Santa Claus is coming to town

I have to hold my hands up right now and confess, 95% of the decorating I do at Christmas is for me, not my children, not my visitors, but me. I love to create a winter wonderland and my discovery of the Tilda Dolls last year took this magic to a whole new level.

Last year I made a beautiful Tilda Santa complete with traditional red velvet coat and white fur trimming. He was a joy to make, but he seemed a bit lonely. So earlier this year I made a wonderful fur polar bear from the book Tildas Winter Delights, there are several sizes and I have already had demands for a tiny one from my girls. Then I found out that alongside the new Cottage Collection Tilda were releasing a Patchwork Santa Kit.



I couldn't resist, Patchwork AND Christmas all in one Santa? Yes please!

The kit comes with everything you need to make the Santa (except wadding and Stuffing, more on that in a minute). It has complete illustrated step by step instructions that cover the construction of the doll and the patchwork coat. You are of course free to make you own tweaks to the design and the kit comes with a generous amount of fabric so that you can add any extra accessories you may wish - miniature patchwork santa sack anyone?!



I found the doll pretty easy to make over a couple of days. There are a few fiddly tasks, like turning and stuffing the thin legs and arms, here I found the wooden stick provided in the kit very helpful. I also found holding the legs and arms in place whilst trying to sew them to the body a little awkward, but my Clover appliqué pins were very useful. Their tiny size means you can put a few in that you just wouldn't have room for with normal pins. I also found Gutermann Hand Quilting thread great for attaching the limbs, it has the extra strength you need to be able to put quite a lot of tension on the thread without breaking and attaches the limbs securely.



My previous Tilda doll had taught me that standard wadding like the kind I use in my quilts just won't work for the doll clothing. Despite being low loft quilters wadding it was just too dense and thick for the tiny seams and particularly the underarm area, causing puckering no matter how much clipping of the seam I did. This time I tried Vlieseline's Thin Fleece 248 which is an incredibly lightweight and low volume batting.



It was the perfect match! I am so glad I found this and I will certainly be using it for all my future Tilda Dolls, alongside the Deco-Wadding also from Vlieseline which is my absolute favourite doll stuffing. It is so fine you don't get the lumpiness you sometimes run the risk of with cheap poly stuffing.

 

Because the kit came with such a generous amount of fabric I was lucky enough with some savvy cutting to have quite a bit left. I couldn't resist using the leftover 'doll skin' fabric to make a couple of cute reindeer. I used the free pattern on the Tildas World Blog for the Tiny Egg Hares  and just added some little stick antlers. There is a pattern for large reindeer in the book Homemade and Happy but I think these tiny ones are adorable and will look wonderful tucked away around the house at Christmas.


I didn't make many changes to the original design of the Patchwork Santa, I just added a little bell on the end of his hat and some little bows on his socks/boots.




SaveSave

The Kit and fabrics used were supplied by Groves Ltd and stockist enquiries can be made by contacting them at groves@stockistenquiries.co.uk where they will be happy to assist you. The wide range of Vlieseline products can be found at Lady Sew and Sew.

I hope I have inspired you to have a go at doll making, after all they are not just for children, or indeed just for Christmas! When they are this beautiful you want to enjoy them year round and the fabulous kits mean you can have all the supplies you need in one easy purchase. In the mean time I am off to work on another Santa that I am part way through, this time he has a lot of intricate needle turn appliqué adorning his coat....I know, I'll be able to hold the Annual Tilda Santa convention soon ;-)

Fat Quarter Feature Pillowcase Tutorial

Yeahy! Finally a tutorial!

It felt so great this morning to carve out time to get this tutorial together for you. I have had the fabrics sitting waiting for what feels like a long time and with Halloween over and Christmas fast approaching I wanted these bad boys stitched up and on my bed!



This tutorial is based on the amazing cuffed pillowcase guest tutorial over on Bugs and Fishes by Susie of Flower Press - it is my go-to pillowcase tutorial, it is quick, simple and gives fantastic results and she even gives different sizes for different countries! You have to check it out.

My tutorial is an adaptation, out of necessity really, based on the fact that I really never have yardage in my stash, just fat quarters. So that meant I never had enough fabric for the dimensions of the pillowcase, yeah I have lots of sheeting perfect for the back but I want something really nice on the the front. So I altered the tutorial to make it fat quarter friendly, this way you can now show of those large print fq's you didn't want to cut up before, there is no wastage and you get a professional looking pillowcase too! I have also included so very helpful tips on what to do if you have directional fabrics and if you want to make a matching pair for a double bed so that they end up as opposites of each other which I think looks much nicer on the bed, I do love a bit of symmetry!

(I am working with a UK sized fat quarter cut of 20" x 22" aprox)

FQ Front 20" x 21"
Cuff 20" x 16"
Back 20" x 36 1/2"

Cut the three pieces, you many need to trim your fq to size and cut off the selvedges. If your fat quarter is slightly small and nearer 19" than 20" then simply adjust the measurement on the two other pieces to match, all that will happen is you will have a slightly snugger fit on your pillowcase.

Fold the cuff fabric in half along the length with the right sides facing out and press. Place the folded cuff onto the fq front piece on the right hand edge with the raw edges aligned and pin. Take care to have the fq facing the right way up if using a directional print, if making a pair for your bed then pin one cuff of the right and one on the left side.



Sew the seam using a 1/2" seam allowance and finish with a zig zag or overlocker. Press the cuff away from the front piece and topstitch 1/4" away from the seam on the cuff.



On your back piece turn one 20" edge over by 1/2" and press, then another 1/2" and press again. Top stitch to hold in place, this will be your edge on the flap. if you are using a directional print for the back you will need to turn the appropriate edge over - for the front with the cuff on the right you will need to press under and topstitch the left hand side of the backing (left hand side as you are looking at the fabric right way up) and for the front with the cuff on the left you will need to press under and topstitch the right hand side of the backing.



Lay your front down onto the backing, with the right sides facing and the cuff at the end with the flap edge you just stitched and align with the raw edges of the other unsewn end.



Now fold the excess backing over the front, you are aiming for a neat tight fold against the cuff.



Pin along the three raw edges and stitch the seam at 1/2".



Finish the seam using your preferred method.

Turn the right way out and enjoy!!

Last week in pictures

As promised here is the insane amount of sewing I got done last week!

Excuse the instagram photos (whoops, I forgot to mention, I fell for instagram! You can find me @lovestrawberrypatch)

From top to bottom there is:

1. Fractured Oakshott Finished
2. Christmas Table Runner Sample for Workshop finished
3. 2 patchwork chair pads for the girls made
4. EPP Rose Star Cushion made as sample in preparation for teaching epp class at LQS
5. Same cushion but used as a table mat/mini quilt
6. Liberty Mini Finished
7. Another rose star block made (that's 7 now)
8. Bruce the Buck phone case made
9. More + and x blocks made
10. Infinity scarf made from my Melody Miller I won from Kelly back in May (finally!)

I am embarrassed to say there was more but I just didn't take photos (these were bad enough, there are only so many naff pictures I want to clutter my blog with ;-)

This week seems to be heading the same way...I 'may' have just started a swoon quilt on a whim whilst Mary was here for a sewing day on Monday, ahem. Well I have finished a few wip's so I figured I was entitled to start another (technically two as I've been sewing up all of the hst cut offs to use at the same time).

I've just got the log burner fired up so I think a cuppa and a biscuit are in order before braving the Arctic conditions in the sewing room again!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Firstly apologies to Hadley, Katy and anyone else offended by the untimely arrival of this festive laden post!

But today I hosted/taught my first workshop at home in my small studio. 3 lovely ladies joined me to make a quilted advent calender. We laughed, sewed, ate home made cake, drank tea and talked and talked and talked!

I am quite exhausted but very contented after a blissful afternoon. It has confirmed what I already suspected, I love sewing and sharing my knowledge. Apparently it was quite obvious I have a passion for sewing, my ladies told me as much! I was so caught up in demonstrating, helping and explaining that I clean forgot to take any photos!

So you will have to make do with snaps of a couple of Christmas mini quilts I made this week to decorate the workshop and get it looking all festive to inspire the ladies.

Mini quilt inspired by this one here

I used the little scraps of Cherry Christmas sent to me by Kelly to make some little 1" hexies. I love this line so much and I know I need a charm pack just as soon as I can afford one. So pleased too to finally have some use for the cute little hanger I brought last year at my lqs. A bargain £1.50 I have been dying to use it ever since! I tried out a new stof linen that I brought a fq of this week, it is only £6.99 a meter at my lqs, another bargain!

As soon as I saw this mini quilt on pinterest I just had to make my own little one, it is adorable!

They are both at home in the studio, this is AFTER I de-cluttered ready for the workshop!

The girls are much better following their tummy bug and all should be back to normal next week, fingers crossed! My week was made a lot cheerier by the news that I had won a cute bundle of Christmas Fabric, from Jesse at Messy Jesse. Very timely too with all the projects I have been working on!

They are lovely, thanks Jesse! Expect more Christmas makes soon (Just waning ya!)

Jesse has just launched a fab new online shop, Sew and Quilt. 

She is selling lots of wonderful vintage fabrics, along with a lovely range of 1930's reproduction prints which can be hard to come by, along with favourites such as Sew Mama Sew, Liberty Bloomsbury Garden prints and lovely Scandinavian themed Christmas prints. I know that I will be adding to my Christmas bundle soon!

I'll be back in a day or two with a new project (as long as I get it finished tonight and I'm not too distracted by the gogglebox) and I promise it wont be a Christmas one!

Watch out, here comes the 'C' word....

yep.....Christmas!!!!!

I have been getting into the festive mood early this year, a couple of weeks ago a friend came over for a little workshop to make an advent calender. She had seen mine, made quite a few years ago, and fancied one for her own little family

I taught her how to cut her fabric, baste, free machine quilt and bind....all in a morning! She hadn't used a sewing machine since school. She was very happy and I was very relieved that it went well!

In fact she enjoyed herself so much she is coming back next weekend for another go and this time she is bringing other ladies with her! I decided I had better make another sample, something a bit more professional looking! The one above was made before I had 'learnt' how to free machine quilt or put on binding so it was all 'made-up' leaving the finish a little lacking.

This time I used a quilt as you go method and made little pockets for each day, I finally got to try out one of the fancy stitches on my new machine too. I just love the blanket stitch, I have always wanted a machine with this and I got a kick out of sewing on every single one of these 24 pockets, honest!!

I have yet to decide whether to add a pot to the bottom of this calender.

So mince pies, mulled wine and Michael Buble (just the CD, not the man unfortunately) on standby, we'll be pretending its Christmas next Saturday!

I am not really here!

Well, just for today I am as a wonderful friend has loaned me their laptop :-)

I should be back to normal in a few days when the laptop part arrives now that I have been able to order it, phew!

Despite being a little cut off interweb wise I am still reachable from the outside world and I had some lovely post yesterday from Kelly, she is awesome, I love her!

Lovely little piles of scraps from each of Aneela's range, now I am sure to be able to get my quilt finished along with the charm pack of Sew Stitchy on its way from the USA. Thank you SO much Kelly :-)

Speaking of which I guess the Aneela quilt was really my only WIP, I have managed to move it along a bit in the last few days

All of the embroidery blocks for the top row are now complete and I just have 5 sampler block to make and then sash everything. The pieces of paper are noting which blocks are going where, so far I have decided on a constellation star (seeing as the one I made Hadley went down so well!) a dresden plate and a wonky star 9 patch (from Shape workshop for quilters). I just have to come up with 2 more...that's the bit that is slowing me down!

I have also managed to add quite a few projects to my WIP whilst having all this internet free time on my hands!

I blame Lucy for this one! I have finally caved in a decided to start a rose star quilt, I held off for so long as I don't usually do long term project but I just couldn't resist any longer! I got one made yesterday, I adore it and there is even brown in it. Perhaps making Hadley's joke mini has done something terrible to me, eeek!

I was so excited by my rose star block that I went and pulled all my most precious fabric from my stash for the rest of the blocks. I seem to have a lack of aubergine/browny prints though and I need more text fabric on a creamy/snow background...if anyone can suggest any current lines that might help? I am not sure if the sweetwater print I used is still available.

I have also made a new block for the Liberty Mini, just two more to make, these will come when inspiration strikes! Thanks to Lolly for being my churn dash muse, I couldn't not make some little ones after seeing her Brit Bee blocks popping up everywhere!

Finally, I have been asked to make some Christmas stocking for a friend - 6 of them! I can't believe I am sewing for Christmas so early but it was fun choosing fabrics with her. We settled on these prints from Kate Spain's Joy line.

That's not including 2 lots of bee blocks also to do this month. All in all, a lot more going on than I usually like, being a virgo and all that (read neurotic about having half finished things laying about!). Lets hope that laptop part does take a few days to get here so I can get a head start!

Chocolates and tissues!

Phew, what a break I've had. Almost 2 weeks since I last blogged and practically as long since I last sat at the sewing machine. Christmas was lovely, so relaxing and peaceful, so nice to spend time settling into the new house.

The house looked beautiful with all its decorations, all warm and cosy. We barely left the house for a week except to walk the dog. Then new year arrived, along with the germs! It has worked its way through the children and then yesterday I was the next victim! I was so devastated. My darling husband spend the morning putting up new storage in the sewing room and no sooner had I unpacked and arranged and re-arranged my supplies than the runny nose and shivers started. No sewing for me :(

Today I managed to do a little sewing, but not much (I mostly ate chocolates!) and I used my extra spool holder on the machine to hold a toilet roll in case of cold related emergencies - no photo, sorry!

So without further ado, as greatly requested by my bloggy mate Cindy, here is my new sewing room. Before:

Not the best pictures, I kinda forgot to take photos before we started! Basically you get that it was a BIG room with not much furniture. I used an little folding table my MIL got me for craft fairs, it was rammed full with all my bits and they were not easy to get to or use. Also the table is only about 2 feet high so far too easy for little hands to get at.

That's better! We didn't decorate because a) I couldn't be bothered and b) there was nothing really wrong with the paintwork and magnolia works great if I decide to change the 'theme colours' in the room. Right now its a shabby chic kinda vibe because that's what I mostly had already. It was easier to add a few cheap shabby bits of furniture from the recycling centre for now to bulk my storage out.

The wall immediately behind the sewing machine (where you can just see my 'make do and mend' sign hanging) is going to be my design wall, eeeepppp! I cant believe my room is so big, I am mega lucky!

This is our favourite piece of furniture, I stole it for my room ha ha! Its a beautiful arts and crafts sideboard we picked up for a bargain price years ago and sitting on top is my wall unit I paid £20 for and restored. I just love that I have somewhere to display all my fq's. You can just see my little owls and bowl of selvedges. This is one of the little touches I've loved putting in. Ive always been 'squatting' and never really had my own room. It was so fun being able to make it stylish as well as purposeful!

This unit is my mega bargain! The base I picked up for £12 last week at the recycling centre, its missing its shelf but Hubby promises he will cut me one soon. I painted it cream as it was a rather dated 80's high gloss teak effect. The book shelving at the top is my display stand i made for taking to craft fairs. It is made from 4 pieces of old picket fence and 3 lengths of old skirting board. It cost nothing. I love it!

I am in love with this part of the room! This is an old coat rack I made for our first house together. It didn't have a home when we moved here because there were already big racks in the boot room. So, it was headed for the tip. But then yesterday I had a brainwave! OK so I don't really need storage for quilts I've made. And yes I did go around the house and steal them back just so I could hang them and look at them but why not?!

Doesn't it look cosy? The tree is now naked and waiting to be taken outside. I will miss it, having my own sewing room tree has made me feel very special indeed!

Another brainwave, again pulled out of the pile for the tip! This time a seagrass CD rack, turned on its side and hung on the wall. Now home to my jars of buttons. Hubby is going to cut the feet off the bottom (on the left hand side) but for now I've hung tote bags from their that I've made so they may stay!

The little 'shroom hooks below it were only £1.50 and my only purchase for the sewing room other than the bookcase, so in all I spent a grand £13.50! Meaning that money my husband said I could have to kit the room out at the end of the month isn't needed. I wonder if I can convince him to let me use if for fabric to full up the new storage?

I'll leave you with a pic of some of my handmade Christmas gifty makes, not all got photographed in the mad dash to unpack, sew, wrap and gift! I'll be back soon with all the details for my rainbow charm swap and hopefully my link-up to Rhondas 2012 finish-along.

Crazy Christmas Quilt

Not so called because its a crazy pattern, just because at 8pm last night I decided Christmas day just couldn't arrive without having decorated the bed!

Have I ever made anything bigger than a lap quilt? No. Have I ever managed to cut, piece, quilt and bind a quilt in 4 days? No. Do I still have a mountain of handmade presents to make? (and mostly before Friday as that's when they are being exchanged with visiting family). Yes. Did I let any of this hold me back? Oh no!!!

So at 8pm last night I madly started cutting, fortunately I had a head start as I already had a fair number of charms left from the Modern Christmas Swap I hosted. I added to this with fabric I have been hording for years, anything with a Christmas feel went in. I basically wanted to be able to put the quilt on our king size bed. I was rather daunted by making such a large quilt. So the finished article doesn't hang down the sides, I don't mind, after all it will only be used for a few weeks and is most likely to be dragged off the bed and spend half the holidays on the sofa with us!

Here is what I had by 9.30pm last night after an hour and a half of cutting. I then added some large 9.5" squares around the outside as it wasn't big enough for my liking.

By Midnight I had pieced the whole top, hurrah!

I dragged my reluctant daughter out of bed at 9am to dash straight off to the quilt shop for some batting and more red thread as I had run out. A quick trip Trago Mills (the local discount warehouse) and I had 2 yards of festive red fleece to back it with. I had wanted red flannel, I am crazy about flannel right now, but with the time available fleece will do. Then my cunning plan came together, baby girl was worn out from shopping so went for a nap, big girl was bored from shopping so went on the computer to play and I got down to basting and quilting.

Lots of piecing bits of batting together (to save money!) and piecing the back as 2 yards still wasn't quite enough and taaaaa dahhhhhhh........

It is quite possibly the worst quilting I have ever done but my most favourite quilt by far! I think just because I wanted to make it SOOO much! I had to unpick quite a lot of the quilting and man I hate un-picking :(

But I got there, by 3pm, just in time for photos before baby girl woke up. I am so lucky she loves her sleep!

It still needs binding, hey I'm no superwoman! But I have zig-zaged the edges so if time runs out it can still be used for now. Cue gratuitous farmhouse showing off Christmas quilt shots!

Sorry about the next one, I couldn't help myself! I've always dreamt of having a range in the kitchen so I had to show it off!

This next one is our Library! Big girl decided as soon as we realised we had a large upstairs landing it should be a quiet reading area. So now it is complete with sofa and a bookcase full of books. However, anyone has yet to sit there and read, we are all too busy! One day....

And finally, on my bed. I am so proud of myself. Hope you all like it too.

Merry Christmas everyone. I'm off to make more presents, wrap even more, cook dinner and cakes and turn myself into a goddess (pah!) for my Christmas girlie's dinner out tonight, all in the next hour and a half before hubby gets home! Wish me luck, I think I may have used up all my superpower making the quilt!