My first knitted cushion cover

Dear Husband borrowed a book from the library for me on knitting. In there was a project for a cushion cover using chunky wool. It goes up fast and provided your sample is OK you can easily make a cushion cover.
Here is the result:
and the link to my Ravelry project page

 I think the cushion pad is getting a bit old, it's not very square any more. I can assure you that my knitting and the backing are square.

The zip at the back is hidden and the fabric is from Benartex, Cool Britannia collection.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Little twister stars, tesselations

I made a workshop for our group The Golden Lion Quilters to realise the pattern of the twister stars. There are lots of illustrations on the internet of this block, and books and rulers.
I couldn't ask every member to buy the ruler, so designed a cardboard square with all the marks to realise the twisting. All the ladies enjoyed my workshop, some of them finished their blocks and made it into something.

I had some Liberty squares which I sewed together and added a border all around.

Next I marked with a pencil where to cut for the tesselation to happen.

This is what I had cut, twisted and then sewn back together.

 I realised at that point that you need a very good contrast between the fabrics. And I don't think there was enough here.

I was left with my samples, and I have to use them. This one became a cushion cover. Another one you might think, but I have some wearing out on the sofa, so I'm trying to replace them.

I quilted around each little block, to show them better, and then added some FMQ (Free Motion Quilting) in the border

This is the back with the zip hidden.

This cushion looks beautiful with the white background. Still pristine. And it means I can enjoy seeing my work displayed.

I wish you lots of sewing time. I'm off to see the Malvern Spring Quilting Show tomorrow, with 2 friends. It's bound to be a great day out.

Pascale.

Busy with life , and sewing...

During the February half term holidays in Wiltshire, while there was no school for the girls, they kept me busy in the house and out. We had 2 bedrooms redecorated after some flooding from a bathroom upstairs, and they want new curtains, bedding, and pillows.

This week involved a trip to Ikea and Dunelm to buy new things.
I made 2 cushion covers for DD, in her chosen favourite colour, this aqua blue, or is it Teal, Turquoise, so many names. She loves them.

Back with hidden zip.

My next mission in her bedroom will be new curtains, as well as for her little sister. But I can't make them until I have finished the quilt for DD2, and that's an ultimatum !
Lots of work in perspective, but I love them.

Cushion in front of the new wallpaper on one wall.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

A new bag for DD1

I made her one last year but it's starting to look grubby, so she needs a new one and it might be bigger with a shorter handle as she would prefer that. Of course she puts too many books in it and it weighs a ton.
The fabric is oil cloth (toile enduite) bought in Glasgow while we visited for 2 days with all the family.

I must precise that DD1 is in her last year at College and passing her A levels soon. It's the equivalent of the baccalaureate in France.
Next year she will be at University somewhere too far. Could be Glasgow in Scotland, 6 hours drive from here.

Inside pocket

I know I will miss her dearly, so I'll probably be making a few things for her to take away.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale

Fabric birthday card

This card I am sending to Miriam, as part of our birthday card swap with BQLPC.

The sewing machine is felted, and the writing and embroidery were done by hand.

I hope she likes it.

Enjoy your free time and create.

Pascale

New book: Mon atelier couture, by Sylvie Blondeau

I forgot to show you the book that inspired my last project. It's in French, sorry if that makes it difficult to understand for you, and offered different projects and fabric choices to what I am finding at the moment.
I am tempted to try something else soon.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Knitting bag and needle holder

My title is very descriptive. I found this book in France during our Easter holidays, and wanted straight away to make a project. This is the result.
The purple fabric is by Kokka, Japan. The pink inside is linen, and the rest is plain cotton.
I added a pocket inside for all the bits and pieces.
I like that the bag is big enough to hold a book and lots of wool, or, I suppose, all the parts of a jumper.

I hope you have a nice time with your own sewing.

I am still making things but don't always have the time to blog about it, although I feel that I am spending a lot of time on the computer. I'll find a better way.

Pascale

Brithday fabric cards

This year I have put my name down to take part in a birthday swap, with fabric postcards of course. So you will see them appear regularly on this blog.

I can try different techniques each time, and I always keep a spare one as a memento.

We had 2 birthdays to celebrate in January, and they received this card below.
It's all free motion quilting around the paper shape of the cup I drew. And then writing free motion as well.

This card with the cup full was my first attempt. The fabric was pulled by the stitching and is all wrinkly as a result. I need to work on this, so kept the card at home.

I am still working on my quilt from the Bonnie Hunter Mystery "Easy Street", slowly making progress.
I am also preparing a little workshop for my quilting group, more to come later.

We had some snow for a week until last Saturday, so lots of things were cancelled, sewing included. England is never really ready for snow, roads get jammed, airports shut down, it's mayhem.
We also have some builders, decorators and other tradesmen working to repair some water damage that happened in the house in July. It took that long for the insurance to authorise the repairs, and it was a minor leak, but with big impact. I can't imagine what it would be like to have some real flooding.
It will be great when I can have the house for myself again, but then the girls want new curtains, cushions, etc...We will see.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Easy Street, progress

I am still working on the mystery quilt called Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter. She continued to post clues over Christmas, and I knew that I couldn't keep up then. I was not in the same country as my sewing machine!

Since coming back for the New Year to England, I have worked steadily to try to catch up. It will happen eventually, because the mystery is not a secret any more. The last clue has showed us the end result, which makes it much easier to work on the quilt. I like to know what I'm doing.

Lots of cutting and sewing 

The piles of block pieces are mounting

Clue 7 was the 4 corners and 12 triangles

So I am now working on clue 8, the last one but quite consequent as it involves making all the blocks 16 of one and 9 of the other, and then putting the quilt together....I have made 2 blocks,  but I want to link up with Bonnie's blog and the deadline is tonight. At least I have made all the 4 corners and the 12 triangular blocks to set everything on point.

 This is an arrangement not definitive to show the colours.

 With extra corners ready.

My first 2 blocks, 14 more to go.

There were some points when I thought I wouldn't have enough fabric in one colour-way  but finally all my pieces were cut. It's just a question of assembling everything now.

I will hopefully be able to show you a finished top soon.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Mittens Pink and blue

 I have forgotten to post about these little mittens that I knitted. The wool was bought in a very nice shop in Devon, UK, in Bovey Tracey. The shop is called Spin A Yarn and the staff is ever so helpful. I wish they were closer and I could visit often, take part in workshops and buy more wool. All the town is worth a visit for tourists with a river, art centre, and restaurants. There used to be a quilt shop, Serendipity, but it closed and was taken by new owners I believe, somewhere else in Devon. Too bad as they were very good.

So I made these mittens and I love them. I had more than enough for one pair, so started another one, and had to reorder just a little bit of wool. Maybe at some point I will make some more.

One pair has gone to my Mum for Christmas, the blue ones.
They are very good when the weather is a bit cold, not for a blizzard, and you are going in and out of shops for example. You don't want to take your gloves off every 2 minutes, so mittens are perfect.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Mug rug like Kate's

As I was browsing on blogs, i happened on Kate North's and saw this with a cup.
I found it so nice and an evening I just drew it and made it using the technique of reverse paper applique.
Mine is my own interpretation but there is a lot of resemblance.

It liberates me to think I could make another one easily, draw a design and go.
So maybe.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Some Christmas decorations

As I am finally back home after a nice holiday in Paris to see the family, I can wish you all a Happy New Year for 2013, may it bring you what you wish for. To me it means a happy family, spending time with friends and a good health all around. 3 of my daughters have got exams coming up in 2013, so there will be a lot of revision and studying in the house.

 I thought I should show you some of the new Christmas decorations we had on the tree this year. It was very special for us as last year, or rather in 2011, after moving house in December, we didn't have a tree. There were too many things to do, and we were away for Christmas anyway. But for 2012 we put up a Christmas tree and all the new decorations were special because they were made by friends or by myself.

 This one was made by a lady from my knitting group, her name escapes me at the minute, but it is quite a big bauble, all hand knitted.

 This beautiful robin was made by me following a pattern by Gail Pan for the Aurifil Christmas Ornament series, when we were given 12 designs to make over 4 weeks I believe. You might still be able to copy them from the website at Aurifil, or follow the post made by Gail Pan. I only made 2.

 She explains very well how to make this ornament.

 The second one I made was a pattern from Lizzie B found here.

 This one is new, made by me this year in our quilting group, Golden Lion Quilters. There is a ball covered with fabric. You cut the foam with a knife slightly and push the fabric in. Hide everything with the ribbon. There was a bit of calculation first to draw the lines on the ball.

This was a present from Fiona who lives not far from me and Nicola who introduced her to me. They both love sewing, with a slight preference from them for hand work and embroidery.
I love meeting for some afternoon sewing, they have so many ideas. They go to charity shops to buy outfits in nice fabrics and then give each other half a skirt or jacket, so funny. It is only if you love sewing and making things that you can imagine the pleasure of receiving half a woolen jacket, washed to felt it. Wonderful.
Fiona made many ornaments like this one for Christmas for her friends and family. I believe she didn't sleep much sometimes. I feel privileged to have received one.

I suppose you could copy some links and keep them for next year, ready to be made for Christmas 2013.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Part 4 of the mystery quilt

I am still keeping up with the clues given by Bonnie Hunter to make her mystery quilt called Easy Street. We are on week 4 and the pieces are starting to add up.
I would like to do the extra cutting she gave us as well as I don't think that I will be able to do much in the next 10 days really.
Here are some photos of the finished pieces, just put together to try to make a pattern

This week we made more flying geese with purple for the geese, and blue for the background. We then sewed them to purple and white geese made previously.
I can only try to guess what the quilt will look like. Still no green has been used.

Enjoy your sewing, maybe for some Homemade Christmas presents.

Pascale

Sewing roll

On Wednesday we had our Christmas buffet in our patchwork group, Golden Lion Quilters.

The "festivities" are kept simple and include a raffle, where we all get a piece of fabric, and we exchange a secret present. They are all put in a bag and we pick one.

This is what I made, and Yvonne picked it up, as well as a tin box for buttons.

 I made a sewing roll and you can find the patttern here, on All People Quilt's website. The paper is on the left side of the photo.

 I didn't have time to add the embroidery or the flowers in fabric. I kept the design simple.
I was hoping to add some ribbon but found nothing suitable in my little stock.

 There are 4 pockets, 3 small and one bigger, and I added a needle holder piece.
You can see that the bigger pocket could easily be embellished.

And as its name indicates, you can roll it up to carry your sewing necessities.
The pattern was so easy that I am considering making another one for myself, using different fabrics. We'll see.

Enjoy your sewing, maybe you are finishing some Christmas present.

Pascale.