Two Crazy Patchwork Cushions with Buttons and Beads added to shop

I have finished making two of the crazy patchwork style cushions.  They were fun to make and I loved decorating them with some buttons, beads, lace etc and then I added some hand embroidery as well.  The backs of the cushions are just plain fabric.

This is the first one.

And this is the second one.

Baby Boy Play Mat Added To Shop

I made a play mat out of some blue patterned fabrics, using a plain blue in between to make a chequer board effect.  I machine quilted it although I am still not that keen on doing it on the machine.  I much prefer the hand quilting still.

Red Quilt

I have finished making another quilt for my shop.  This one is made from red, black and white patterned fabrics which were all left over from other projects.  I made the quilt up in rectangular blocks, the middle is triangles and squares, then I made some long blocks of squares put on the diagonal and sewed them around the outside of the centre piece.  Then I lengthened the two ends using some more squares but these were placed as squares not diamonds.   The finally to make it a bit wider I added  long wide strip to each side using some Tilda fabric my son gave me.

I used a polyester lightweight wadding and backed it with some poly cotton in a cream colour with a brown and pink pattern.  The binding is just scraps leftover from making the quilt.

I have hand quilted this quilt again as I prefer doing it this way although I might have a go at the machine quilting again on my next project.

Table Runner and Placemats added to my shop

I was with my sister the other day and I asked her if she could think of anything I could make that would be quite quick to make up that I could make using up some of my small scraps of fabric I have left in my scrap basket.  She suggested making table runners or placemats.  I had a sort out and put all the scraps in heaps matching the colours and found I had enough red bits and pieces to make up a table runner and a set of 6 place mats.


For the runner I started by finding some strips that were about the same length and sewing them together to make a new piece of fabric, then added a larger piece to it and some more strips until I had a piece as wide as the runner was going to be.  I had enough to make 6 of these strips up.  Then I found some cream fabric that has a self stripe to it and added that inbetween the strips to give the the thing a bit of length and then I added a larger piece to the centre.  I wasn't happy with the plain cream in the centre so I added a large rectangle of Amy Butler fabric I had left over and it made a nice centre piece.  I backed the whole thing with some cream poly cotton and then added some beads to the ends.

For the placemats I started by cutting up what was left of the Amy Butler fabric into 6 rectangles, then added a border of the cream fabric around the outside and then I got all the rest of the small scraps and sewed them into a long strip and then attached this around the outside of each mat to make another red border.  I finished them off by addding a plain cream backing.

I decided to add the placemats and runner separately to my shop although they do match.

More Saddle Bags Added To My Shop

I have finished the saddle bags for my shop, four altogether.  I am pleased with them, the black ones are a bit more firm in shape than the purple ones.  They are much floppier even though they have the same wadding in the middle.  The velvet feels lovely and soft, you just want to keep stroking it lol.

Shopping Bags Are Finished And Added To My Shop

I finished off making the three shopping bags last night.  I made two of the chequered ones.  I put a zippered pocket in the linings which is quite roomy inside.  With hindsight I should have sewn on the handles as I added the trim as when I stitched them on after you could see the stitching on the outside and I wasn't that happy with it.  I decided to make some fabric yo-yos to cover it up and added some buttons for extra detail.  I couldn't find where I had put the rest of the chequered fabric (still can't find it lol and I had just used it as well to make the handles) so I used some scraps of a cream fabric that has a gold sparkley fleck in it.  The flowery bag has the same fabric for the yo-yos.

So Many Things on the Go

I have had a few days off from my sewing machine as I have been to my Dad's to do some decorating for the weekend.  Now that I am back I can see that I have many projects on the go which I need to get on with.

These are some cross the shoulder bags I am in the middle of putting together similar to the camoflage ones. 

The first one is a photo of two fronts with the pockets aready attached.  The fabric is a lovely light purpley colour and its a really soft to touch velvet of some kind.  I bought it in a charity shop, the lady said it was supposed to be a table runner.  It had a backing to it as well which I am using for the linings of the bags.

The second photo is a bit hard to see but its black corduroy and was a pair of trousers my OH's Dad gave to OH but they didn't fit.  They were new trousers, he just didn't want them after buying them so I thought I would recycle them as bags.

These next two photos are of the lovely fabrics I bought at Lewisham market last week.  I bought 2 metres of each and it cost me £8 in total.  I am going to make myself a top out of each and then I am thinking about making another 2 tops out of whats left over (3 if I count the fabric I made the last top out of) and sell them on my shop. 

These last two photo are some shopping bags I am in the middle of making.  The main part is made from some beige spotted vinyl and then I have added a large section of a cotton fabric to the tops (this idea was to make them easier to sew on the machine).  I am going to line the bags and I need to come up with some handles.  The cotton fabrics were recycled from skirts given to me by my niece.

I suppose I had better make a start then as sitting here thinking about it all isn't going to get them finished.