Tutorials

Friday 22 October 2010

Baby Quilts

We have once again had several visitors; I only brought our latest guest to the airport yesterday evening. Therefore I haven't got much to show you in the quilt/craft department. So I thought I show you some quilts I've made a while ago.

This little quilt I made two years ago for my new niece. It was the first time I made Prairie Points and I think it gives the quilt a little more "dimension" and  little fingers have something to play with!



The pattern for this quilt I found here. It was featured as a mystery quilt. Each week the new instructions for the next step were posted. I really enjoyed making it this way, as it breaks the work down into small portions which were fast and easy to complete.


As I made it for another new baby I decided it needed something babyish so I embroidered the little horses in the corners. I used Sashiko thread for the quilting and I made rather large stitches.


Now I have a window of no house guests for about a month. I hope I'll be able to make the most of this time.

Have a happy day!
Vreni

Tuesday 12 October 2010

A new gadget

Do you like gadgets? I do, especially the quilty kind and I usually can't resit buying them when I come across a new one. They have not all been a success, some of them I have yet to try out.

Recently I found a new ruler called "Twister". Let me show you what I did with it:

First I cut 5 inch squares - I used some of the fabrics I dyed myself - and sewed them together first in rows then the rows into a rectangle. Then I sewed a border around it.

Next I cut the blocks with the help of the Twister aligning the printed lines with the seams.
Once all the blocks of the first row have been cut, I sewed them together before I started to cut the next row.
After all the blocks were cut and then sewn together again it looked like this:

Finally I've put a couple of borders around it and voilà! This little quilt top will go here where it will be quilted and then given to a local Orphanage.


On balance I like the Twister! It's easy and fun to use but you end up with quite a lot of little scraps, too small to use for anything else. But hey, there's no danger of me running out of fabric in the near future, is there? The Twister comes in two different sizes and is a product of CS designs www.country-schoolhouse.com.

Until next time, please take care!

Vreni

Saturday 9 October 2010

Boxes

Aside from quilting I like to make boxes and sometimes I combine the two. This box with the appliquéd lid I made for Jess of Scappy n'Happy  and she just emailed to let me know that it arrived in Australia. 








Here are a couple more examples of boxes with appliquéd lids (sorry for the quality of the photos).

 Tea Box
Small jewellery box

I've learned this craft from a friend a few years ago and during our time in Shanghai I taught weekly classes, mostly from home. I had a room set up just for that purpose, which was very handy.

Here are a few examples of boxes I or some of "my students" made.


I'm planning to put a tutorial together for the fabric covered box. Check back here in a little while. In the meantime have a happy weekend!

Vreni