Patchwork Table Runner

After making the goody, goody binding bag last week, I started on making a patchwork table runner for the dinning table.  I've have bought fabric to do this at the start of the year, but I hadn't made any attempts to make the runner.  I had a number of conversations with Kirsty about the table runner and I wasn't sure about the fabric I had initially bought and so, with any excuse to purchase more fabric, I did.

I purchased a bundle from Elephant in my handbag  of Lewis & Irene fox and friends fabric as it had the greens, browns and oranges which we have in the curtains in the dinning room.  

This is the completed table runner on the dinning table.  I cut 6 of the 7 fat quarters from the bundle into 2.5 inch strips.  For the first time I used the pinking blade on my olfa rotary cutter.  I stitched the strips into groups of 3 strips together.  I then cut these into 6.5 inch squares.  I alternated and turned the squares around to create this design.  The runner was then 3 squares wide and 12 squares long, a total of 36 squares.

This is a close up of the detail of the strips made into squares.  Once the runner top was pieced together I then added cotton wadding and green fabric to the back.  These came from Emporia Fabric and Craft in Ashford, Kent.  I then quilted lines 1 inch apart across the width of the runner to secure the sandwich together.  I used the stitching guide in the foot of my sewing maching to help with the accuracy of the lines.  I then edged the runner in orance fabric also from Emporia Fabric and Craft.  I've never been very good at binding and before I completed the binding on the runner I looked up some tutorials on YouTube about binding.  I found this video from Heirloom Crafts the easiest to understand and follow whilst making my runner.  The mitred corners are the best I've managed, but I still have to master the art of making them perfect.

My patchwork and quilting skills are improving and I would say that so far this is the best patchwork and quilting piece I've made.  Although my top stitching and lines are not completely straight I fell they are better than the first few quilts I made.  I only made my first quilt 10 months ago and attended my first patchwork class 9 months ago.  Whilst I still have some way to go to make my projects perfect they are improving with each one I make.

How long have you been sewing and crafting?  I started sewing when I was young and my Mum bought me my first proper sewing machine when I was 10 (I turn 39 on Sunday) and I still have it. I got a toy sewing machine (although it did actually work) when I was about 7) so I've been sewing a long time.  I mainly though made dolls, dolls clothes or clothes for myself.  I did some patchwork at primary school.  I started cross stitching when I was 12 and for a long time this was my main craft.  I do a whole variety of needlecraft and papercraft and this will be reflected in my blog posts.  What I make depends on my mood and most recently my mood has been sewing, hence a number of posts about sewing.  

What are you making?  Is it something big?  Is it for you or is it a commission?  I'd love to hear all about your crafty makes so leave a comment and tell us about yourself.

New Sewing Machine.

I've not posted on here for a little while, my goals for this year was to blog more and just when I had ideas of things to make and blog posts to write, work (as always) got busy and I decided to decorate my bedroom.  All of which overflowed my stress bucket (for anyone whose completed their Mental Health First Aid Training will know what that is about) and my response for being too stressed is to go quiet and stop communicating.

So what has been going in the crafty world of Sarahdipity?  Well for started I made a rash decision to buy a new sewing machine.  I am now the proud owner of Pfaff Smarter 260c.  It arrived on the 14th January and looked lovely.

Here is a photo of my lovely new sewing machine sat on our dining room table.  It arrived on a Wednesday and I knew I had no time to try it out until the weekend.  So I looked at it, stroked and pushed buttons.

The weekend came, but I needed to move into action with the thoughts of decorating my bedroom.  I had no furniture was living in the spare room and a new bed had arrived.  I didn't want to put the new bed up until I had decorated the room.  So instead of playing on my new toy, my wonderful Pfaff computerized sewing machine with a top loading bobbing, one step button hole and many other features I was looking for, I was painting woodwork, wall and putting up wallpaper for the first time ever in my life.

I got round to trying out my sewing machine for the first time on Tuesday 20th January (almost a whole week later!!!!)  So in my hour of play I used some scrap fabrics and tried out the different stitches.  It didn't look good as I couldn't get the tension right, but after many, many attempts I finally got the tension right and the stitches started to look neat.  I tried out the one step button hole, tried out the button sewing foot I had purchased plus used the quarter inch foot to use some scraps of fabric to start making a simply crazy patchwork.

The sewing machine was silent, easy to use and so much nicer than our old, basic Singer sewing machine,  I'm sure this machine will work lovely after a service as we've owned it for 8 years and we've not had it serviced.  All in all everything with the machine was really lovely, apart from being able to set the tension correctly.

I didn't get a chance to do anymore sewing for another week as I was again busy with work and continuing with my bedroom makeover.  A week later I got back onto the sewing machine.  This time around I finished the simply crazy patchwork and turned it into a square and edged it ready to turn it into a cushion cover.  I also played around with the blind hem foot.  I've got two sets of curtains which need shortening, including lining.  I need to master blind hemming (I've never managed to do it before) so I can turn these curtains up and prevent all the heat from the radiators going up the curtains and not into the rooms.  Quick rant here - I moved into a new build house 8 years ago, now being new build you'd think it would have standard sized windows?!  Oh no, not one window in the house fits standard sized curtains.  Standard curtains are either not long enough or way too long.  Plus all the radiators were fixed under the non-standard sized windows meaning you have to shorten all the curtains to ensure you get all the heat coming from the radiator.  Why not fit standard size windows?!!!!!.

Anyhow the bedroom makeover involves having to shorten the new black out curtains for my bedroom and the curtains.  I also need to shorten the curtains I bought for the dinning room last Christmas too.  I have now mastered the art of blind hemming and so now feel ready to tackle the curtains.  I now need to spend a considerable chunk of time measuring, cutting, pinning and sewing to get them to the right height for the windows and radiators.

I did though by the end of last week finish my cushion cover I had started and here it is.

I made a similar cushion before Christmas which I had for sale in the pop up shop.  This one though has a white centre and white edges unlike the other one I made.  It also has a more distinct swirl pattern to the colours going around the edge.  Another bonus is that it matches the colour scheme in my newly painted bedroom (you can see a sneak peak of the wall paper in the background, my new bed frame and my bedding). This cushion won't be staying in my bedroom, it will go up for sale on Etsy.   I've bought a load of fat quarters to make cushions and other stuff for my bedroom.

What do you think of the cushion?  It took much longer to finish that I expected, but making over a bedroom at the same time doesn't help. Sewing this on my new Pfaff Smarter 260c Sewing Machine was lovely, the fabric moved well, the quarter inch guide foot was a dream to use and help me keep to 1/4 inch seams.  Have you got a new sewing machine?  What do you make?  Let me know.

Patchwork Knitting Bag

Hello Everyone, I hope that you have all enjoyed your second day of 2015 and are still sticking to your resolutions for this year.

Today I am posting about my making which I did on New Years Eve whilst watching television.  I finished making this in time to watch When Harry Met Sally and the fireworks in London which welcomed in the New Year.

In November I went to a beginners Patchwork course held by Mandy Munroe (You can find her blog here at  Emporia Fabrics in Craft (you can find their blog here)  I made 3 x 9 patch squares and 1 x friendship star squares.  I bought back my spare fabric home to continue making something with my squares (I was thinking a table runner or mini quilt).  On New Years Eve I decided to finish cutting out the fabric and see how many different blocks I could make.  I cut out enough to make 2 more friendship stars but didn't have enough fabric for anything else.

I changed my mind as to what to make.  For Christmas my Mum had given me some bag handles to make my own bag.  I decided to make a knitting bag.I found instructions online for making a knitting bag.  You can see these instructions here.  Inspired by these instructions I eventually made 4 x 9 patch blocks and 4 x friendship star blocks (I didn't really have enough fabric for any more blocks)  I also had two further fat quarters, 1 was turquoise, the other was purple.  These were used to create the lining for the knitting bag.

After making the 8 blocks I joined 4 together to create a front and the other 4 blocks to create a back.  I then joined them together as per the instructions and attached the handles.

This is my finished knitting bag.

I am really pleased with how this turned out.  As you can see I alternated the blocks to create variety in the pattern.  I also like making square things and the bag is square shaped and fits in my love of all things square.  On top of this I can fit all the wool for the afghan blanket I am making for my bed in it.

I've got lots of fat quarters and am looking at making all sorts of different things from them.  I've ordered new furniture for my bedroom and will redecorating.  I will be making more things to help decorate my bedroom.  My resolution this year is to keep you all posted with my making and all things Sarahdipity Crafts throughout 2015.  Have a good weekend everyone.

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.

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.

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.