A Few Recycling Ideas!

As I patiently wait to find out who my Mouthy Stitches swap partner will be (tonight's the night!) I thought I'd show you a couple of things I've recycled.

Baby daughter wants a doorstop, because her sisters each have one in their rooms, and at the grand old age of 10, she's wanting a bit more privacy!

So take an unwanted pair of gaudy orange Benetton trousers ....

no I didn't buy them, they were hand-me-downs!

 .... some delicious scraps that totally represent the personality of this child, and follow Elizabeth Hartman's tutorial to get this:

Fill with 1.5kg of dried peas, and that's one happy child!

The other thing I've recycled is a shower curtain for when I'm spray basting smaller items.

I don't think I'll ever go back to pinning and tacking again, but spraying smaller items in ones sewing room inevitably leaves sticky residue on mats and surfaces.

So lay down a machine washable shower curtain on the floor, and spray til your heart's content!  

After several uses, when the shower curtain becomes too sticky, simply throw in the washing machine, let it dry and then you're good to go again!

I also reuse clean shower curtains in the linings of wash bags and beach bags!!

So that's your recycling tips for today.

I'm all ready now for my all important flickr mail tonight, got me some of these ...

...and then the stalking begins!

Have a lovely weekend!

Finally - 2 finishes!

I don't like not getting things finished.

So it was great getting the fabric I needed yesterday to finish Susan's Brit Bee blocks for September:

2 really bright Drunkard's Path blocks!

These will be in the post tomorrow Suz.

I also managed to wade my way through the mess and corduroy shavings in my sewing room and finish the cushion I was working on:

18" of touchy, feely goodness!

 

I love all that this cushion represents in terms of style and concept; it is very me!  But alas, I can't keep it.  It will be sold (hopefully) in the weeks to come (more on that another time!).

I also managed to get the bordered block done for the back of the Across the Sea QAL.  Just a couple more small ones to do and I'm up to date.

We've had fab weather this weekend in Belfast, so I've been out and about doing family stuff rather than hiding myself away in the sewing room too much. 

The work stuff can wait til tomorrow!

Hope you've had a great weekend.

Going Bananas!

This is what my sewing room looks like right now (8.25pm)!

What a shocker!

After finishing up yet another handbag this morning (can't show you pics yet), I needed an injection of creative fun, and this is what it looks like after several hours!  

Mess, mess, mess! You should see the floor - I get so into 'The Zone', I no longer even try to aim all those thread & fabric ends into the bin, they get absent mindedly dropped onto the floor!

I'm beginning to think that sewing brings out one's alter-ego, 'cos in real life I'm a tidy freak (I know, you'd never know it looking at that horror!).

Still, I had fun, and if untidyness is the price to pay, then it was well worth it.

I've discovered 2 things about myself lately.  

1. That despite falling in love with fabric all over again because of these wonderful new designers, prints, fabrics and colours that abound, I can still return to my first love, recycled fabrics, with the same amount of zeal and passion. 

I don't know why I get such a kick out of reusing clothes that are now too small or out of fashion, or breathing new life into old, forgotten about curtains.  But I do!  Most of what you see on that table there is corduroy clothes and some curtains I've gathered up over the years.

2.  I love making cushions (pillows).  Again I don't know why exactly - I seem to be able to experiment more with ideas and creativity with a cushion.

So as a complete indulgent treat to myself (no not Ben & Jerry's & Baileys on ice!!) I started on a design for a recycled cushion.

This is what it looks like so far:

Sorry pics are dark but it's almost my bedtime!!

I probably would have finished it by now, but a certain teenager needed help making her proto-type GSCE textile project for art (it just happens to be a handbag and she just happens to have a mummy who knows how to make them! Win, Win!).

 Oh, and I made these last night to use up spotty bananas the kids wouldn't eat:

Banana muffins!  There are 15 altogether - but not for long!

Now those of you who know me well know that I hate cooking, so this is something for me!  

The fact that after I put them in the oven I completely forgot about them until I started smelling them from 2 rooms away, is neither here nor there!  This morning they got plastered with a not so healthy dose of cream cheese frosting and down the hatch they went!  I've already had 2 today, might just sneak in another one for supper!

Hope you've had a great Tuesday.  

Huge hugs and kisses to a special friend who had surgery today. xoxo

Mixing Old and New

This week I was given two very lovely things:

1. The most pungent-ly, gorgeous smelling lilies from my Oasis Class!  I adore fresh flowers - thank you ladies.

2. Some vintage, flowery curtains - aren't they fab!!

I make no apologies for getting excited about such a gift, and the lovely lady who rescued them from being donated to a charity shop, just for me, knew I would be ecstatic to receive them!

I would love to try my hand at making a skirt for myself, and this vintage fabric is spurring me on! 

I don't know why I love recycling fabrics so much, but I thought I'd have another rummage through my stock pile for inspiration for some lounge cushions.

You see, I used to have lots of lovely cushions and throws over my cold, leather sofas - until we got a dog!!!!

Then this happened .....

We make lots of excuses for her because she was a rescue dog, needing lots of training and TLC!  But one by one she nibbled her way through the lot.  My sofas are NAKED!  

But I have a plan!

I have put in a special request for a particular item for my birthday this year (can let you know if I get it or not in a couple of weeks) which will mean soft furnishings and Poppy can co-exist in the lounge. 

So here's my starting point:

Not v.inspiring I hear you cry!  

But I took inspiration from my love of log cabin, previous cushions I've made & this book ....

which has a lovely textured cushion featured.  

I particularly liked the corduroy element, and as I have lots of that gathered up (in the shape of trousers & skirts) that is going to be a common design feature running through the different cushions.

Here's what I've done so far:

Love the vintage-ness of this one.

Will have more to show you soon. 

2 Faced Cushion

You may remember last week I teased you with a glimpse of a work in progress ....

Well, this is what it turned into .........

This is an 18" cushion, called '2 Face' because you can display either the front or the back. 

The cushion filler was a little on the fat side, but you get the idea!

The technique for making this cushion is 'strip piecing', sewing the strips together, & using a template to cut out the triangular sections. 

The front piece is then quilted.  I simply quilted ascending squares working from the middle to the outer edges.

This is a great project for using different lengths & widths of scraps.

I designed this project for my Oasis class, which will start up again on Wednesday. 

Oasis is a local charity and they rely heavily on donations (monetry and fabric!).  We are usually working with scraps and recycled materials e.g. pillowcases, clothes etc. so the projects have to incorporate the fabrics we have available, along with techniques and skills that the ladies can learn and add to their growing talents.

Hopefully, in a few weeks time, I might have some pics of their versions of '2 Face'!

Rag Quilted Picnic Rug

I love rag quilting!  Even though it's messy (threads everywhere!) I love the end result when you pull it out of the tumbledryer and everything is fluffy and cuddly.

I'll be teaching this technique to my class in June so thought I'd better rustle one up for them to see.

Modelled by daugher no. 3

.... and daughter no. 2 + dog (with slipper!) gets in on the action!

This is a great method of quilting for those of you daunted by quilting larger pieces (like me!) as each of the 'bricks' get quilted separately and then joined together.

Eye Spy Progress!

I decided enough was enough!

It's time to make sense of the over-flowing basket of picture prints & get cutting.

I have a mixture of 4" squares and 3" squares.

And so to design & background/sashing:

Mmmm! Don't like the blue background - too insipid!

Liking the white better, but still not quite right!

I might try bordering the pictures with a contrasting fabric before adding sashing. 

More playing to do.  Will keep you posted.

Not the Yellow Brick Road!

Picnic Rug complete!

I made the binding extra wide using all the fabrics that are in the quilt front.

All we need now is some nice warm sunshine & a picnic basket full of goodies!

I'm thinking of making a stylish wee carry bag for my rug to use up the leftovers.  Watch this space!

I've linked this post to Lynne's blog of Lily's Quilts. She's got a new monthly feature where you link photos of your favourite/happy project of the past month.  Go check out what projects have been making other bloggers smile!

Dresden QAL Progress Report!

I was really happy with stage 1: Choosing fabrics & cutting out the blades:

Then came choosing the centre & outer fabrics.  Hmmmm, more difficult:

Too plain!

Too flat!

Not bad, but not quite!

Liking the red centre better, but not the plain background.

So there was nothing else for it - a trip to my local fabric shop was needed:

Aaah! Much better!

Close up of smaller polka dot in red centre.

Close up of patterned duck egg background, lovely!

Yes this is singing much sweeter for me now! 

Next stage is sewing it together.  Will let you know how that goes!!