't do too great with my Vintage Holiday QAL blocks - I won the pattern from the lovely Heidi at Fabric Mutt and have slightly different plans about what I'll be making but it's too much fun not to quilt-a-long! I did these blocks in a bit of a hurry so some of the corners got cut off with my not perfect seam allowance. Again I've decided 'it's not right but it's ok'.
Obviously if I'm making something as a gift or I have lots of time I can make things perfect but I've decided to sometimes give myself a bit of a break and just accept the okayness of a project!
Linking up:
I bought a preggy dress (can't squeeze into anything anymore!!) and decided it was calling out for some embellishment. I chose this cute asian flower pattern from Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray.
Love it! I'll be wearing this tomorrow to the festival of quilts - so you should be able to recognise me if you're going!
I've finished a little baby gift for my also pregnant friend Nat, who will be my partner in crime for the day at the festival, but since I want it to be a surprise for her here's just a peek:
I've been working on my friend's quilt for her baby boy. I've just got to put the binding on. I hand quilted it and loved every minute! Here's a shot of the hand quilting from the back:
Now onto some blocks.
First up the Tetris QAL block 5, I'm really sad this one's nearly over, I love playing along each week!
I made three of the pieced star blocks for the How Far Will You Go? QAL:
They went together really well but I goofed the orange one, I'm still not sure whether I can face unpicking and making it right. I'm actually thinking it won't be so bad in the grand scheme of the quilt and I'm more inclined to go with the thought that 'it's good enough'.
I will be adding this picture to the helpful and hilarious Flickr group When Sewing Goes Wrong created by Allegory.
I also didn't do too great with my Vintage Holiday QAL blocks - I won the pattern from the lovely Heidi at Fabric Mutt and have slightly different plans about what I'll be making but it's too much fun not to quilt-a-long! I did these blocks in a bit of a hurry so some of the corners got cut off with my not perfect seam allowance. Again I've decided 'it's not right but it's ok'.
Obviously if I'm making something as a gift or I have lots of time I can make things perfect but I've decided to sometimes give myself a bit of a break and just accept the okayness of a project!
Linking up:
@ Mama Love Quilts this week!
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