Tuesday, November 23, 2010

New cushions

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With all the lovely sunshine we're now getting it seemed a good time to brighten up the lounge room with some new cushions - and what better to do that with than my lovely new fabric by Patricia Bravo. I started with a simple cushion using the 'sparkles in teal' fabric:


I also made a small cushion cover from the 'tealight in ashy' fabric:




I think the cover I'm most happy with though is the one inspired by Ashley from Film in the Fridge:




I've never made anything like this before but really enjoyed the process of piecing it together and am so happy with the result. Now I just need to get my new couch cover made!






Hope you're having a great week!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

My first purchase of designer fabric



It seems strange now, but until I started reading sewing and quilting blogs only a few months ago, I didn't know that designer fabrics even existed let alone just how many and how lovely they are!! One shop that seemed to sponsor many blogs was Hawthorne Threads so I thought I'd have a look through their many, many wonderful fabric collections (pretty dangerous for someone who has always loved fabric as much as I do and who has a pretty large collection already). There were, and still are, so many fabrics I would love to purchase but I tried to restrain myself and bought two fat quarter bundles both Paradise by Patricia Bravo, one in Sunrise...






 and the other in the Sunset colour palette (the images of these two collections are from Hawthorne Threads).




I was so excited when the fabrics arrived - gorgeous colours and so silky soft - truly lovely! It's taken me a while to be brave enough to cut into them though, but I finally have (albeit with a project that uses only a small cutting of each fabric). Using some waffle cotton I had purchased from my local fabric shop I made some new tea towels and decorated them with a strip of designer colour. Firstly I made a pair of tea towels using Sparkles in Orchid and Teal...




And the other pair of tea towels featured Squared Fashion in Pink and Blue.




I'm really happy with how they turned out - they really freshen up the kitchen (although now I'm a bit scared to use them in case they get dirty!!)


What was your first project using designer fabric? 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

A slow week...


Well it's been a slow week on the blog, but very busy in real life with lots of sewing and crafting, not to mention getting lots of inspiration at the Craft and Quilt Fair which finally made it to Adelaide over the weekend after touring the rest of Australia and New Zealand throughout the year. 


My intention in this post was to share just a couple of the projects I've been working on, but before I do, I'd first like to say hello and thank you to the wonderful people who've added comments to my previous entries - it was such a lovely surprise to log on and read their kind words. I've even got 2 followers now - how exciting!!


Now back to my sewing projects... as you may remember, I recently had the pleasure of discovering my mum's collection of laces and trims. It made me think about the small collection I have (a sample of which you can see above) and about what I could make using some of my favourite pieces. So here are two little purses I made during the week - beginning with a purple one of course (my favourite colour!) I love the softness of this velvet.



And the lace adorning this jade green purse is so pretty. It makes me want to learn how to actually make my own lace, something a group of very talented ladies from the Lace Guild were doing at the Craft and Quilt Fair. Hopefully one day it's something I'll be able to do too. 



Hope you're having a great week!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Such beautiful flowers!


I just love the vibrant colour of these bottlebrush flowers - aren't they stunning? Thanks Mum!!


I also love seeing the flowers that are blooming elsewhere around the world. One blog that often has pictures of local blooms is Ravenhill - her pictures of wild strawberries were lovely. I've never actually seen strawberries growing wild like that, only at home in the garden or in very orderly rows in a strawberry farm. (You'll also find pictures of her sweet Scandinavian Matryoshka dolls and other pretty creations - enjoy!)


What flowers are blooming at the moment in your part of the world?