Completing Works in Progress

I  can't believe it's been a whole week since I last posted on this blog. I  feel like so much has happened and that I should have been blogging about it. Obviously I  have not.

This morning I  took the completed patchwork cushions to the Emporia Market Pop Up shop at 1 Bank St, Ashford. Over the we I had attached buttons. In order to do this easily I had bought home the Brother  Innov-is 10a sewing machine home from work. It has a 1 step button hole and a foot for sewing on buttons. It's much easier to use than the simple Singer sewing machine we have at home. The patchwork cushions are £20 each.

Over the weekend I searched through the built in cupboard in my bedroom. I turned it into a storage cupboard for all my cross stitch stuff when we first moved into the house. Cross stitch was my first real love in the world of crafting. I've been doing it for the past 25 years or so. In the cupboard was a completed cross stitch. It was a Margaret Sherry cat design from a  calendar. I remember stitching it about 5 years ago. I hadn't done anything with it afterwards.

As I'm on a cushion making fever at the moment and it's a square design, I want to turn it into a cushion. I didn't have any money to buy fabric to go with the design. But today was payday, and as I  was at the pop up shop, I went and rummaged around the fabric and fat quarters at Emporia Fabric and Crafts and I found exactly what I was looking for. The cat is black, white and grey on an orange background. The selection of fat quarters are grey and orange and work with the colours in the image. I'm looking forward to making a cushion out of all of this.

Creative sewing weekend

On Saturday I completed my first stint at the Emporia Crafts and Vintage Markets Pop Up shop.  I spent the remainder of my spare time stitching away and I made 2 simply crazy patchwork cushions and with some of the scraps I made 3 pin cushions.  I mentioned all of this in my blog post yesterday but I hadn't got any good photos.

Today I finally managed to get my new replacement Motorola Moto G working and managed to take a reasonable photograph consider its dark and I had artificial lights.  I think the phones camera did well, much better than the camera on my Tesco Hudl and my digital camera.

These are the 2 cushions and 3 pin cushions I made.  I really need some pin cushions as the only pin cushions I have are the one in my sewing box and the foam on top of my pack of pins which is now very disintegrated.  I explained on yesterday blogs where I got the pattern from.

At the start of the month I went into Hobbycraft in Maidstone and purchased way more stuff than I had intended.  As part of this stash I had purchased 3 packs of fat quarters which were reduced to less than half price.  These fat quarters were

This is the Visage Textiles Fat Quarters Pastel Patchwork pack of 6.  I have made one cushion and 2 pin cushions from this pack and still have plenty left.  This has created my favourite of the crazy patchwork cushions I have made.  The next pack of fat quarters I purchased was the Visage Textiles Fat Quarters Honesty 6 pack.

I have made one cushion and one pin cushion from this pack.  When I was at the patchwork class last week the instructor talked about having fabrics that blend and you can't see the patchwork effect too well.  I didn't understand what she was saying as I was looking at fabric choice in the same way you choose papers for card making and scrap booking. Whilst I like the colours of the fabrics in the pack I now understand what she means about blending.  The different sections don't stand out in the way the Pastel Patchwork.  When I first bought this pack I thought the fabric would make really good dolls dresses, but instead of making dolls clothes I made a cushion.  I do like the colours in this pack and I am sure the rest of you will do too.

The final pack of fat quarters I purchased were Hobbycraft Medow Craft six pack.  These are a nice mix if  blues and greens which work with the blues and greens in my bedroom.  

I used these fabrics in my first attempt at the simply crazy patchwork and cushion cover.  I enjoyed making this and finally worked out a way of piecing the different strips of fabric together to make a pattern I liked.  Again this pack could "blend" as Mandy said, but with a papercrafting head on I felt the fabrics benefited each other and worked really well in a cushion.  With enough time I am sure I will make some pin cushions with the scraps from this pack.

I hope you all had a good crafty weekend too.  What did you make?  I'd like to hear what you've been making.  Leave me a comment below.

Pin Cushion & Cushions

This weekend saw me complete a couple of sewing projects.  I completed two more simply crazy patchwork cushions in different colours using  two different packs of fat quarters.  I took some photos this evening but the photos didn't come out very well and I've deleted everyone of them.

I have also made a pin cushion this evening.  I was on pinterest and looking for inspiration for patchwork cushions when I stumbled upon an image for a pin cushion that came with instructions for making.  It looked pretty simple and would use up the scraps of fabric I have left from making the cushions.  I found the instructions on the Messy Jesse Crafts blog site.  You can find the instructions here.

This was my first photo attempt using my Hudl, but being evening and artificial light the picture isn't very good at all.  Plus it has my quilting pins in it so you can't see the design.

This picture is better, but still doesn't show the pin cushion in the best way.  I had lots of 2 inch strips of fabric left from when I made my cushions (I had cut lots of strips to make my cushion).  I sewed  4 strips together and using my rotary cutter cut across the stips to make new 2 inch strips which when all sewed together would make 1.5 inch sqaures of all the different fabrics.  I made the front out of 16 squares each (4 x 4 sqaures) and then followed the instructions from Messy Jesse Crafts blog.  I stitched a pink button in the middle to finish it off. 

 I've got more fabric ready to make more of these tomorrow.  I thought they may sell in the pop up shop.  What do you think?  Let me know your thoughts.  Hopefully I will take some better photos tomorrow.

Setting up at the pop up shop

This morning I went and set up at the Pop Up Shop.  I was going to take and set up my cushions and cross stitch pictures.  I initially took in my cushions and put them on display.  They went on top of a unit and they really brightened up that part of the room.  I still need to make some changes, as I need to make a sign for my stall.  I felt quite unprepared when I saw all the lovely ways the other sellers had set up their stalls.  I did take lots of photos of what had been set up.  To start with these are my cushions.

They are lined up on top of a cabinet adding a nice touch of colour, pattern and fun to that part of the store.  You see my cushions on the opposite side of the store when you walk in the door.

Another seller is Poppykins.  You can learn about Poppykins here on her Facebook Page.  These are photos of what she is selling at the Pop Up Shop.

There are great bowls made from vinyl records made by Handmade Vintage.  You can find out more about this business here,

Another stall is Aye Aye.  This stall has some amazing sewn items in fabulous fabrics.  You can learn more about Aye Aye here

There are some great unique glass christmas decorations from Puddle Studio Glass Art.  You can learn more about them here 

There is a stall by Bertie Bloome.  I love the way that the stall is set out.  I believe they must do many craft fairs and pop up shops as they have a great amount of equipment for showing their products on. If you show them well they will gain a lot of interest.  I feel there is a lot to learn over the next 6 weeks about the best way in presenting my products. Find out more about Bertie Bloome here.

And finally the other stall that was set up was Sew Brilliant.  She was setting up as I was, I kept asking lots and lots of questions, there is so much I want to learn and I am so excited to speak to people who have been doing this a long while.  Sew Brilliant has experience of doing Pop Up shops in other parts of Kent and so I was keen to ask lots of questions.  Her kits are great.  You can learn more about Sew Brilliant here

I had to set up between a morning appointment and going into work.  I did manage to squeeze in an hour, but not all of the stalls were set up, so if you want to know more about the Pop Up shop then please follow its facebook page which is here.  This page will fill you in on what is coming up, who is selling and links to all of their blogs, facebook pages, twitter accounts, etc.

Teaching young people to sew.

In my main job I am a Senior Youth Work Practitioner who runs Swanley Youth Hub.  As part of my work there I've been teaching the young people how to sew and creating art projects.  Back in June I got the young people to draw and colour designs onto fabric.  The theme was summer.  Its taken some time from the designs being done to completing the quilt, but we have.  Here is our quilt.

The white squares were not equal in size, so I would recommend that you measure the squares out equally before hand, rather than randomly cutting out squares.  This meant we've had to cut bits off the pictures when putting the strips of fabric in between. But for a first quilt, everyone at the youth centre are really pleased.  The quilt is hanging on a wall in the green room in the centre.

We made the designs on white squares cut from a white sheet bought from Asda.  The strips are made from a pink sheet from Asda and the backing and binding is made from a purple sheet from Asda.  Using sheets worked well considering we don't have money to buy standard price fabric.  We are about to start another quilt with the theme winter.  We are going to be using printable fabric for the designs and will use sheets again to make the strips, the backing and the binding.

Our other sewing project has been to learn how to use printable fabric.  We've printed pictures of ourselves on the fabric and turned them into cushions.  The cushions have all had lots of positive comments and lots of people want to be featured on their own cushions.

These are cushions using photos of staff.  I am the white cushion on the left.  The picture was taken using the special effects on the macbook we have at the centre.  Its certainly a different way of presenting photos, other than having them on the wall.  Our cushions are unique and personal to the youth centre.

Patchwork Cushion

I've been watching patchwork programmes on Create and Craft TV and have been inspired by Sarah Payne who is one of the quilting experts on the TV channel.  I have purchased the simply crazy and twinkling star template in order to learn to patchwork.  On Saturday I had my first attempt at making a cushion from the simply crazy template.  It took a lot of time as I was measuring and making up as I went along.  Anyhow, this is my first attempt.

This cushion is made from a pack of fat quarters I purchased from Hobbycraft a few weeks ago.  They were half price and cost me £7.50 for 6 fat quarters.  The blues and greens compliment the colours in my bedroom, but I shall sell this cushion for £20 at the pop up shop being run by Emporia Fabric and Crafts.  You can learn about them by clicking here.

I've cut everything out to make two more of these cushions, I just need to find time to sew them together.  I've not had time to do this yet, but I am sure I will eventually.  Again these will be made from fat quarters that were half price at Hobbycraft.

Crochet Cushions

I've blogged previously showing crochet cushions in the process of being made, but I've not blogged or shown the finished pictures of the cushions.  This post will be quite photo heavy, but it will show you my cushions and what I am doing with them now that I have finished them.

Most of the cushions were made from the free wool that comes with Lets Craft Knitting and Crochet Magazine.  You get just enough wool to make a cushion front.  I have then used good quality cotton fabric to make the cushions with and added coordinating buttons on the back to hold the cushions together.

So I've made 9 cushions which are going to be available to be bought at the pop up shop being run by Emporia Fabric and Crafts in Ashford.  You can find out more about this shop which has just celebrated it first birthday by clicking here.

Beginners Patchwork Class

Its been a while since I last blogged, but whilst I've been quiet in the blogosphere I've still been busy crafting, making things, making new connections and learning new skills.  Well today I went to a Beginners Patchwork class run by Mandy Munroe at Emporia Fabric and Crafts in Ashford, Kent.  I've had a go in the past with patchwork and have been watching the shows on Create and Craft, but I I felt I needed proper help to master this technique.

So I turned up for my class which started at 10am.  I was one of 2 people in the class and for our fee we got to choose any 4 fat quarters from the shop that is Emporia Fabric and Crafts.  My sister asked me to make her some new covers for cushions she use to have on her bed.  Her room is purple and raspberry colours and so I wanted to choose fabrics in those colours.

This was my initial fabric choice. As you can see there were purple tones, raspberry tones and cranberry tones, with an added shade of teal..  As part of the course Mandy explained how to choose fabrics, how to put the colours together and then we moved onto cutting out squares for the morning session.  This focused on making a 9 patch square.  I chose to use the top two pieces for this.  We learnt to cut 3.5 inch squares using a rotary cutter and large ruler.  We learnt to use a quarter inch foot on the sewing machine to make sure we have quarter inch seams.  This is really important to ensure all squares match perfectly.  We learnt how to sew together and how to but the seams together to make sure it was a perfect match.

I learnt that my natural wonk caused by my astigmatism effects my ability to sew a consistent quarter inch seam, even with a foot with a guide on it.  But my squares worked very well together. If like me you have a natural wonk that causes unevenness (you can see this on my cards that I make) I encourage you to persevere, but I did and by the end of the day I was sewing more consistent seams.

By lunch time I had stitch together to 9 squares and felt very proud of myself.  Below is a picture that shows the results of my morning and afternoon sewing.  You can see the 2 9 square patches I made plus the friend star patch I made in the afternoon.

we had a 30 minute break for lunch.  I went to the newly refurbished Muffin Break in County Square in Ashford.  I had a cheese and ham pannini, banana cake and a pot of tea.  It was lovely.  This was my lunch, Muffin Break is fast becoming one of my favourite places to eat lunch in town.

The afternoon was learning how to make half square triangles.  For this we had to cut squares 3 7/8 of an inch.  which make two half square triangle square which become 3 and a half inch squares.  I changed my cranberry coloured fabric and changed it for a teal floral fabric.  My friendly star design was made from raspberry fabric and the changed fabric.  After lots of careful cutting and pinning I sewed the design together with good matching seams.  Only to find I had stitched one of the triangle squares the wrong way round.  I then had to unpick and restitch but the final result looked really good.  All together I completed 4 square patches which I can use for either a quilt or cushion cover, I haven't decided.

I had a really good day and met some lovely people and learnt some new skills.  I would recommed these classes for anyone to tray.  You can find out more about Emporia Fabric and Crafts by clicking here.  To find out more about Mandy Munroe who taught the class then click here.  There is another patchwork class coming up on Monday 24th November and you will complete a quilt top in day.  I would recommend this for anyone to have a go at, it was a great way of meeting new people and learning new skills.