Lesson

It was of course Ayumi's idea to make a set of coasters for Suzuko Koseki,  18 crafters each making a coaster, from 8 different countries.  It was like this last time you saw it but I completed it over Christmas.

It was backed, quilted and bound when I noticed a tiny mark.  I dampened it, added a tiny rub of Vanish, rinsed it and patted it dry.  When I came back to it the next day I could see a reddish glow in the corner.  

You can see a bit of the bleed, difficult to catch as the flash bleaches the colour but around the red loops and seeping into the binding is a distinct tinge of scarlet and this item is going to a fabric designer for whom I have huge admiration, I can't send her a substandard piece, even if it is her own fabric range at fault.  This, one of my favourite fabrics of all time, is the culprit.   It saddens me because I love it so much. Last night I washed each fabric I had used to make the original coaster and this one bleeds red dye and not just a little.  

Last night I remade the same thing all over again thinking there would be a post today and it would be shut Monday for bank holiday.  Post Office is shut both days as it turns out but still plenty of time to get to Japan.  Remaking was not what I had planned but time is running out for this and of course it cmae out better even if i did struggle to remember all that I did on the first one.  My original idea was a vintage type writer key but as I chose red and white it also echoes the Japanese flag.  The tiny bell is a sort of Suzuko Koseki trademark- Suzuko translates as 'bell'.  All the fabrics are by Suzuko Koseki.

A different back to the first coaster which had a vintage fabric backing but maybe this is better. I like the Made in England reference and there are a lot of button prints on the other coasters so it helps to have a family resemblance.  Check them out, they are going to make the most beautiful gift and each makes me smile at how it reflects creator's style. 

 

 I did work out some helpful hints to sew a really neat single binding for items like this so I'll put a tutorial up soon- great for mini quilts and mug rugs too.

I  am all for learning from my mistakes but it as a monumental pain in the backside.  I hate prewashing but I am going to wash all my unchecked reds with colour catcher sheets.  Lesson learnt.

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

My new year's eve is spent sewing, not by choice but by error.  All I can say is prewash your new fabrics- I rarely do and it has caught up with me, I have been a naughty girl and learnt my lesson the hard way.

I wave goodbye to my favourite makes of 2010- it is the top left project that has given me a whole evening of trouble, dereliction of my duties as a partner and mother etc......

1. Suzuko Koseki coaster- start, 2. Peg Bag, 3. Kathy's Mug Rug, 4. Sleeping Beauty Pillow/Cushion, 5.Texty graphics Pillow/Cushion , 6. Traveling wallet, 7. Tree Forest Quilt Block, 8. Lavender bag for Ingrid, 9. Man mug rug Front, 10. Starbright pot holder/mug rug back, 11. Mug rug, 12. Slice of pie block, 13. Little Red Riding Hood gathering apples, 14. Vintage Spools Block for me!, 15. pot holder cut out, 16. teeny pincushion, 17. Apple Coasters, 18. True Colors Mini quilt, 19. Pincushion caddy, 20. dog pin cut out ready, 21. Pochee 7 Tunic in AMH Little Folks voile fabric, 22. Pochee Linen Saddle Bag- front, 23. P1050521, 24. Phone Cozy Cover- linen, miniature log cabin patchwork, 25. Kathy's Purse

Say hello to 2011- maybe a retro song to welcome it in?  Nothing like a bit of vintage, trends may come and go and I don't really care, I will always be a vintage girl- Happy New Year x  

Pillow Presents

Now all the recipients have their presents I can show you what I made, starting with cushions/pillows.  This one is for my brother.  There are lots of little clues for him in the fabric . Iconic brands- he is a graphic designer, Peanuts Dr fabric- he has had a lot of  trips for allergies this year but is all sorted now

ironic references to coolness- he lives in London

random words and mispelt Japanese London fabric

Food and lego- a fine combination!

Something a bit calmer for my sister, she is a poor sleeper so this is a intended as an aid, a balm to sleepness nights.  The fabrics relate to the forest surrounding sleeping beauty so a bit of Joel Dewberry Herringbone  Modern Meadow , some dandelion clock seeds from V and A, a bit of vintage orange, some Lecien Folklore tucked away in the meadow and Suzuko Koseki at the very edge.

I stamped the linen and heat set it with an iron- the hush label came from a scarf.

 Sweet dreams...

And the tiniest was a little mini log cabin lavender bag for my swap with Ingrid, I thought she would like the little bird and its fruity garden.

I hope you had the best time you could have over Christmas.  Some of my lovely goodies below...

The bag was from Damian and custom made by the very talented Mia.  The fox reminds me of Lottie and the whole bag makes me smile.  She even included a little foxy keyring.  Mia sent me the beautiful Snowman coaster/mug rug as a pressie too as a thank you for taking part in her advent blog makes- she is such a sweetie x

This little bundle is from Lula- she knows me too well.  The compass and protractor are because I am always cadging these things off her when I am in the middle of a quilting sewing idea.  A compass with its own pencil leads- I love precision stationery!  Ayumi knows this too- she sent me a surprise gift which just reached me just in time to go under the tree.  Cooking cute writing stuff and an amazing Martha Stewart stamp set with loads of letters and gridded mounts, circle ones too- stamping and typography heaven.  I have so many plans for this, she is so generous x 

Our Christmas day was good but lots of family and extended family is a bit exhausting and I feel a little haunted by the ghosts of not so good Christmas' past so I am often a little tense.  We still had snow which made for a beautiful post lunch dog walk.

Boxing day was wonderful, just me, D, Lula, my brother and mum.  I do the food and drinks- soup, bread, crisps,olives, rocky road, fruit cake plus cocktails and juice.  Eating, drinking and playing board games- 221b Baker Street .  Have you played it?  A great game for adults and older children- relaxing, thoughtful, quiet and funny- although that could've been the participants...

Shortest day, last quilt of 2010

 Love hate love hate love love love ♥ ♥ ♥

 - is how my relationship with this quilt has been-finally finished, hurrah!  And I admit to being very pleased with it, although not as pleased as Lula is which the best thing as it is for her.  She refused to let me drape it artfully over a snowy fence, that can wait for another time, so bedroom pics for the moment.  

The germ of this quilt started last year when Manda McGregory included a little Urban Chiks Swell Moda charm pack baby quilt in an early edition of Sewhip, and I bought the charm packs and a jelly roll from USA after searching for them feverishly online.  I mixed with a little Cath Kidston, Katie Jump Rope, Old Laura Ashley fabrics (the Cath Kidston figure of  1970s and 1980s), vintage prints and the placement of large applique motifs inspired by this quilt (Material Obsession)

Lula chose her favourite themes- ice cream, cup cake etc and I made these the feature blocks.  She helped me layout the charm squares to avoid repetition.  The quilt was made in six sections, each is quilted and then joined to the next section with narrow strips- quilt-as-you-go style.  This Happy Zombie tutorial shows the technique but I machined instead of hand sewing when finshing the back strips.  The binding- attaching this was driving me nuts this morning, it took forever- is pieced red and pink strips from the jelly roll.  I use Rita- Red Pepper Quilts machine binding method but I start attaching on the back and so my final line of stitching on the front.

You can see her pillow case and a bit of wall paper- both Cath Kidston, that the same print is repeated in the quilt here and there.

Each time I embark on a quilt I forget how long it takes me to finish one, I refilled the bobbin four times this morning.

Quick view of the back- not too exciting, all old Laura Ashley prints, the largest part form an enormous circular table cloth I picked up at the boot sale.  

A little stamped label.  I asked if she would prefer 'Mum' or 'Mummy'- you can see her choice x

You can see another proud mummy quilt at Leila's blog Where the Orchid's Grow.  She beat me and finished yesterday!  It made me laugh when I saw her pic, I felt the same need to get mine done for Christmas, and the extra cold weather driving me on.  I made 4 quilts this year, it seems paltry compared to some amazing mosaics I've seen recently but I made a whole load of smaller stuff and each quilt is a labour of love and a labour of plain old hard work.

1. D quilt, 2. Quilt for Lula, 3. I have heard the mermaids... baby quilt, 4. Moda Nest Quilt

I love making clothes and small stuff but the quilting is intensely rewarding, especially when finished!   My next biggish project- a baby quilt for a friend- baby due Feb.

 This is my last entry before Christmas so a vintage pic of seasonal good wishes on the shortest day of the year and a big thank you to all of you who read,  comment and email- I am truly touched when you do so!

Have a lovely Christmas, wherever you are and however you choose to celebrate x

Gifts

The view at 8.00am, wonderful light.

I am lucky, I have had some lovely packages through the post, all as a result of blogging and Flickr friendships.  Sardaana from Austria offered a swap- I sent her some Suzuko Koseki 'recommended' fabrics and some Cath Kidston prints plus extras (can't show as my parcel to her has yet to get to her) and she sent me Lecien Kitchen prints- I have this in turquoise already, one of my favs- and Suzuko Koseki buttons print.  Thank you Sardaana xxx. She also added a tiny bias tape maker, nice little gadget- I am going to try this later.  Sardaana has the most beautiful shop in Salzburg which I just know I will get to visit one day.  

Ingrid of Ingthings sent me a surprise swap- I have sent hers, again postal service has slowed to a grind here, I hope it gets to her soon.  She sent me these vintage goodies.

The crane, starts and winter card are already on our tree.  And she included these wonderful fabrics and textiles too, wonderful, thank you lovely and always generous Ingrid x

 I won a little giveaway a couple of weeks again and it arrived yesterday, a cute little selvedge star decoration.  Thankyou x to Diane and Nancy- check out Nancy's etsy shop here.

And amidst making family Christmas gifts too secret to show to spying family eyes, I am making a coaster for Suzuko Koseki as part of Ayumi's generous idea, 18 crafers from 8 different countries, 18 coasters.  This was inspired by vintage type writer keys, paper pieced- it needs a square background and quilting so a way to go yet.   At the moment less than 4 inches across to give a bit of scale.  Check out the others here, inspiring stuff!  Thanks to Ayumi too, I have added a great little device to make blog entries print friendly, very useful for tutorials- click here to add it to your website/blog.

Old and New

I haven't posted much vintage stuff recently and I have been bringing out a few favourites for Christmas so I thought I would share.   I have liked old stuff since I was little.  I remember going to what were then called flea markets.  The name perplexed me even then, I do remember wondering if some of the stuff had fleas as the venues and some of the stock were dark and dingy places.  But, there was always the chance of finding treasure.  These trips were from the age of 8 or 9 with my dad.  He was a frequenter of junk and charity shops, partly because he is a cheapskate and partly because he is a collector too, it must be genetic.  Vintage style wasn't the rage in the late 1970s and if your clothes came from a charity shop you kept that very much to yourself.   I used to ache for the old china faced dolls but they were way out the range of my pocket money.  

I did buy this back then for pennies.  It usually stores precious little paper memories- a select bunch of old tickets and cards but the robin lends itself to Christmas.  

This book is a little ex school (Oliver and Boyd) book.  It has the most wonderful simple pictures so it always comes out at Christmas to rest on my cluttered shelves

I have a lot of cookie cutters around as well, they make easy decorations.  I love the stars in the pic below surrounded by circles, and Mary with her blanket.

I don't just bring out the old.  This book is new, great title, just on the right side of a pun.  It is from one of my music class mums who has known me a long time!  Thank you to Ma x x  If you are a knitter it is worth buying, it has funny and creative ideas and it uses the characters to tell the story too, very cute.

And to offset the drama of X factor and over sentimentalised  singing, take a look at this version of Your Song from Green Wing, thanks Kathy who reminded me of this, it gets me everytime :D