A Finish - Jammy's Jumbos

I finally pulled my finger out and got on with my very first free motion quilting (FMQ) project.  Nothing like a little one's birthday looming to give me the kick up my .... well let's just say the little nudge I needed.

Here it is ... Jammy's Jumbos!

This quilt is for a little girl that absolutely loves elephants.  So I sourced as many elephant fabrics as possible and as they were a bit baby-ish, I added some Tilda fabric from a charm pack I had to make it a little more grown up.

... but there's still plenty of Ellies in there to keep her happy :)

I wasn't sold on the black dot and cream "filler" fabric to start with, but the more I look at it, the more I love it.

I used a cute pink and white elephant fabric from Spotlight for the binding.  I just love the way they dance around the quilt.

So how did I go with the FMQ? ... well you can see from the (warts and all) pics that it's a bit wibbley-wobbley, but man-o-man did I enjoy doing it!  I don't know why I was stressing about it, it was actually quite relaxing and I know that the more I practise, the better I'll get.

So, "cheers", "kampai", "salute" to that!

This is also my second finish for Q1 of the Finish Along hosted by Katy from The Littlest Thistle (tips bubbles down her throat again in celebration!)

Link to original Finish Along List

Serena xx

Quilt Stats:

Size: 51" x 67"
Pattern: Mostly followed "Retro Collections" by Elizabeth William for Australian Homespun Vol 13.10 - but I enlarged the block size because of the scale of the elephant fabric prints and used less blocks.
Fabric: Various elephant prints from Spotlight, Cream and Black Spot from Spotlight, Tilda charm pack
Quilt Backing Fabric by Michael Miller 
Binding: Pink and white Elephants from Spotlight
Thread for piecing and FMQ: Gutermann col. 618

Linking up with:
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts
Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
I Quilt at Pretty Bobbins
TGIFF

Digger Pillow/Cushion

Pillow? ... Cushion? ... depends upon what part of the world you come from, but I'm pretty sure that most little boys around the world love diggers!

When my eldest unmarried was invited to a little friend's birthday I jumped at the chance to make him a present.  

I started with Kristy's lovely digger paper pieced pattern (had some fun with fussy cutting) then added some chevron tracks down each side to pad the design out to the size I needed.

For the very first time, I added some quilting to the pillow (I usually skip this step for pillows).

I used a bright yellow thread and echo stitched around the digger block and also the grey track chevrons.  I used a stitch length of 4 ... they are bulky and boyish.

It has my usual envelope backing (one day I'll do a zipped one ... pinky promise) which I stitched with the same bright yellow cotton.

I love making boys stuff ... the Tomboy within is strong!

Cushion/Pillow Stats:
Size: 20" Sq
Feature Block: Digger Paper Pieced Pattern by Quiet Play
Fabric:  Fussy cut fabric in Digger block by Belle & Boo, all other fabric purchased from Spotlight

Sx

Linking up with:
Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts
Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory

TGIFF - Welcome!

Hello TGIFFer's (I'm not swearing at you, I promise) and welcome to my little spec of the blogisphere!

This little guy was supposed to be part of something bigger today ...

Digger - Paper Pieced Pattern by Quiet Play

... but I ended up having a "Finish Fail" ... not my fault ... We had some dear friends "pop in to visit us" from 3000kms away!!!

Many glasses of vino followed and, well, the rest is history - hiccup.

I do hope you have a lovely finish to link-up and share, I shall live vicariously through you!

Serena x

Please try and visit some of your linky neighbours (a couple before and after you) - you might discover someone new!

Also linking up to Paper Piecing Friday at Quiet Play

An InLinkz Link-up

WIP - Avoiding Quilting

So I have two flimsies finished and awaiting some quilting ..

Jammy's Jumbos - Using Touches of Tilda Fabric

Terra Australis and Hanky Linen Quilt (Those that follow me on IG (@sewgiving) will note that I finally got a pic without the photo bomber!

But whilst I procrastinate on those, I'm working on this little pattern of Kristy's that will eventually turn into a library bag for a little chap that luuuurves diggers!

What are you procrastin-making?

Sx
Linking up to WIP at Freshly Pieced

Sunday Stash - Hanky What?

Along with the Terra Australis I received last week from Charles Parsons - Craft Project was some Hanky Linen .. Hanky Whaaat? ... Hanky Linen.  

Feeling like a complete fabric philistine, I hit google for a look-see ...

Colours: Fire, Birch and Pink

It's a lightweight fabric consisting of 55% Linen and 45% cotton and is 137cm wide.  I've seen peeps use it for dressmaking, embroidery and soft furnishings.

Soft texture

There are co-ordinating colours for Terra Australis too ... 

Colours Denim, Peacock, Raspberry

So I'm thinking of adding it to this pile of loveliness (that still needs ironing, trimming and sewing together).  I haven't worked with any kind of linen in my quilting projects yet, so this will be a great test.

One quilt coming right up - pardon the threads!

In the meantime, and to experiment with how it sews, I whipped up these two little cuties for my girls ... Meet Mr. and Mrs. Ted.

I've wanted to make a Mr Ted for a while now (pattern found here by Craft Schmaft) and the Hanky Linen worked beautifully.

Mrs. Ted in Hanky Linen Pink

I didn't have any felt on hand so I used some cotton fabric and Sew-able Heat Bond (from Spotlight) to first fuse the face details, then I hand stitched them in place.

Mr. Ted in Hanky Linen Birch

Coordinating button belly buttons were a.must.have ... belly buttons are a big deal in our house at the moment!

Miss almost 4 facilitating the "Squeeeeeeze Test"

I have plans for the "Fire" red colour of the Hanky Linen ... I think it would look fab in the Molly Jacket pattern :)  What do you think?

So that's my Sunday Stash ... I'll let you know how I get on with the Hanky Linen in my Terra Australis quilt to be!

Sx
Linking up with:
Sunday Stash, and Sew Cute Tuesday ... you can too!

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Sunday Stash - Terra Australis

Thanks to the generosity of the Charles Parsons Group I now have my hot.little.hands on a fat quarter bundle of the fabulousness that is Terra Australis by Emma Jean Jansen (oh.my.gawd!)

I'm a very proud Aussie and love all the colours in this range ... Australia is more than just green and gold ya know!

The main floral fabric contains the beautiful Waratah, I have the Eucalyptus colour-way ... isn't she a beauty?

Fancy some fussy cutting?

The other gorgeous prints represent the Grevillea plant (I grew up with this growing wild in my backyard) ... the Harbour Bridge (looks like fireworks coming off it!) ... Spinning Gum ... and stripe and spot fabrics to blend - I'm in heaven!

For more inspiration I suggest you check out the Craft Depot under the Charles Parsons banner - they are distributors, and well if this is the stuff they are carrying - I'm not into name dropping *cough* Art Gallery Fabrics *cough* Lecien, I might just join them!

In the meantime I have plans for these pretties and I'm off to play!

Sx
Linking up with
Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash kindly hosted by Mila + Cuatro 

Sew Kitschy - February

Betsy was so pleased when her favourite Cookie Canister was released in Coral.

All her friends were going Duck-Egg-Blue but she just knew in her well.bred.bones that coral would be a collector's item in the future.

Progress chart - background image used with permission

Have you met Betsy yet?

Sx
Linking up with:
Paper Piecing Friday at Quiet Play