Cuckooblue - a sewing adventure

Welcome to my little sewing blog on Tumblr! I have a wordier blog at www.cuckooblue.co.uk and now mainly use this blog to post the headline pictures from there. I've been sewing for 20 years when my mother showed me how to use her machine so I could sew myself some clubbing dresses whilst I was a uni student. 20 years on, with clubbing days behind me, a lovely husband, sweet...

[cuckooblue]

I made this potholder and nametag for a swap (name blocked out as it’s not until next month!). FPP pattern for butterfly is from Lillyella.com, tiny sewing machine pattern by Megsmonkeybeans’s blog. Blogged with links to pattern at www.cuckooblue.co.uk, Instagrammed as Cuckooblue. Maybe see you over there if you want to read more, Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Scrappy Happy Boho Sewing

My beautifully bonkers dear artist friend had a birthday. 2 days before mine as it happens. I decided she would love a handmade present  - and then made 2 because I am crazy self critical and wasn’t sure she’d love the first one. now I know she would have of course, but we crafters are crazy. 

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

The free bag pattern is here: 

http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/2010/05/free-bag-purse-pattern-big-n-beautiful-betty.html

Wordier post is on my WordPress blog at www.cuckooblue.co.uk if you want more details than the headlines!

Meanwhile, may your aesthetics be beautiful and your living be well, 

Until the next time, Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Tilda and Wedding Quilt Prettiness

OOOH, Tilda. Tilda to the UK born child of Indian parents means watching strange, brightly-coloured movies in an unknown language on grainy VHS with a beautiful Sari-ed lady in the advert in a rice field and the song “Tiii-lda Basmati” (the best rice, which I still buy now). And possibly the only understandable bit in the movie for my brother and me. But now it means this:

Soft, vintagey, floral prettiness with both a modern freshness of colour and an authenticity you don’t often find in modern fabric lines which are so often “trying” to have a vintage feel but don't quite make the grade. 

I LOVE the back: 

If you want to read the full post please visit my wordier site at www.cuckooblue.co.uk. Otherwise, enjoy the first rays of spring, may it spur on your creative mojo!

Until the next time, 

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Postage stamp thoughts...

Happy 2016! Time for tiny bits of bright scrappiness in your life? Yeah, me too. 

I’m doing this as a Leader/ender project, which means it has come together pretty quickly without me noticing too much whilst I have sewn up other quilt tops. Weirdly I have a lot of scrap strings (I see a string quilt in my future) but not so many scraps which are big enough to cut 2.5″ squares from. I only had about 50 - 70 different ones big enough!

So I used stray guilty-pleasure-purchasing charm packs and quartered them; they have so far been sewn into 4 patches, and a few 16 patches (which by the way seems to happen very quickly! It’s the pairs and fours which are helpful done as a leader/ender). A discussion and tips about doing this as a leader/ender project (and what it means!) and which charm packs I am using can be found at my wordier WordPress blog if you are interested: www.cuckooblue.co.uk. 

2016 brings for me some stronger personal goals - fit in more guitar, more personal sewing rather than commission sewing, take more walks in our beautiful countryside! Hope you have started your 2016 well and your creative muse is on good form :-) 

Until the next time, 

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

The Twice-Made Baby Quilt

Sometimes, that usually fair and just muse, er, Quiltiopoeia, eschews all her principles of "it will be beautiful if you take your time and take care" and her rebellious streak wreaks havoc in your quilty life. I have no idea where I'm going with this fable - but I tell you, this sweet, simple little baby quilt has caused me no end of trouble.

I know, right? It's one charm pack of Ambleside by Brenda Riddle for Moda, sewn together and quilted. How hard can it be? I tell you though, do not be fooled by her gorgeousness; she's a tricksy minx.

Come back!

But in the end so worth it! 32″ x 27″, Quilter’s Dream wool batting, stipple quilted. Name appliqued on by hand using fusible web. 

If you wanted to see the full, wordier version of this post, see my Wordpress blog at http://cuckooblue.co.uk/2015/08/26/the-twice-made-baby-quilt/

Otherwise, hope Quiltiopoeia and her sisters are smiling down on your projects and creative spirits!

Till the next time, Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Oh Dear, Oh Deer

Oh dear indeed. My camera wire malfunctioned whilst I was uploading 3 months’ worth of photos and makes onto the computer – losing almost all of them! Hence the absence of recent blog posts. But, less frustratingly, here’s the “Oh Deer”: 

I admit it looks slightly out of place in my not-modern decor - it’s a gift for my friend as she’s moved into a new house. Full blog post with fabric details and instructions to make the quilt top (very simple, but maybe beginners might appreciate the instructions) is on my wordier WordPress blog here: http://cuckooblue.co.uk/2015/08/07/oh-dear-oh-deer/

Hope your summer is a less rainy affair than ours in Scotland is so far! 

Till the next time,

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Baby Girls and Hello Luscious...

… are the perfect combination. At least when it comes to quilts.

See what I mean? 

Full blog post is on my wordier WordPress blog here: http://cuckooblue.co.uk/2015/06/26/baby-girls-and-hello-luscious/

Meanwhile, hope the summer is treating your creativity and soul well. 

Till the next time, 

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Why do medical syringe pump bags have to be so … ugly?

Well, they are ugly. When I worked at a hospice, working with especially with female patients, young and old, I used to think it all the time. Some people have to have a continuous infusion of either painkiller or anti-sickness medication or somesuch in order to stay comfortable. Whilst it’s one thing when people are in bed and sleeping, many many people walk around with this, live with it as a permanent fixture in their lives. And yet, the bags they are given for them are practical but ugly dark blue canvas small bags with straps and stuff, wires sticking out, and go round their necks (which can be painful), the overall effect screaming “I am extremely medical and weird, please look at me with that uncomfortable mixture of sympathy and fear”.

So when I got asked to make this for a lady who needs a chemotherapy syringe pump, and wanted something which looked “normal”, I jumped at the chance: 

She chose Michael Miller’s “Flock” fabric in Navy, Size about 10″ x 8.5″ x 3″, to fit the pump and a purse, lipstick etc........ You can find the full post at: 

http://cuckooblue.co.uk/2015/06/06/why-do-medical-syringe-pump-bags-have-to-be-so-ugly/

till the next time, Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Vintage Modern Ruby Stars Quilt – finally finished!

I was banging on about rediscovered project mojo the last time I blogged this – which was when I had made the quilt top (and shared the tutorial). Yeah. 15 months ago. go-slow-mojo. Never mind, it got there in the end – and is finished!

I did loop-de-loop and leaf quilting, for the first time, but it was pretty straightforward. More details here in my “verbose” post: http://cuckooblue.co.uk/2015/06/04/vintage-modern-ruby-stars-quilt-finally-finished/

I wrote up a wee tutorial for the quilt top in my original post about this quilt, here: http://cuckooblue.co.uk/2014/03/25/vintage-modern-ruby-stars-charm-pack-busting-hst/

Phew for mojo risin. Even if it was a very slow rise...

Till the next time, 

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Hexagons in Spring

First, I should apologise for taking a bloggy break - I’m having issues with Tumblr and Firefox (a Firefox issue I think), so have finally switched to Wordpress for my wordy bits. But gonna stay on Tumblr for a picture or two and redirect you to the words if you’re interested. Meanwhile, my hexie quilt is growing! 

About 18 months in the making, and a seriously go-slow, back-burner, simmer on so-low it might have gone out, project. But who knew you could slowly slowly have been so productive whilst watching TV or listening to audiobooks/ sitting on the beach on holiday? This is about 1000 - 1200 hand sewn English-Paper-Pieced 1″ sided hexagons made from fig tree quilt fabrics in collections.

Previous posts about it are on this tumblr blog (search tag #hexagon) and on my more characteristically verbose Wordpress blog at www.cuckooblue.co.uk

‘til the next time,

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

A Patchwork Picnic

It isn’t though. It’s completely staged because I forgot to mention when I wrote the tutorial for the one on the left that is was actually commissioned for someone else. I don’t get to keep it. Yes, my new year’s resolution has failed spectacularly to kick in, and I am still making for others with no additions yet to our house. Still this one is a retirement gift for an apparently wonderful NHS Healthcare worker (a Health Visitor) who seemingly deserves things of much beauty and love. So. I’m spending time with it. Hanging out. Like a crazy old quilt lady. I’ll may have to make me one too… 

I’m partly posting because I wanted a picture of the cushion when it was properly filled - The cover is 19.5″ square and it looked too “floppy” last time, with a 20″ cushion pad. Now it has a 24″ pad and looks lovely! I think. I know, everyone knows you should go bigger… And partly because I wanted to see it alongside my Liberty dresden cushion, blogged here: http://cuckooblue.co.uk/post/78267964842/liberty-dresden-pillow-love

My wee dog was most upset with this photo shoot. Usually a quilt on the ground means happy hours of lazing about, snuggled next to mummy chewing a stick, hopefully with the baby-dinosaur, which is clearly how he sees Kiddo, engaged in some crafty activity and not charging about with various brightly coloured missiles in his hands or leaping randomly off furniture. This time it was a “I know it’s sunny but it’s way too cold for picnics” and everything swept back in. He kept up this stance of protest next to a juicy pile of sticks for some time before sloping back inside. Wee cutie. 

I know how he feels. Bring on summer. My ambition is to have a whole heap of cushions ready for when it happens for real, hopefully very soon! Meanwhile, if you fancy a go at either of them and need any guidance, the tutorial for the one on the left is here:

http://cuckooblue.co.uk/post/114218367457/liberty-star-patchwork-pillow-cushion-tutorial

and link to someone else’s far-clever-than-mine tutorial on Dresden plate cushions is within: http://cuckooblue.co.uk/post/78267964842/liberty-dresden-pillow-love

Meanwhile, here’s to dreams of summer laziness amidst quilty love. And apparently some big chewable sticks.

Till the next time, Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Liberty Star Patchwork Pillow/ Cushion + Tutorial

Hello lovely creative types, so… how best to gloss over my prolonged bloggy abstinence? How about we make up with a tutorial? You might not need one as it’s pretty simple, but you know, since I took pictures…

This is Liberty of London fabrics and linen. The pattern was actually born when i decided to make a thank-you present for my lovely neighbour who let me use her shower for 2 weeks whilst our bathroom was ripped out and replaced. I now have a hotel bathroom! I’m so tempted to hold dinner parties in it - it’s the nicest room in the house… Anyway, she is more traditional, so I made her this: 

This is made with Kona snow cotton… and Liberty fabrics I actually bought at THE REAL LIBERTY OF LONDON SHOP. In London no less. I was slightly in heaven. But also a bit overwhelmed by all its beauty after this pilgrimage (the shop itself is just aesthetically gorgeous)… and by the prices. I felt I should buy something so bought a little charm pack of 36 2.5″ squares, although I had to add 4 more from stash to make this. I must tell you though they came from  Alice Caroline Supply (http://www.alicecaroline.co.uk/) and are cheaper to buy from the website. But that wasn’t really the spirit of it all was it? My neighbour was suitably pleased.

Bit of wobbly hand-quilting action going on there.

But I wasn’t thrilled to be honest. I thought that the patchwork border got lost round the sides of the cushion. Amateur. This is what it looked like before it became a cushion - I thought it would make a pretty mini-quilt or wall hanging…

See what I mean? So I was a bit disappointed. Anyway, I thought I would try and fix it with an extra row of sashing: 

And certainly you can see it better. but if you decide to make one, you can decide on how you like it! So, for many folk, that will be it as it’s quite simple construction and with a little experience it’s straightforward to work this out, but as sometimes it’s nice to work from instructions, here goes! This is for the Liberty and Linen cushion. Clearly you can make it in anything you like - a moda mini-charm pack and white solid would be nice.

To make the patchwork cushion front, you will need:

A 10″ piece of Linen (44″ wide, I’m assuming your solid comes as 44″ wide)

Forty 2.5″ x 2.5″ Liberty or patterned fabric squares

24″x24″ square piece of batting (I used cotton)

24″x 24″ square piece of cotton backing fabric (this will be on the inside of the cushion, so it doesn’t need to be too nice)

rotary cutter, ruler, scissors, thread, sewing machine, unpicker (you won’t need that) etc

Cutting instructions:

Let’s cut all our fabric up first.

1. Cut the linen fabric into four 2.5” x 44” strips.

2. Strip 1: cut into Four 2.5” x 2.5″ squares Four 2.5” x 4.5” rectangles One 2.5” X 13.5” rectangle

3. Strip 2 : Cut into One 2.5” x 13.5” rectangle Two 2.5” x 10” rectangles

4. Strip 3: cut into One 2.5” x 22” rectangle One 2.5” x 18” rectangle

5. Strip 4: again cut into One 2.5” x 22” rectangle One 2.5” x 18” rectangle

You should now have linen cut into: 4 x (2.5” x 2.5) squares 4 x (2.5” x 4.5”) rectangles 2 x (2.5” x10”) rectangles 2 x (2.5” x 13.5”) rectangles 2 x (2.5” x 18”) rectangle 2 x (2.5” x 22”) rectangles  

6. And your 40 Liberty 2.5” x 2.5” fabric squares (either buy as a mini charm pack or cut these)

Photo shows my cutting in progress. If you think you’ll get confused, label each pile’s measurements with a scrap of paper. I started to arrange my Liberty fabrics in a rainbow.

Layout

Now arrange your layout as you like it. If you are going for random, this will be easy, you won’t need to lay it all out, you can just start sewing! But I did this:

In the centre, the top two squares will be the top two points of the star, the bottom two will be the bottom points of the star etc. The 4 in the middle will be aa 4-patch which makes the centre of the star.

I think of a rainbow (unsurprisingly!) when thinking about which colours go together. Red – orange – yellow – green – blue – dark blue/indigo – violet/purple – red to enable the colours to meld in a natural way. Obviously orange is made from red and yellow which is why it’s in between them etc, so it works better than red and green next to each other for example, when green has no red in it. Anyway, have a play around until you like it.

Making the patchwork star centre

(BTW I’m not generally a big presser until the end out of sheer laziness, but with this, given it’s going to be a centrepiece and small, I pressed at almost every stage. It keeps everything neater, there’s no doubt.)

1. Sew your centre 4 patch, first by sewing 2 squares together, then the second 2 together, then join them as a 4 patch. Press.

2. The star points are flying geese rather than HSTs – much easier.  You are aiming for this: 

This is how you do it:

Draw a diagonal line in pencil joining opposite points on the wrong sides of each of your eight squares reserved for the star points.

Lay one of these patterned squares, right side down onto one of the 2.5” x 4.5” pices of linen, with the bottom end of your diagonal line towards the centre of the fabric (it won’t be in the centre). Make sure your edges line up nicely.

(if you are using directional prints then be careful with this step, you could easily end up with your fabric upside down. Ditto with getting the two fabrics mixed up – I did this and had to change my layout – rather than unpick…)

Sew along your pencil line.

3. Now before you cut off the excess, it’s worth folding down the right side to check you are happy. 

4. If you are then you can go ahead and trim that excess piece on the wrong side – both the linen and patterned. You’ll end up with little triangles of scrap for a tiny project. Press.

5. Repeat the process on the other side of your linen rectangle as shown in the picture. Don’t worry that there is a bit of overlap, that’s in the seam allowance when you sew them all together. Press.

6. And you have one side of your star!. Do this with all 8 points onto your four 2.5” x 4.5” pieces of linen.

7. Now take your top row star points and sew a 2.5” x 2.5” linen square onto either side. Repeat for the bottom two star points.

8. Sew your side star point pieces to the centre 4-patch…

9. And then sew the top and bottom rows on.

10. Press everything.

Is it looking lovely yet?

Adding the sashing

11. Sew one 2.5″ x 10″ rectangle to one side of your star. Trim off the excess (I always make sashing bigger and trim in case my seam allowance isn’t always perfect). Repeat on the other side. Trim excess.

12. THEN sew the 2.5 x 13.5″ pieces along the top and bottom, trimming the excess linen afterwards. Press.

Making the patchwork borders

13. Sew your top 8 liberty squares together and put to one side. Repeat for the bottom eight squares. Now make the left side and right sides which will both have 6 squares. Press.

(somehow I managed to sew 9 squares on the bottom row! Doh! Had to unpick after all…)

14. Sew the sides onto your star block first and then press, before sewing on the top and bottom pieces. pin your patchwork strips to the linen first to ensure it reaches the full length, and match up the seams at the corners as best you can. Press.

Now at this point you can batt, back, quilt and bind and use as a mini quilt or wall hanging which measures 16.5” square (above). Or you can add the outer linen border to finish your cushion as I did. 

Adding the final linen border

15. This is exactly what you did before. Sew the 2.5” x 18” linen strips onto the sides of your star block and trim the excess.

16. Now sew the final two pieces, the 2.5” x 22” rectangles to the top and bottom and trim the excess. Press everything…

 And Ta-Dahhhhhh! You’re done!

17. Now, make a quilt sandwich as normal. Lay the cotton backing fabric face down, lay over the cotton batting, lay over the patchwork piece and smoother everything over to ensure there are no wrinkles. I pinned with safety pins (it’s not worth getting out the gun for such a small piece I found) to baste.

18. Quilt as you like – straight or hand quilting on this would be lovely! I machine- quilted with an overall stipple…

19. And then did a little decorative hand quilting with perle 8 cotton in a red colour. 

20. Finally add your cushion back and a zip as I did (or make an envelope back as I showed here:  http://cuckooblue.co.uk/post/78267964842/liberty-dresden-pillow-love   ).

My back is Heather Ross Unicorn in Purple from Far Far away II - and I LOVE it.

Your cushion cover will measure about 19.5″ square.

Add an insert (go a bit bigger, maybe 22 - 24″ square, as you can see from the  picture above, mine isn’t full enough at 20″ square, I’ve ordered another insert) … and enjoy your new cushion!

Well I hope this makes up for the absence. Actually, I Firefox has crashed so many times when I have attempted a blog post, I’ve lost 3 already, and this one crashed at least 15 times. I kept saving as a draft and wrote most on Word and copy/pasted. Anyone else having trouble? I’m either going to have to abandon Firefox (likely) or Tumblr (less likely). As a plus, I have a few posts to share when I resolve this. Meanwhile, hope your creative mojo is mojoing away.

Till the next time,

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Pixelated Heart quilt for a New Year Wedding

My friend asked me if I would make a quilt for a lovely couple in their EIGHTIES who are getting a second chance at love. I guess those who are loveable may find love again no matter what their age...

  The Pattern is Pixelated Heart by the amazing Blue Elephant Stitches. I hope the happy couple love this sweet pattern as much as I do!

This is her quilt, made with low volume fabrics instead of white fabrics (I didn't have the budget for that) - it is utterly stunning!

You can find her blog and "how to" for this pattern here: http://blueelephantstitches.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/pixelated.html

She is SO talented, seriously you should look at her blog. And so generous - look how she breaks down this quilt for us to make it easier to sew as blocks rather than strips! And she invented the granny squares quilt, which is on my to do list. I love her work.

I had 2 rouenneries Deux charm packs - a beautiful collection from French General for Moda. I cannot get over how much I love French General fabrics, rich yet muted, classic but not old-fashioned, very very French.  I didn't want to cut too much away from the charms but 5" charms were just going to make too big a quilt (again for budget). So I cut them to 4.5" - this quilt finishes at about 54" square.

You can see the construction of mine best on this photo (top in progress). Obviously because I was using white fabric rather than low-volume fabrics as contrast, I didn't need to sew the whole quilt as 4.5" squares, which saved time (another thing I didn't have). It used 71 printed fabric squares and 40 white squares. I sashed it as above but then decided it needed a border, so I cut the sashing to 2.5" on the sides and 5" top and bottom...

Then added a 2.5" red border from Rural Jardin which I had in stash. Definitely better.

Stipple quilted - much as I like to experiment, there are reasons why classic quilting is classic, and I thought for a quilt like this I should go down that route. Had I used low-volume fabrics, straight line quilting would have worked, but I really think something as simple as this needs texture from the free-motion line, don't you?

Just LOOK at those scrumptious fabrics. It makes me want to go eat strawberry cream patisserie. New Year. Must. Resist.

What I really like about this is the size, the fabrics and colours, but mostly the fact that although it's a heart, it's not too cheesy - and when you fold it up or use it, it looks like a pretty patchwork quilt; it's only when you spread it out and look from a distance that you see what it is. Perfect for a wedding gift for this loved-up pair apparently. Ahhhh.

Argghh, can't seem to get this picture to orient the right way. Tilt your head to the right to see what it looks like draped over a box, and you'll see what I mean about not knowing it's a heart.

Quilted with my favourite Quilter's Dream Orient batting.

Things I don't like about the quilt:

1. There is not quite enough white space aroung the heart. This was a budget / size thing for the backing and batting.

2. Budgetary concerns meant it has a plain white backing - it's perfectly nice, but not as wonderful as it could have been and what the fabrics deserved.

3. It's not for our house. Aye, there's the rub. This quilt is designed and made for the happy couple but I don't actually know the octogenerians in love, although I would like to. But the idea of a quilt in their new home signifying their love made me think about the pillowcases I've been meaning to make for my own son for ages. About how when I joked that a tiny baby quilt I was making was for him, he was actually disappointed that it wasn't (even though it was tiny and completely unlike his tastes, I thought he would laugh!). It has shown me that I need to clear the decks and do selfish sewing for the next 6 months; make all those things for us that I need to, sew new buttons onto my coat etc. When you decide to sell a few things to fund your hobby, it seems that  hobby can inadvertantly grow legs, arms, and heat-seeking missiles and take over your life when it wasn't supposed to. I guess everyone assumes you want to make a living from it eventually, so think they're being helpful by recommending you etc - and whilst it's SO flattering and lovely, you have to be careful. Particularly with deadlines when you're well overdue making pillowcases with stars and trucks on. If you made a living from your hobby, it wouldn't be a hobby would it? I definitely need to learn to say no for a while! Sometimes.

Oooh a random outburst. Must be New Year ;-)

And with that, may your 2015 be productive, happy and creative. May we all learn to say "no" once in a while.

'til the next time,

Poppy

xx

[cuckooblue]

A close-to-the-wire Christmas stocking for Emily

Just about managed to get this stocking made in time for Christmas for my friend’s little daughter:

See that pink fabric there? My friend was eyeing up a couple of my charm packs, so we decided to do a fabric swap . I couldn’t believe she so happily and readily was prepared to let this go, I just LOVE it. I am looking to make myself a new “carry-all” bag, although in truth, I am managing fine these days now Kiddo is school age - I’ll definitely need one before the summer though. Anyway I had thought I’d love to make a bag from it… now I wonder if it’s too girly, so it might not happen - doesn’t stop me being utterly in love with it though! It’s from the “love and Joy” collection by Dena Designs. Alison doesn’t really notice who made or what are the fabrics unless she looks for them specifically online -  but tons of her stash fabrics are Dena Designs; she must instinctively really love her style. And no wonder.

And no wonder it looks great on this Christmas stocking - it is apparently a festive collection! It’s lined with the same. I batted it for structure and strength with W+N cotton batting. Wanna see some close-ups?

This is the little penguin close up. I first made him when I was making our antenatal class children their first Christmas presents, and he looks mostly the same now, although my stockings have become more refined (you can see them on my Flickr stream if you like in the “fabric goodness for children” album). In fact this little girl is one of the younger, newer siblings from that same antenatal group! These guys get more attention; I have more time now that Kiddo isn’t a baby anymore!

I just freehand cut felt and sew the shapes on where I want in matching thread. I usually choose nice simple shapes for felt applique and let the bright colours do the talking!

Once you see that it’s all simple shapes, it doesn’t look that difficult does it?  It’s not. It takes time, but I love sewing in front of the TV, so this suits me down to the ground. In fact next year I’m going to do more handsewing if I can.

My favourite bit is embellishing with perle 8 cottons. Once I realised how simple it is to do some running stitches and backstitches in perle 8s to embellish my applique and give it some depth and texture, I have really looked forward to this step! I used a bit of perle cuteness on whatever I could this time.

The letters have Steam-a-seam 2 fusible web underneath unlike the rest - I figure they would be the most difficult to repair if they came off. And of course you can draw the letters on in reverse, you can’t really freehand cut letters unless you want that look (I did on the original stockings I made). This is the strongest web I have found - but even so I stitched round the letters. Despite the difficulty in getting the needle through the glue - you do get a bit of needle gumminess. But it would be awful for the name to be dropping off on a stocking. Like a run-down shop.

Finally a cute little hanging ribbon. This bit of ribbon tied up a fabric bundle I once got - it’s sweet but there’s not much of it. I’m glad it’s gone to good use!

There it is, ready for a sweet little girl. If you flick back through my previous posts you’ll see she’s already got a quilt from me when she was born, and an applique cushion - she is going to grow up surrounded by things I’ve made her - that’s a nice feeling :-)

If you want to see my previous, similar-but-not-the-same stockings, see these posts here:

http://cuckooblue.co.uk/post/67891349675/its-sew-christmas

and here:

http://cuckooblue.co.uk/post/69915376369/christmas-stockings-and-christmas-cheer

Meanwhile - Happy Christmas to you all! Wishing us all a peaceful and cosy family one; and a happy healthy 2015.

Till the next time, Poppy xx

See you after Christmas - and possibly even into 2015 - where is time going??

[cuckooblue]

Rainbow Liberty quilted blanket

Do I have time to show you this even though it’s waaaaay after bedtime? Oh I think so.

I made one of these for my niece-who-is-on-the-way-and-about-whom-I-am-beyond-excited, but hers is more pastel colours and handquilted and somehow I never got a decent photo of it (the light etc) before I gave it to my sister-in-law in anticipation and with all our love and wishes for a safe delivery! I thought I loved it until I made this - I think it’s the vibrant colours. It’s for my neighbour/friend’s new grandchild. 

It was very easy really and started out as a charm pack from this seller on etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ZuzusCrafts

I laid it out as random patchwork to get a look at it, and although I liked it a lot… -

… I knew she wanted “the same as yours” - not that I could get exactly the same fabrics of course. These are all brighter, and the rainbow actually works better for it. It looks different as a random selection doesn’t it?

These are some of the beautiful fabrics:

It came out at 27” square,

and whereas once I thought that was too small to be of use, esp when it’s not recommended that babies sleep unsupervised under quilts, i now think it’s the perfect pram blanket, carseat blanket, snuggler blanket when you are holding them in the cold UK winter, baby mat, anywhere where the parent/responsible adult is there. A clean surface to lay your baby down in a pinch on the grass or even to change a nappy. Washable and pretty, what more can you ask?

Well a whole heap more, because I batted this with quilter’s dream wool, which has a higher loft than most batting so is “puffier” - and whilst warm it is breathable like cotton, not like fleece etc where there is more risk of overheating. I also backed it in the softest lawn cotton and stippled it - I honestly cannot believe the softness when you do this with lawn cotton. It’s like snuggling a cloud. Lawn cotton is thin, so you have to be a bit more careful when sewing with it, but it is deceptively strong and feels like silk. I remember running my hands over my mother’s silk saris when I was little and feeling like it was as though there was magic in the touch of them - I’m not one to say “feels like silk” lightly.

This is the backing - not Liberty, but lawn cotton, and pretty:

I really hope she likes it - the baby is due in January Ithink.

I told my husband that I wanted a big one of these for Christmas, and he casually said, “OK I’ll run you one up.” He should NOT tease me this way! I saw though that Moda’s Regent Street lawn collection has just been released - and I’m thinking this may be a way of getting the Liberty Lawn look and feel without the pricetag? Here it is, but I think there are more colours in it - hard to know what the whole collection looks like at the moment as it is so new, but from what I can see online there are some pretty prints here. I think I may treat myself in the new year.

And with the scary thought that I have already leapfrogged us through Christmas and into 2015, I will love you and leave you, I am off to hopefully dream about pinkness and pretty blue flowers :-)

'Til the next time, Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Tug boat cushion for a little boy

My craft fair went amazingly well, I'm so thrilled! In fairness, the tiny school PTA had asked a variety of wonderful craftspeople to come, and had used social media brilliantly to advertise and people came with money and expecting to buy stuff, which was great, none of that "expecting something for nothing", not that my products are expensive as I'm only trying to fund my crazy sewing habit. Almost everything sold, the cushions and liberty pouches proving very popular. I had another commission though which I've just finished:

Angus' mother lives in Australia but her mother lives locally, so after seeing the caravan cushions (in the last post) on facebook, she got her mother to come and buy three for her daughters! But then begged for one for her son, so here it is.

This photograph on google was the inspiration for this little boat (http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/CanduE-Z.html) :

The stars fabrics are local shop basics, but designer ones are: Boat cabin is polka dots in Navy by Makower, boat stripe fabric is from Pirate Matey by Riley Blake, Flag is from Space from Makower, First full flag is from Going Coastal by Emily Herrick and the third one is also from Pirate Matey from Riley Blake.

I really hope she likes it. I wonder if I should have made the little tug a tiny bit smaller - if I make it again I think I will do that.

Raw-edge applique is a fun and quite easy technique, where the black thread looks like a child's drawing and adds a whimsical air. If anything I struggle not to be too neat! I probably should have been less neat here. I think if you do free-motion quilting it's pretty straightforward. Even writing with the machine was fine - I'm not saying it's perfect but it's fine enough I think. One thing I found was that unlike with free-motion quilting, I had more control doing this WITHOUT dropping my feed dogs. Just in case anyone else struggles a bit with their line sometimes and that rattatat-tat of the needle going so fast and all over the place!

These were the other caravan cushions she chose (the three on the right):

It has been reallly fun to make pictures with fabric - not something I do much of. I might need to do a bit more experimenting!

Well, a few more things to sew up - it's always so difficult to say no!) and then a well needed rest for me I think!

Till the next time,

Poppy xx

[cuckooblue]

Liberty, birds and a whole lot of sewing...

Hello lovely folk of the aesthetically beautiful tastes! It's been AGES - sorry about that. I've been a bit overcommitted of late. And I'm going to try for a short post today (! yeah... good luck with that, delusional self) and just show you this:

Liberty scraps and natural linen zippered pouch, measures 6" x 4". Actually it's a linen cotton mix, but it's darned near perfect, nice fine weave and a good weight.

I freemotion embroidered the branch and raw edge appliqued on the hummingbird with black thread, and actually really like the result, yay! It's supposed to be a hummingbird, at least I copied the silhouette from a photo of a hummingbird, so let's go with that even if my needle-drawing isn't going to satisfy any twitchers on here... I'm hoping it will hold with just one stitching line - it's so delicate that 2 lines would overpower the image I thought. I used steam-a-seam II to secure the applique first which is as much as I think I can do - so much stronger than wonder-under.

A pretty polka dot lining - I got this from my local fabric shop and adore it! It's a sage green, not as khaki as it looks on my computer... and at half the price of designer cotton, I love it even more. I always include a layer of batting for strength and structure too.

I made it for a craft fair - I know I say I never do them except for the annual village fair, but made an exception this year because it is in aid of a tiny rural village school where my son went to nursery when he was too freaked out to settle in our own bigger village nursery. I have talked before about what they meant to us as a family http://cuckooblue.co.uk/post/91088996087/quilts-of-gratitude , and have committed to continuing to support them. So it's been sewing chaos in the last 2 weeks (yes, I started late...).

Oh go on then, I've already failed at keeping this short!

Some toiletry bags - large and small. The large are big enough to hold all my daily cosmetics, creams, deoderant, nail varnish, hair bands, eyelash curlers (I used to use them every day before becoming a mother... now they mostly sit there in a pretty washbag!) etc, the small are travel sized, or perfect for children.

Pencilcase style bag organisers for lippy/ keys/ whatever - or just as pencilcases! This designs are more kid pencilcases, hold on I'll see if I can find a more grown up picture:

Very grown up! There are matching zip purses too amongst this lot:

....er, actually there are not. But there will be. Probably.

And whilst we are doing a wee bit of the free-motion embroidery:

The ubiquitous caravan and bunting cushion. Yes I know everyone in the world with a sewing machine who wants to try this technique starts with this scene - but hey, why not? It's fun, cute and nice simple shapes. I made 3 in a different colours and a VW campervan too. I mostly used scraps except for that polka dot fabric again - see the pink too? Isn't it lovely? Scrap busting is satisfying but man it takes TIME. Finding the right size, matching colours, ironing the wrinkles out because you have stored them badly... I really need to find a way of using scraps more efficiently because I'm bad at it. And you can imagine I make a lot of scrap...!

Well, I had no business writing to you, as I still have so much to do and so little time before Saturday and the Market! Still it's nice to share some sewing goodness with like-minded folk. Hope your creative muse is inspiring you too - pre christmas sewing/ crafting/ browsing/ buying? Enjoy whatever you're doing.

'till the next time, Poppy xx