Shop update and new patterns

Today it's cold and wet! The perfect day to stay indoors and catch up on incomplete projects! I certainly have a lot of those lying around!!!

This week I finished up several journals, most of which have already sold! 

This one is still available in my shop here, and is super pretty!

In the works have been some Easter totes as well. Those are never missing in action! I also have a pattern for them (here) if you prefer to make them yourself!

Most exciting is I've finished two new patterns. I've been planning on making these for some time now and have finally sat down to write them! These new patterns are very detailed and I've used a lot of photos to help with explanations which makes life so much easier than trying to visualise just words!

The first is my 'Lulu Bear' pattern (here), named after my daughter as she helped me design it when she was 7 years old! This is especially sweet as it was developed through a child's eyes!

The second pattern I've completed, I was asked to do about 7 months ago! Didn't that take me a long time to tackle!!! It's for a lovely pouch I've been making for a number of years now. It's very sweet and definitely a crowd pleaser! I've named it the 'Sydney Pouch' don't ask me why, just because! It's available here.

I have some new patterns in the works, let's hope they don't take another 7 months to complete!

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Thanks so much! Hope you're having a lovely day!!!

Quilting and embroidery tutorial

Today I'm thrilled to post my first ever tutorial! I've been wanting to do one of these for a long time now and have finally taken the plunge with this one! Hopefully there will be many more to come!!!

It's a very simple tutorial using one my fabric kits recently listed in my shop (here). I thought it would be cool to give some ideas as to what to do with it! So here goes!

In the kit you will find:
- one larger piece, beige with white spots
- around 15 scrap pieces 
- felt bunny cut out (it's been handcut not with a diecut)
- 5 handcut felt flowers

You will need:
- batting (optional)
- co-ordinating cotton fabric if you want to line your end product and/or add handles
- zipper if you want to make a zipper pouch or small bag 
- embroidery floss in various colours
- off white cotton thread
- pins and embroidery needles
- scissors + usual sewing notions
- sewing machine

How to:

Cut a piece of batting to your desired size. Mine measured approximately 26cm x 17.5cm (10'' x 7'').
Choose what fabrics you would like to use and randomly lay them on one piece of batting.

Pin or baste in place:

For your backing piece - or prepare a second one in the same way you did the first or take a larger piece and place a few fabrics as I did.

Machine quilt both pieces. I did this randomly, I didn't draw any lines I just went along randomly with the machine in rows. Be careful to catch the edges of the fabrics so they don't lift.

The front and back will look like this:

Place the felt bunny on your front piece and applique it with small stitches using a same colour cotton thread:

Place the felt flowers and put a small stitch with cotton thread to hold them:

Embroidery- center of the flowers : 4 strands of DMC moline thread , French knot. The leaves are single daisy stitches here and there. Please note I didn't draw my embroidery on, I just placed the stitches randomly.
Tail : stem is backstitch, leaves are single daisy stitches, berries French knots.

I made my little project into a zipper pouch, which I love, love, love!

I haven't included the making up of the pouch on the tutorial as the kit could be adpted to so many different projects. 

You could also make it into many other items, here are some ideas:
- fabric basket
- easter egg hunt basket/tote (I have a pattern here to which this kit could be adapted)
- sweet little wall art
- book cover

And the list goes on! 

Thank you so much for reading!
 
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Bunny pillow pattern

My new bunny pillow pdf pattern is here! It's super cute and easy to make!

A wonderful gift for a new born, birthday or even make them as Easter gifts. Rather than 'bon nuit' you could stamp or embroider the child's name to make it a more personal gift.

I made them in soft pretty colours but they also look fabulous in bright, cheery colours! To adapt the pattern for a boy applique stars rather than flowers!

The pattern can be enlarged to make a larger pillow or reduced to make a smaller bunny, fill it with lavender! It could also be appliqued onto a quilt or bag. It's such a versatile pattern!

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Easter Craft Time at Vacation Camp

So here they are Rach... the Easter crafts that I did with the kids at camp. They absolutely loved the activities.... especially the bell jars. The idea came from the magazine that is here.

Here were my samples....

 

Here are some of the kids creations whose ages ranged from 4 to 9 years old.

Another activity was Easter toilet roll characters. Here are my samples......

Some of my ideas came from chicken (here), bunny (here) and Shaun the Sheep (here).

My son started by making a Darth Vader Bunny then just made Star Wars characters- Kit Fisco, Darth Vader, Yoda, Darth Maul and General Grievous.

It seemed to catch on with the boys and there were pipe cleaners Light Sabers galore!!! So cute as some of these were made by 4 & 5 years olds. I also love the Shaun the Sheep that one of the kids made with a massive head!!

They also made lots of Easter baskets made out of a paper plate. I didn't get photos of them as the kids were off doing an Easter Egg hunt while I was photographing the rest. Here is my sample and the idea came from here......

Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter to all. I hope everyone is have a lovely day with the family. Unfortunately my family is far away in Oz but I have Lulu and Stef here to celebrate with me! 

Last Sunday Lulu had a very creative day as mentioned previously. This was her afternoon project - little Easter 'globes'. We got ourselves in such a mess with things everywhere but it was a fun mess. 

Lulu placed things where she wanted them and I glued them in place with the hot glue gun. Three globes were given to her teachers with yummy cocnut and strawberry Lindt eggs!

Here you can see them better!

Bunny love

Believe it or not it's not far off until Easter is upon us! I've made quite a few sweet little Easter totes and some sweet little vintage embroidered bunnies. At the moment I have so little time for making new items for my shop. I wish there were more hours in a day!!! These are available in my shop