Friday 15 April 2016

A Quilt for Auntie

My wonderful Auntie has been such a great support, especially over the last few years. I wanted to say thanks with a special quilt so decided to make her my version of Denise Schmidt's 'Single Girl' quilt.

Originally it was meant to be birthday gift - but when October came and went I was optimistic it would be the perfect Christmas gift - but life got in the way and finally it was sent in April, making it a surprise for no reason present. The best kind of present!


The first challenge was collecting the 31 different fabrics. I arranged them into an almost-rainbow effect.


Once each segment was cut out, it took little time to sew together a quarter arc of each circle. The grey middle and outside sections were then added before sewing the four squares together to complete each circle.


The final quilt had twelve circles making it big enough to cover a bed or snuggle under on the sofa.


The back was made of simple length-way strips to compliment the circles.



I hand quilted the inside the circles using a spiral design. 




 I like to think of the circles as hugs - my way of 'saying thanks for everything'.


Wrapped and ready to go!



Saturday 9 April 2016

Butterfly Bedding: Free-motion Machine Embroidery Applique

I found some lovely bed-linen on offer at Mothercare so decided it was just thing for Sophie and something I could personalise with her latest favourite thing - butterflies.


 The bedding I choose was bigger than my duvet but a quick trim and tidy on the overlocker soon sorted this out.


I drew out my butterfly design and copied in onto Bondaweb before ironing it onto the reverse of my fabrics. Each section was then trimmed, the paper peeled off and then ironed onto the bedding.


I then attached my free-motion foot and started sewing over the top of the fabric shapes.



By using a golden yellow thread the sewing is subtle so slips aren't too obvious, but provide some subtle detail.




All finished and given the Sophie seal of approval.