Kids' Cupcakes

The boys and I had fun after school yesterday decorating cupcakes...

Some more of my cupcakes

I was doing a class with some of the 12 and 13 year old girls from my church, and we did cupcake decorating. These were my example ones.

My picnic blanket quilt

I wanted a little picnic blanket to use this summer, without too much white in it... disguise the dirt, chocolate cake, and orange juice etc...
I saw {this tutorial on YouTube} which shows how to make blocks of diagonal stripes, cut from a tube. It is so easy and quick, and there are loads of possibilities for the final design. This is my version this time round.

A new hobby!

I've had a bit of a craft clear-out, and sold some stuff on ebay, but now seem to be consumed with a mad urge to get into decorating cupcakes. I bought a few bits and bobs, and spent yesterday having a good play around... what fun!! (If the pink pattern looks familiar to any cardmakers out there, it's probably because I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to roll my icing over!)A card I made for a friend this week, based on a lovely one I saw on Lucy's Cards blog (Link is over on the right-hand side)A very quick card made this morning for my son's friend, using the wonderful Boys Will Be Boys Cricut Cartridge. I bought it not long ago, and am impressed with the simplicity of the designs, which are very easy to cut and layer up. It also came with this font, which I wasn't expecting.
One of the kids snapped this picture, this week... Harry junk modelling at one end of the table, and the starts of my new quilt. I'll post some pictures of it next week - I'm really chuffed with how you make the blocks - it is a very fast one!And finally... something which makes me smile every time I see it... I'd sent my old university friend a knitting book for her birthday, and this thank you note came in the post, with her first creation from the book attached to the front - my new little 'comb-over-man keyring'!! I love it!

Mini Quilt

A mini quilt I made recently for a friend.

I just discovered the blanket stitch on my sewing machine (which I did round the hearts), and I love it! I really should try out some more of the different stitches on my machine.

'Club Penguin' Cushion

Tom, our 8 year old is now the proud new owner of a Club Penguin cushion, which he designed, and I made this afternoon. He drew the design, based on one of the characters from his favourite computer game site, and I copied it exactly, appliqueing on the parts.

The back of the cushion is just some old curtain fabric, made into a simple overlap opening.

Finished 'Happy Houses' quilt top

This morning I'm doing fairly well - finished painting all the woodwork in my bedroom, and finished the quilt top of my Happy Houses quilt - all those little 2'' squares finally in one piece!
They didn't fit together 100% at the corners (a couple of the rows are narrower), but considering I did no measuring at all (except for the 2'' squares in the first place), I am really pleased with how the whole thing has gone together.
If you click on the pictures, you might be able to see the hand sewing round each of the doors and windows, and little buttons for door handles and apples... I had fun! I've got some of the same red fabric for binding the quilt with, but have no idea how I'm going to actually quilt it yet. Any ideas welcome!

A couple of cards

I made this card for my husband's birthday yesterday - the kids helped me choose the words to stamp on for each letter of his name!
Letters is also the theme for the week at Wednesday Stampers Challenge.

And a very quick one made this morning for my son's 5 year old friend.

A few bits...

I finished off the 4 strips of border for my Happy Houses quilt today. They looked lovely in the sunshine.I had a go at a new technique in my quilting class at church a couple of weeks ago, using a bias tape maker, and some narrow iron-on double sided sticky stuff. I ironed the tape onto a sheet of silicone paper, which overlay another sheet of paper with the pattern drawn on. When the whole pattern was ironed into shape, I transfered it onto the backing fabric, and hand-sewed round all the edges. This will be another square for my 'new techniques sample quilt'.How do you know when quilting has become a bit of an obsession? When you ask at the local Leisure Centre if you can cut a couple of pages out of one of their magazines...

(I was helping take my son's class swimming, at the time, and spotted these. The receptionist kindly lent me her scissors!)

And finally, I cleared out a cupboard at the weekend, and found my first ever attempt at quilting (it's hand quilted) - it's from years and years ago. The urge must have always been in my blood... lurking!

A border for my Happy Houses quilt

I've started making a wide border for my Happy House blocks (which are now all put together - and what a job that was!) The border consists of 2'' squares of all the fabrics used in the main quilt. I had a go at strip piecing for the first time - sewing long strips of 3 fabrics together, then cutting them down to 2.5'' wide, ready to join together into a border.

It does look very 'busy' here, but I think a solid red border in between the main houses piece and the patchwork border will help. Not sure yet what the binding will be.

I am impatient to see it finished! It will probably take a while, as I want to do some hand quilting around the house blocks in red, and add some applique flowers.

Fun, Fun, Fun Applique!

I ordered this book from Amazon, and love the simplicity of the applique in it! I copied the house design almost exactly, and it only took an hour or two the other night. (I still need to add some wadding to the back and quilt round the shapes in white stitches.) I love it though, and imagine I will be making more similar pictures in the future!

New Fabric (Eeeeek!!!)

A sunny day at home, with 3 out of 4 kids off school ill... and I have finally got round to photographing my new fabric! I made a good amount of money from selling some old craft stuff on eBay, and that combined with being my Christmas present from all my family meant I got to have the most wonderful fabric splurge!!

I bought everything from America, on Etsy.com

A Moda Layer Cake:

An assortment of fabrics I just fancied...
Some Japanese linen, and Cosmo Cricket,Ikea fabrics - the green spotty one I thought would be good for backing a quilt - a whole bed set for £1.99!, and my sister bought the heart quilt cover in a charity shop for me!Riley Blake Christmas fabric (I might get round to something before next Christmas)Lots of fabrics from the new Tanya Whelan range,Heather Bailey (I like this selection - fresher looking than her pink range, and without the spotty fabric in the range which I'm not as keen on.) Some more subdued Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley range,And lots of gorgeous classic Amy Butler... Now I just need some time to MAKE!!!!!

Christmas Day Sewing

My lovely parents-in-law bought me this book ('Sew Sunny Homestyle') for Christmas. I couldn't resist making this little sea horse on Christmas day...

Beautiful Books!!

Before Christmas I had a clear-out of some of my scrapbooking/rubber stamping stuff, and sold it on eBay. I figured I would rather have some new delicious sewing and quilting books, than a load of stuff sitting there that I hardly ever use any more. Amazon is by far and away the best place to buy books! I see books I like in local shops, then get them for at least half the price on Amazon.

Spring Birthday cards

Had a little card session the other night... getting ready for lots of birthdays coming up!