Drawings for Make Your Own Project

I'm still patiently waiting for the yards of fabric with the Ruby Loves Red birdie design on them to arrive from Spoonflower. When they do actaully arrive the masterplan is to make up some Make-your-own birdie kits, with 2 bird panels and stuffing and to sell them in the shop (new and vastly improved shop is in the making and will be up and running soon).However It has only just occurred to me that I haven't even started to write out the instructions for the kit yet and it would just be highly organised of me to get going and start to do just this. So guess what I've gone and done, yip sirree, I've written some out - only in note form but for little old disorganised me that's pretty good going!

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Gifts For A Giraffe Lover

It's exactly as it says in the title, gifts for a giraffe lover!

A friend (Sharon) turned 30 today, and I couldn't think what to get her so in support of all things handmade I decided to make her something instead of giving my hard earned cash to yet another large high street company! Sharon likes giraffes and I have had this bit of Japanese fabric in mind to make something for her for a while now but just wasn't sure what. She got a new I-pod Touch for Christmas so I managed to make a cover for that for her, Giraffes on the outside and a nice burgundy cotton inside and with a little bit of wadding in the middle to make it slightly padded to stop any bumps.

I also made a little padded applique square with the Giraffe fabric and sewed it onto a cushion (picking up a few tips from yesterdays quilting attempts), It looks quite cute. So I will take them into work tomorrow and hopefully she will still like giraffes and not have decided she now likes penguins or elephants instead!!!

Sorry the colours came out a bit weird in the photos.

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First ever attempt at Quilting

Today I went all out out and decided to go ahead and have my first real attempt at making a quilt. The plan a couple of months ago was to venture out to Borders Books and buy a beginners guide to quilting (this never happened) and follow instructions, but as Borders has since closed down and since the urge took me today to have a go I went with it and gave it my best shot.

The end result is quite small I'm sure in terms of real quilts but would be more than suitable for a pram, cot or play-mat. It is nice and soft and would be more than suitable for a child to sit and play on. I do have a particular special wee boy in mind for this one but won't say his name on here or I may spoil the surprise. The trick is most definitely in the fabric selection and I can see why some people find this so enjoyable, once I started laying out fabrics together it gave me ideas for other colouways and patterns, I can see that this may not be just a passing phase in my swing learning curve! So Olive greens and girly pinks next I think.

So, I am quite interested to know what you real quilt makers think, does it look right? Is this going even roughly in the right direction? I would love to know what you think and get any hints or tips to put me on the right track - or maybe I should stop being lazy and just go ahead and buy a book anyway!

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This Wee Guy Is Just the Best!

Totally slipped my mind to post some pictures of this wee Oobee called Walden by One Girl Design Works. Danny got me him for Christmas and he sits in the living room on a miniature rocking chair that my niece Isla used to play with when she was smaller. If you would like your own Oobee just look here. They are just so so cute and look even better in the flesh than in the photographs on Etsy!

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Eyes and Noses

I made this little chap, maybe I should say chap-ess, last Monday but by the time I had finished him it was too dark to take any photographs, so a week later here she is. I bought some safety eyes and noses to try out instead of stitching on faces - Oh my god they are so so difficult to get on because of the small scale I wanted them in but when they are finally secured I think they look quite good. It gives quite a cute quality to the faces and brings the bear to life a little bit more (well figuratively speaking I suppose). I will probably invest in some new noses on a slightly larger scale to help make every bear face look that little bit different from the next, but that's for another time.

This one will be available in the new shop very very soon, watch this space!

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Newest Blue Birdie

Remember that Spoonflower fabric swatch I designed and sent off for a while ago, well I finally put it to good use and made a lovely little stuffed birdie with it. The large bird image is on one side and the pattern of smaller birds covers the other. I would like to make these up to add to the shop or even consider making them into a simple make your own stuffed birdie kit - they would be quite good as a beginners project and I can see it working in a few colours, yay! Maybe a wheat warmer? Oh the endless possibilities....

He looks quite good, my stitching not too neat along the bottom - a combination of impatience to see the finished result and my sewing machine jamming on me.

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