Kantha goings on!

Before I went away I made a lot of kantha pillows which I never blogged. Terrible I know! Here they are finally, I just love them. Most are already sold but I do have some more in the works!

Custom order gifts

A while back I made several custom orders for different clients, like name pillows.

For Hugo and Holly a sweet unisex Toothfairy Pillow. I love the way this one turned out. To order yours go here to my shop.

For a friend’s daughter’s communion a lovely pillow for her bed. I made two so one is in my shop!

Some Exciting News......

Rachel and I were extremely excited to receive the July 2015 issue of Homespun magazine. We knew that we had another project in the issue but had no idea that we would be on the cover..... so exciting!!!

How cute is the cover??? Homespun always do such a great job. Our challenge was to make Christmas chair covers that looked like presents. We made two each plus four gift tags. Three of the tags are on the cover. 

 We think the project looked good in the end. It was a bit of a challenge thinking of how to make the bows look good and still make the project, easy enough to follow. The magazine came out this week in Australia and also comes as a digital copy from Zinio.

Gifts for the teachers

This year I was asked to make the end of year gifts for Lulu’s teacher. It was such an honour and pleasure to do this. The other mummies chose fabric storage baskets. I decided to keep them quite neutral (linens) so that way they could fit in most homes. 

To make the baskets I took my linen and antique hemp scraps ( I have a lot of these!) and I sewed them together using the ‘quilt as you go method’. I then I appliqued a vintage doily to each and made up the baskets. 

For their teacher who retired but still comes to school to do creative workshops I made these gorgeous lavender sachets.

To complete the gift I made personalised gift tags with appliqued bits and pieces and embroidery. On the reverse side I embroidered each teacher’s name and ‘class 4A 2015’ so they will always remember our kids!

Wonderful Cathy Trolli!

I commissioned these protraits from Cathy Trolli a wonderful Italian artist. They were a Christmas gift for some very special friends. I have ordered many portraits from Cathy, I just love the way she interprets and captures each child's spirit! The fabulous thing is she works from photos so there's no long session sitting and posing for the portrait! The photos must not have any direct sunlight on them nor strong shadows and can be emailed to Cathy here ( cathymaggio72@hotmail.it ) for a quote! Her prices are very good so don't be afraid to ask!

The latest portraits I commissioned

Framed and in their new home! 

A work in progress by Cathy so you can see how the photo is interpreted and transformed!

You might remember Lulu's stunning portrait!

Growth charts for the boys

I just completed these 4 growth charts all heading off to new homes. I really love the way they turned out. My client requested animals to represent the Chinese zodiabc for each family member. Such a fun thing to do! Now onto the next set of charts!

Kantha love continues!

My love of vintage kantha quilts grows and grows. I think they are wonderful full of history and love, pain stakingly hand quilted! I have many quilts and some of them I love to use to create new useful items. I recently made these bags which I’m thrilled about.

The first is a shoulder bag, great to use as a market bag, book bag, tote, sewing bag and so on. It’s completely reversible with no exposed seams. Both sides are shown here. Available in my shop here.

The second is a shoulder bag with zipper closure. Great to use as a handbags, knottin bag, sewing bag, diaper bag or even as a small overnight bag. Available in my shop here.

 I also recently made some reversible cushion slips with zipper closures. Both sides are photographed. I need some for my couch, they are so comfy! Available in my shop here and here.

In the pond quilt!

A lovely quilt made for a little boy Enea. Pattern is my own. All applique is by hand except for the lettering and the quilt is hand quilted. I really love the way the colours and pattern turned out!

Lots of lovelies!

Here are some lovelies made this year so far!

Some softies!

Cushions

And not to be left out growth charts!

Gambettola antique market

Saturday was a great day, gambettola antique market was on. So exciting as it's only on twice a year and all the streets are filled with wonderful stalls. I took a few photos of one of my favourite stalls and of course my little stash! 

My Gambettola stash! So many great deals to be had! Gorgeous handwoven antique hemp and linens to be had for fab prices. I bought a few little goodies for Lulu too as she really wanted to come but I didn't let her as there were 4 of us and we walk for hours and hours! Way too much for a 9 year old! She was happy with her pressies - the 2 tins (now filled with her ever growing stash), some trims and doilies.

Lulu was instantly inspired by the vintage embroidered tablecloth, here is a photo of her working on a vintage style embroidery - all her own design. Such a proud mummy!

 My favourite stall, besides of course the ones selling fabrics and trims!