Mission Cushion.

I was on Mission Cushion this week.

Meaning I made two cushions for two lovely little girls on the ward.

This involved zip insertion. Something I have avoided in the past.

But alas, no more will the zip frighten me!

  

My daughter Beth photographed Sandra's cushion so she could show her granny. Bless.

Hence the well staged ... on the radiator complete with towel and tee shirt.. shot.

But luckily she did, because I forgot to photograph it before I gave it to little Sandra.

Back of Sandra's cushion.

So Tammy then saw Sandra's cushion and said I was very clever and wow did I actually make it.

AKA a lot of praise.

So I made her one.

This is proper staging Beth.

I used up lots of lovely fabrics in these two cushions.

I am planning a bag or two in the next few weeks and then maybe a winter patchwork project.

A bed quilt for Beth.

The bird quilt is hanging on the wall of the sewing room.

Neglected.

A few days ago I went blackberry picking in the fields above our house.

Simple Pleasures.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Blushing Tomatoes!

I have been gone ages and have not been near anyone else's blog for absolutely ages either. No excuse available. Just got out of the swing of it.

However, a greenhouse could be an excuse.

Or going on holiday and drinking a lot of wine.

Generally flaffing maybe.

While flaffing about and getting distracted by all sorts this summer I have worked a little tiny bit on my bird quilt.

I sprayed it with procion dyes in warm colours.

I cut circles in freezer paper, then ironed this onto the fabric and rubbed markal paint sticks onto the cotton. This created the white circles. I also used the cut circles from the freezer paper, ironed these onto the cotton and rubbed coloured inktense blocks over the edge of the circle. Both these effects are shown in the pic above. I hope that makes sense.

Just a few details so far. I have machine and hand stitched into it and I am pretty happy with how it's going. It's just going a bit slow, and I am at the stage where I am thinking about what I want to do next.

Oh, and the Liberty dress that Martha gave me got shortened for summer and I wore it to the Somme this year. I thought it appropriate because of the red poppies in the print.

Selfie At Thiepval.

I have quite a bit of this print left which is fabulous.

And the greenhouse today......

The tomatoes are eventually going red after all the staring at them I have been doing!

Spot the green chilli and the yellow chilli.

I think I am pushing my luck with these melons.

But hopeful for the butternut squash.

Enough about gardening.

Concentrate on one thing at a time.

stair trouble

I got the baby quilt finished last weekend. 

I love finishing a quilt and clearing the sewing room in preparation for something new. Although my something new is going back to work on my bird quilt again.

This is where it's at at the moment. A few more branches added.

I am staring at it a lot trying to figure out where to go next.

I have been fiddling about with an app on my phone, altering the image to see if anything inspires me.

These last ones are a bit mad, but I quite like the very first one with the white circles.

On a completely different and more energetic note I completed my first ever half marathon yesterday. 

It was 13.1 miles running through the beautiful Mourne Mountains.

After a night and morning of solid rain the ground under foot was saturated. I was up to my knees in wet mud for half of the route. It was absolutely fantastic though and I enjoyed every single dirty minute of it.

I am having trouble climbing the stairs today though.

The Gilliano Bag.

I got the top of the baby quilt finished yesterday.

Here it is hanging on the line.

It measures about 60 inches by 50 inches.

Now all I have to do is motivate myself to sandwich it and quilt it.

Oh the weather is too lovely outside. 

There is a female blackbird sun bathing on the lawn and there is a pair of blue tits in and out of a nest box on the shed.

Other strange things have happened in the shed over the weekend.

Charlie cut the grass yesterday and simultaneously the hens went AWOL.

We discovered them in the shed roosting on the front wheel of one of the bikes.

Don't think they liked the lawnmower too much.

I had to 'man up' and rescue them.

I don't usually go more than a step into the shed because we have a spider the size of a mouse in there.

As well as completing the quilt top, I made a bag for my friend Gillian in work. 

Here's a very quick run down on how it was made....

4 yummy batiks.

cut into 2.5 inch strips by the width of the fabric 45 inches, then pieced together.

2.5 inch strips cut across the fabric and joined to form one long strip.

then another strip added to the other side.

This is about 30 by 12.

place it on some light wadding and quilt.

I quilted wavy lines in a variegated thread.

turn right sides together and sew up each side, then box the corners.

I sewed two inches in from the corner on each side.

It looked gigantic, too long and skinny,

compared with my wee bag which is a perfect size for my lunch for work.

So I cut a few inches off the top.

Made a lining to exactly the same dimensions as the bag.

Made two handles 20 inches long.

Everyone makes handles in a different way and I probably make them in a different way each time.

I pieced together two 2.5 inch strips then tucked a 1.25 inch piece of wadding right up to the seam.

Then folded the fabric around it making sure all raw edges are well inside.

I sewed down the centre to secure and then a quarter of an inch from each edge.

The handles were placed 4 inches apart on each side as above and pinned in place.

Have a slight overlap at the top as shown.

Then turn the lining inside out so the raw edges are to the outside.

Place the bag right sides out (and handles down as pinned ) into the lining so right sides are together.

Pin so that the edge seams of the bag meet the edge seams of the lining.

Sew about a quarter inch in, around the top of the bag.

You need to leave a gap in this seam of about 3.5 - 4 inches.

This is so the bag can be pulled right side out.

I left a gap between the two handles and back stitched a few times at either end so it didn't rip out when I was turning it out.

So the whole bag appears from this little gap with a little bit of pulling and prodding.

Reach in at this stage and take the pins out of the 4 handles.

Then pull the bag out.

Then sew about an eighth of an inch from the top all the way round. This secures the gap in the stitching and also keeps the lining to the inside.

I sewed an eighth of an inch seam and then a quarter inch seam too.

Phew!

The Gilliano Bag.