Scrappy Cushion Makeover

I made a scrappy patchwork cushion a few years back, and to say that it’s been “well loved” is an understatement. We have A LOT of cushions living on the lounge, but this one is my daughters favourite. As a result, after years of being sat on, nestled into, and plumped up to within an inch of it’s life, it had begun to look a little worse for wear.

Here it is back in it’s hey-day, all sparkly, shiny and new.




The insert was flat. The cushion was big and floppy and grubby and generally looking old and tired. I was itching to be rid of it and make a new one (being that I am a cushion addict and all), but little miss wasn’t going to have a bar of it. She even gave me a pout and puppy dog eyes when I threatened to throw it out on the next bin collection day.

So yesterday, I setabout giving the old scrappy cushion a make over.

It had an envelope style back, so I got my seam ripper out and removed the back completely. I set about making it a more sturdy cushion by adding another layer of batting to the back (of the front) and quilted it quite heavily with unmeasured straight lines.

The Harper Quilt

A new baby means a new quilt, right? A friend of mine had a baby a couple of weeks ago and on the weekend, I finally met her adorable little lady, Harper. She’s such a beautiful little red head with fair skin and the most calm nature.

I got my fill of baby cuddles and admittedly have a few little clucky moments… which soon passed when it was time to change the nappy. Funny that.

As a quilter, a new baby is always the perfect excuse to make a quilt. I’ve called this the Harper Quilt because it is honestly one of a kind. I kind of made it up as I went along.

The ‘butterfly’ blocks were made from a layer cake of Ticklish (?) by Me & My Sister Designs. I discovered the original tutorial for this block on the Quiltmaker Block Network. It’s a block by Darlene Zimmerman called Sew Easy Butterflies and the video can be found HERE.

I made the Dresden flowers with scraps from my ever expanding scrap tub. The ‘Sweet’ applique was just created with Microsoft office. The font was enlarged, printed and then transferred onto some fusible paper and then the fabric.

I quilted it with a loopy design all around. A little bit of extra attention was paid to the quilting detail on the Dresden flower, stem and leaves. Hot pink and white binding finished it off.

I love how this quilt turned out and I hope that it gets very well loved by it’s little owner as she grows up. A loved quilt is one of those that gets dragged to tea parties, teddy bear picnics and snuggled with often.

Mini Quilts {Book Review}

Mini Quilts(fresh, fun patterns to quilt in a snap) is a book by Jodie Davis and Jayne Davis. As Jodie says in her introduction, mini quilts may be small, but they have big personalities. As many of us know, one mini quilt quickly turns into a large collection and making them is rather addictive.

Most of the techniques in Mini Quilts are designed for those with basic sewing skills. Each project is assigned a skill level, so a new sewist is able to begin with the easy patterns and work their way through to the more advanced projects.

After going through all of the sewing and quilting basics, we come to the projects. 20 delightful, 16-inch square quilt patterns. Each pattern presents step-by-step instructions for all sorts of different techniques including hand-tying, precision piecing, applique, curved piecing and more.

The last few projects in Mini Quilts actually show how to use the techniques used previously to create other projects including a bag, table runner, pillow and a quilt.

Mini Quilts is a lovely book and a great resource for learning lot’s of new techniques. Even the more experienced quilters will discover something new to practise and perfect in this book.
Mini Quilts is published by Taunton Press and available in Australia from Booktopia or Can Do Books.

ISBN: 9781621137962 - Format: Paperback - Number Of Pages: 160

* Mini Quilts by Jodie Davis and Jayne Davis is available internationally through Amazon.


Jodie Davis spreads the joy of quilting via her 30+ books and online quilting TV network QNNtv.com (where she produces and hosts classes and series).

*Affiliate Link

Zipper Pouches

Sometimes, inspiration comes at the oddest moments. My daughter and I were going through my old make up box – throwing out old mascaras, bottles of foundation and nail polish bottles which no longer open. She is a girl who loves those Bonne Belle Lip Smackers so I gave her a few shimmery lip glosses to add to her collection.

We decided to see how many she had so we searched her bedroom and bathroom and came up over a dozen… which is a lot, considering she’s only 7. She didn’t have a good place to store them so they stayed together, so we decided to make a little Lip Gloss Zipper Pouch.

 

 

 

Hello Kitty fabric plus a pink lace zipper were the perfect combination for our lip gloss project. The Hello Kitty fabric is from Modes 4 U and if you love cute fabrics, you must pop on over to have a look. They have have huge selection of Hello Kitty fabrics so choosing can prove to be a little tricky.

To make this box pouch, I asked my Instragram friends how they go about sewing on a lace zipper. I’d bought a 3-pack recently, but had no idea how to actually sew them on. They pointed me in the right direction and I discovered some really great tutorials, including this one from For My Little Monsters.

In the end, I decided to use an exposed lace zip, box pouch tutorial from The Eternal Maker.

 

All you need is (2) 8” x 6” outer fabric, (2) 8” x 6” lining fabric and (2) 8” x 6” stabiliser (I used fusible pellon)… oh and of course the lace zip.

Admittedly, the lace zip was a little tricky to attach, but with a little perseverance, it worked in the end.

 

 

I was lucky to get a few photos, before it was swept away in squeals, to be filled with lip glosses.

 

 

So the story continues… not content with only one pouch, I decided to make another one. This one was to be for me and for my stitching bits and pieces. I love hand work and decided to make a little pouch to keep all of the aurifil spools which I am currently using, all together. I have a big box of them, but really don’t need to cart the whole thing around all of the time.

 

 

I followed the same basic instructions, but pieced some coordinating fabrics together for a slightly different look.

 

 

Again, this cute bunny & squirrel fabric is from Modes 4 U. I love the colour combination of orange, grey and light blue.

The top (2) bunny pieces measure 3” x 8.5” and the bottom orange piece measure 5.5” x 8.5”.

I fused the pellon to the back of the outer fabrics which gives this little pouch more stability. When I cut out my inner corners to make the “boxy” shape, I cut 3/4” so it’s not as tall as the Hello Kitty Lip Gloss Pouch.

 

 

Is my zipper pouch addiction over yet? Hmmm…. I don’t think so. I have a big basket of zippers which need using ;-)

Do you love making zipper pouches?

What are your thoughts of sewing zips? Do they freak you out a little bit?

Strawberry Stitches Pincushion {Tutorial}

We all need a 2.5” strawberry stitched pincushion in our lives, right?

Would you like to make a Strawberry Stitches Pincushion, just like mine?
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