Pillows and pouches

It's no secret I love making bags and pouches, they are so much fun! I had this old hand embroidered linen table cloth. I think it comes from Eastern Europe and is embroidered in wool. I love the colours they used combined with the linen fabric. I decided to repurpose the tablecloth and have made some pillows and pouches.

I also made some other pouches with a mix of fabrics and trims, some are antique French and Italian, one is vintage and the other is vintage Japanese.

 

Some of mum's wonderful work

When visiting Australia I was so excited to see what mum has been working on. She loves antique Japanese fabrics, blue and white, Jude Hill, Junko Oki, Mandy Pattullo, sashiko, kantha quilts and many others. She has combined all of these wonderful sources of inspiration and come up with many gorgeous original pieces!

This is a detail of a wonderful throw she is working on. Millions and millions of stitches. All pieces are pinned in place and these held there with invisible stitches learnt from Jude Hill. Then rows and rows of embroidered straight lines which give such a grat textural feel to the piece.

Some panels for drawstring bags always done using a similar method.

I will be posting more of her work over the next few days!

Zakka style pot holders

I had an order for a set of pot holders and potmats (pictured below). I combined linens and cottons together, plaind, florals and checks. To finish off the pot holders I hand embroidered/quilted them.

 Of course I couldn't stop myself making a few different sets for my shop!

Growth chart for Duncan and Eli

I finished and sent off this growth chart last week. It's for two brothers Eli and Duncan. Duncan loves building trucks, construction etc and his much wanted something a little modern and not too babyish. The charts goes to 6ft so it will be in the boys room until they are older. The colours were her suggestion and I really love the way they turned out. I got to use some of my beautiful woven Japanese fabrics!

Zakka and French style pouches

Yesterday I manages to make a couple of sweet pouches. I used lovely japanese linen for the smaller ones and antique Italian linen for the larger one. I appliqued beautiful antique trim and doilies on them to finish them off! Then it was back to orders!!

Sweet zakka style pouches

Between orders I decided to make something different. These sweet little zakka style pouches are the result! I used pretty Japanese cotton fabrics and linen and finished them off with a little hand applique and embroidery. The trims are from my special stash of antique Italian and French trims (the pink I hand dyed) Lulu wants one so now I'll have to make some for her too!!

Sweet linen pouches

Here are some sweet linen pouches I made a couple of days ago. I used Japanese linen with pretty applique to embellish these. They have a zipper closure.Yes i've gone zipper made now that I've figured out a method that suits me!!!

Gadget sleeve with pocket Japanese linen

Well I've been quite productive over the weekend and had heaps of fun just making whatever came to mind! This is one of my creations - a lovely ipad/notebook sleeve made with Japanese linen. It also has a front pocket to keep a notepad and pen, very useful!!

Japanese fabric pouches

Some new pouches I made yesterday with a combination of Japanese fabric and linen. These pouches have a front pocket as well with appliqued antique trim.

Pouches pouches pouches

I now love making pouches!! Here are some new pouches I made with gorgeous Japanese linen. Some are just simple and some have a little hand embroidery. Now available in my shop

Sydney Craft and Quilt Far 2012

Today I went to the Sydney Craft and Quilt fair. It was really good as always with lots of things to buy. I came home with a bit of new fabric and a couple of patterns. I didn't go as crazy as I normally do but it was good to get some fabric from some of my favourite sellers.

The quilt show was also quite good. I took a few photos with my phone of some of my favourite quilts. Unfortunately not all the photos are in very good focus as I had to take them quickly before people walked in front. The photo below was probably the one that I liked the best. There are more photos of other quilts on Flickr.

 When I looked back at the quilts I took photos of, something became evident...... I really like applique quilts. Especially very colourful ones!!! Love the colours in the one below and the simple design.

I also bought this new pattern book by Anni Downes from Hatched and Patched. There is something in here that I want to make for Rach as I think that she will love it. Can you pick which one, Rach??

A Special Order

Here's another order I completed last week. I made another growth chart. My client wanted an apple tree, birds and a house so this is what I came up with. I really enjoy working on special requests as I get new ideas form them. I used linen and cotton fabrics, hand applique and embroidery to make this lovely heirloom.

  
For the same client I also made the three Christmas stockings below.

Finally she also requested a cushion slip with the Dome of Florence!

Sweet Pouch

I made this sweet little pouch today. I was very easy and fun to combine the colours. I was very pleased to do something new as I haven't had much time for new creating lately.

Japanese style embroidered tote

I have been so slack at posting lately I really need to catch up! I made this bag for my friend's aunt. it was an Easter gift! I used some beautiful hand dyed Indian fabric I bought in London. Then I appliqued different textured linens here and there. I then embroidered them with a simple running stitch totally inspired by the Zakka style. I finished off the bag with a hand made flower broach which can be removed.