Granny Sqaure Chic

I've given in, I couldn't resist these delightful granny sqaure blocks from Jolene. They've been popping up all over the blogosphere for a little while now, and they've been on my to do list since the tutorial was posted :) Being a new quilter I thought this would be a perfect project for me, and I think it's proving so :D it's so nice working with larger peices after my mini quilt. I decided to make the four outer squares the same fabric, and doubles for the other peices as I didn't want to have such a scrappy look (mainly because I don't have enough fabric to do just that!) So far I've used a mix of modern prints, 30's repros and a few vintage sheet scraps as well! It's fun mixing and matching.

Dammn... !! I've just noticed that my blocks with the green and yellow is peiced wrong!!!! :(  uhhhh! I'm kind of running out of fabric colour combos now? but I've been taking my inspiration from 'real' granny sqaures blocks from Yvestown - here! Though I'm organising a little fabric swap with another online blog pal atm so I think the fabrics she's going to send me will give me some new prints to add to the mix! Can't wait. Are you all enjoying the granny sqaure madness?? I'm planning on going the whole hog with 20 blocks yikes! wish me luck. Jessie, xo

1st Quilt Finished!

I finally got round to photographing my 1st quilt. It's all finished up :) took me a little longer than I originally anticipated, but I guess I'll speed up with practise - hopefully! I'm kinda... happy with it, I don't think I basted it very well, I didn't tape the backing fabric down to pull it taught enough so it's ended up looking a bit puffy? (Lesson learned for next time!) I chose to hand quilt a simple border and machine quilt my sawtooth star centres; I'm sure you aren't supposed to mix and match quilting styles but I've done it anyway?! I then topped it off with some red binding to pull it all together.

It's now hanging up in my craft room, pride of place :) as a nice reminder of my very first attempt at quilting. I hope to add a couple more to the walls over time...

And, these are some fabrics I pulled recently to use on my next project, a mix of new fabrics and vintage sheets. Another new venture for me, and I'm loving the results so far. It's highly addictive too! Share soon ;) Jessie, xo

                        

Aga Oven Mitts & Vintage Loot

I whipped up this oven glove for Robin's parents yesterday, they recently got an Aga and needed a mitt that had really long hand bits to reach right at the back of the oven. They have a black and white themed kitchen, so it was lucky that I had this pretty floral fabric, (from my lovely friend Clare) as I don't own any other black fabric! I used some white cotton canvas for the arm parts to make it more durable against the heat. The inside is quilted in simple straight lines, and the outer pockets in a criss-cross method. Think I may make another one for my kitchen too! :)

It was quite a good week for thrifting last week, I picked up these nice vintage sheets (plus one more, since this picture was taken!) and a bunch of childrens sewing patterns and knitting patterns - even though I can't knit! one day ... Obviously I have no use for these kids sewing patterns yet but I thought they were too cute to pass up. I think 50s/60s kids were definately best dressed era, don't you? such simple shapes, so sweet. 

 

I also finished up my mini quilt, so I'll work on getting some pictures this week! Jessie, xo

Our First Home: Dining Room 'Finished'

We had a productive week finishing off decorating the house. The roof in the dining room was fixed so I could finally paint! I cracked on with it straight away, and come the weekend Robin and his dad were putting up the wallpaper. And what a cracking job they did of it, too. I'm in love with my new Cath Kidston chintz wallpaper! They put it up on two of the walls, and the other two walls are just white. I plan to fill that with lots of pictures and kitschy bits this summer; once the carbooting season has began. I've already picked out some curtains I want to put up from my own vintage hoarding collection. The chairs are my charity shop find last summer - for free!! I painted them up in sweet candy colours and finished them off by re-upholstering the chair pad (I just have the green one to do!). 

It's certainly changed alot from that before shot, hey! That was before we moved in, they were renters so it wasn't the prettiest of rooms. Above is the cutest hostess trolley I picked up in the summer. I use it to display my vintage tray collection :) and wheel food in from the kitchen, of course! I hope you all had a fun weekend too. Jessie, xo

1st Quilt Top Finished

Yay I'm getting super excited to finish my 1st quilt, I added the sashing and borders last night after lots of folding and stacking trying to decide on colour options. I recently bought some MORE fabric (I know, I know) because I just didn't have the 'right' one for the rest of my quilt, of course! I used a pink checked fabric, part of the 30's playtime collection by Moda, to offset the blue and red colours I have used throughout.

I bought a bunch of quilters safety pins today so I can baste it - as soon as I've picked out a backing fabric :) I really am making this up as I go along! Fingers crossed it comes together ok. Jessie, xo

Fabric Giveaway Result

Hi folks, just a quick stop to announce the fugly fabric giveaway from last week. And drum roll please ....

A big CONGRATULATIONS to Nicki, of 'the-home-bird' blog. Please drop me an email with your adddress and I will send your fabric bundle out to you! :) Well done Nicki, I hope you enjoy it and make something pretty with it. And thank you to everyone who entered!

I had lots of fun setting this up, so I think I will be doing more in the future - keep a look out ;) Jessie, xo

Mothers Dream Patchwork Cushion

I finished up my Mother's Dream patchwork cushion today! yay I'm so happy with how it turned out. It was a dream to put together, and I'm pleased that all went smoothly; even the binding! Love it when this happens!

Above is a corner of our living room :) do you like my new CK curtains!? I would show you more but it's so bare! - which is why I'm trying to decorate the place with handmade goodness. I pulled fabrics based on the colours I thought would work nicely with them, although now I've made it I think the curtains look alot more pink than green? so I think I'll make another one with more pinky tones next time. I finished off the pillow a couple of days ago but added the binding today as it needed a little something extra, I think the stripes really pop against the cream cotton. Definately my favourite out of my other handmade patchwork cushions. You can find the tutorial for it here. Have you been working on anything fun recently?

Oh, and don't forget to enter my fabric giveaway here! I'm giving away a stack of Anna Marie Horner Little Folks fat quarters !! I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow! Jessie, xo

W.I.P. Wednesday

I will soon be able to check the patchwork pillow off my sewing 'to do' list. I started it yesterday and it's going to be finished tomorrow hopefully. I'm so excited about it, it's turning out rather nicely :) I've finally managed to use some of my lecien flower sugar print that I've been wanting to cut into it for so long but haven't found the right project to justify it haha! I'm such a hoarder with my 'nice' fabrics! I really just need to get over that fear...

I've also been ploughing on with my cross-stitch wall hanging project. It's a much longer process than I originally thought, but I'm enjoying every minute. I need to think about how I'm going to frame it too? I was thinking of having a fabric border :) oh and in other good news, I found my lovely Liberty's embroidery scissors! They've been missing for months, but I recently found them burried away in the depths of my sewing room, hooray! It's a good day :D

New Fabric Love

I'm supposed to be making savvy money saving decisions now I'm a homeowner, but I gave in to my impulses recently and splurged on some new crafty things! I spyed these lovely Antique Treasure fabrics at my local quilt store the other week and I couldn't resist them. I'm planning on using the top two for this patchwork cushion project. The other floral fabrics are a recent purchase from Cath Kidston, I ordered a set of curtains last month in the print of the right-hand side for my living room. I got them in the post last week, and they look flipping amazing! I'm in love with them, a much prettier look than the temporary ones we had been using. A couple of plain scatter cushions are in the works with those fabrics too ;) 

And last but not least, I had a very happy mail day when these babies arrived! I've been devouring them since, and using them to help decide how I'm going to peice my mini quilt together? Right. Lots for me to be getting on with so I'd better get busy! Speak soon. Jessie, xo

1st Quilt Block! Sawtooth Star

I'm very excited to share with you today, my first 'official' quilt blocks! I'm a follower of so many quilting blogs and I've admired their work as an on-looker, but never taken the plunge to give it a go myself. My cutting skills are pretty useless and I've always been told I'm 'cack-handed', being a left hooker! so it's my most loathed part of sewing (though, isn't it everyone's?) so I've always been scared of the idea of quilting with all it's precise measuring and cutting. But nevertheless, I'm giving it a try! maybe something to do with starting a new year? new challenges etc...

I have made a few other patchworky things in the past so I'm not completely a beginner, but never a quilt. I'm planning to turn these blocks into a mini quilt for the wall in my dining room (when it is eventually finished, damn leaky roof!). I am using a fantastic tutorial via the thought and found blog, she explains it all in a very simple way, with lots of pictures and gives you measurements to make the block in three different sizes - I'm using the smallest 4" size for my mini. 

   I know they are very faaaaar from perfect, but for me, as my first attempt, I'm happy. And it's soooo satisfying once you see them altogether like that, yay! Do you think five rows of three blocks would look ok? any tips for me, I'm ready to listen :)

Jessie, xo

Market Tote Bag

I've been meaning to share this shopping tote for ages, I made it a few weeks ago solely for the purpose of carrying my etsy parcels to the post office - though it's now turned into my daily handbag because it's just so useful! 
I drew up the dimensions myself because I needed it large enough to house my size 5G jiffy bags, and I wanted the handles to fit me just right :) I didn't follow any tutorial to make the bag as all the ones I found on the web involved lots of cutting, lots of peices (which I hate) and lots of wordy instructions - I just like nice pictures. So I made this up as I went along, with very little cutting yayy! and I think it turned out ok. 

I used a plain old calico for the outer part, and a pretty pink floral cotton for the straps and pocket, to make it more me :) The straps are made with jute webbing to make it super strong, I also added an inside zippered pocket, which I got right after a couple of attempts! There are no visable seams on the bag purposely, as I really wanted to avoid top-stitching around the top of the bag (because it would be wonky!!). I will show you how I did it with a tutorial next week if that sounds good? Jessie, xo