Embroidered Pictures

I love machine embroidering, I've been using this on everything from cushions to clothing to bunting recently. 

I've embroidered dome pictures to frame and display too. The stag one is for my sewing room. The daisy one was a Mothers' Day present for Ash's Mum. 

My Mum's 60th Birthday present

Recovered Cushions

When I was little we had these big floor cushions in the house that my Mum got from Habitat in the 1970s. When I moved out she gave them to me and I've moved them with me to each house I've lived in. Recently I finally admitted they were on their last legs - both had rips in them & the stuffing coming out, repaired with gaffer tape!

I recovered both cushions with a gorgeous dark blue fabric printed with bugs that I got in Ikea. Once I'd covered them the rest of the cushions in that corner looked scruffy, so of course I had to recover them too! 

The last cushion I made a patchwork cover for and embroidered it with boats, reflecting the fact that both Ash & I are kelpie children from a seaside town. Once of the boats has an A for Ash, one has a B for Becky and one is HMS Bubbs for Bronwyn - cheesy but cute!

Lily May's Summer outfit

This cute little summer outfit is a present for a friend's new baby, Lily May. I found the patterns for both free on blogs, and I used fabrics that I already had in my stash. So a pretty thrify gift in all as it only really cost my time. 

Quilting workshop

At the weekend I did another course at the excellent Makery in Bath. This time it was Quilting for Beginners.

Yet again the course was great, the instructor was friendly, easy to follow and happy to answer questions and discuss issues. During the afternoon we each made a patchwork notebook cover, and through the stages I was able to ask plenty of questions about my own quilt making.

The notebook covers were made by sewing six strips from jelly rolls together, quilting this onto calico backing and fitting it to the size of the notebook. I then sewed two seams on the top and bottom, trimmed off the excess fabric and wadding and then made binding to edge the cover.

Arabella's Nursery

My best friend Claire recently gave birth to her beautiful daughter Arabella. During her pregnancy she said she wanted a Mr Men theme for her nursery. As honorary auntie I was happy to make a nursery set her Arabella. Claire ended up buying Mr Men duvet covers from M&S for me to cut up as we couldn't find any fabric that we liked as much. 

I made a quilt cover, cot bumper, thermal blackout lined curtains, and a seat pad & cushion for the top of the toy box. I also embroidered her Mr Men & Little Miss pictures to hang above the changing table. 

The nursery is now such a lovely light & bright room, perfect for a beautiful little girl!