just lovely

Veronika is just 'tying up loose ends' - we were thinking that this quilt is taking forever to finish, but actually, it was started last September and so only six months in the making. Also given that this is working for 2 hours a week, not counting school holidays and the odd family holiday back to her homeland, V is not doing too badly at all! :-)

So today, we introduced the 3 layers together for the first time - ahhhh.

And then quilted them together. For speed and simplicity, V is just quilting horizontally down each edge of the narrow panels. It looks great, I have suggested she might have a go at binding using this Tutorial by Heather Bailey, but the children might have to take priority over the Easter break and the quilt wait until mid April to be continued.....

Dawn has finished her cushion! She has embroidered her daughters name, birthdate and weight on the back - sorry, forgot to take a pic.

The picture in the book D used for inspiration, has a glittery rainbow. We have puzzled over the weeks the best way to recreate this, mmmmm.

Taking a trip to the local Craft Shop of Hobbies (you know the one) D bought a pack of 12 lovely glitter glue bottles. They work a treat and dried quickly. Sadly on closer inspection, I realised they were for paper crafts only and not fabric, so it is a cushion that will never be washed. As her daughter is 12, I don't think this is too much of a problem.

It looks amazing!
I hope you agree!

There is another page in the book to inspire the next cushion, very exciting work.

Some lovely new projects

Way back in January ( I know, I'm sorry) my group on a Wednesday doubled from 7 to 14!!

It was a bit of a shock to the system for everyone, but the established stitchers continued with their projects from before Christmas and the new stitchers all sat down and did what they were told thankfully and made pin cushions-and yes, I was too busy to snap them unfortunately.

Over the very hectic hour, I saw everyone, chatted and encourage them to think of a project. The established group were great at inspiring the newbies, which is what it's all about!

One week later.......

EVERYONE arrived bright and fresh laden down with bags of fabric and loads of ideas, great news!

Carly is planning a blanket for her baby son, just look at the size of the blanket stitch, tiny and so neat!

Maxine is planning a bean bag for her new baby, inspired by some big animals in the Center, she has put together a lion and is progressing well, more pics soon I promise.

Donna is making a door plaque for her daughters room, with life size hands on either side of her name.

Dawn 2 has been inspired by a children's book illustration and is making a cushion cover. She started off with just embroidery, but I suggested enhancing the strength of colour with fabric pens. This has worked really well I think and moves things on much quicker without loosing the detail and texture.

Kaylie started this week with making a pin-cushion for a friend, this was the result after one week:

By the following week Kaylie had made no less than 8!! Yes, there are only five here, the others were with their new owners. K had got completely carried away with french knots and strawberries and really enjoyed making this lovely yummy collection. Good to have you back Kaylie!

Dawn 1 is coming to the end of her project and this week started the long process of hand finishing the binding. She is already planning the next quilt and I wouldn't be surprised if it was started this week, I will let you know.

This is the layout of Michelle's blanket for her son, the middle panel is taken from a t-shirt I think and has inspired the 'space' theme for the rest, good work. Underlining- again! why?

I am really enjoying working with this group, we have to be strict on space and I am often pushed to give everyone the support they might need in the two hours, but the results are amazing and the whole group support each other.

Chinese New Year - the year of the Dragon!

In honour of Chinese New Year we (I) decided to make a stuffed dragon for one of the Children's Centers. A great idea I hear you cry, but I only decided the week before the only session we could make it in, so I had to do a fair bit of prep myself so we could finnish it in 2 hours....

So I found and adapted a rather lovely design for a paper banner and traced it onto some cotton fabric: two sides of head, body and tail and 4 stuffed legs.

Although it was 'just' colouring in, the group enjoyed this simple pleasure and we discussed which colours to use where, so it was a great collective project. We used fabric pens which went on like a dream and simply iron on o hot setting to fix in place.

Kate had a go on the sewing machine....look at the concentration!

The finished body's after ironing, just before stitching.

Stuffed dragon feet, a rare Chinese delicacy?!

He's just about ready to go, we put some bells inside, wrapped up in a cotton bag so the stuffing doesn't jam them up.
So here he is!

Kung hei fat choi - Happy New Year!

Start with paper

I often start new crafting groups with a quick, but brilliant star project.  Designed  originally as a Christmas Star, it can be adapted with a variety of colours for the rest of the year.  It looks particularly lovely if each 'petal' is made in a different colour.

I either use two sided origami paper or 'duet' paper which is firmer and comes in some bright colour combinations.

A star is for ever, not just for Christmas....:-)