mammafairy sews: January 2017

Sunday, 29 January 2017

finally! a Bee quilt!

Eons ago, I started a bee quilt. Blocks were assembled from this one and that one, I had decided on a tessellated design, so backgrounds for blocks were in squares, to be finished 12" or 6", or rectangles, to finish 62 x 12". Add a restricted palate of bright cheerful hues, and then have great fun organising and arranging these.

Then, the real fun begins. Several part seams. some slightly under or oversized blocks- you may think, oversized is easy, just chop a bit off, but when a design gets near the edge,, that is not always a wonderful solution...

Then to quilt it.
I knew I just wanted to do a cosy fleece backing ( Quilt police , just do not look, please!), and I had some variegated thread to work with. I did simple organic wide quilting to anchor everything, and then, with trepidation, and after several practice efforts, I actually did odd bits of FMQ in a few places.

Go me!

See that flower by the wee birdie? yes, that is one of the bits. Or does this count more as embroidery? I am not quite certain, but it was free motion, so, that is a start.

And there you see my DS, home for the weekend, holding up the Bee masterpiece! He and his girlfriend have trotted it off down to London to cheer their wee home up a bit. I am very happy to see it go off to a happy home, to be snuggled under.

I was chuffed to bits to get the effect I wanted with those varied size blocks.

Thank you everyone who contributed.

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Evil doings at the christening...

Sleeping Beauty, of course. What did you expect?

The wicked fairy godmother wreaked havoc as she is supposed to, with gorgeous purple jacket over a black tutu, and an overskirt on the tutu, as it was a bit too transparent.

And then we saw that lovely flowered fabric for her majesty, the proud Mama of Aurora. Not quite enough for a whole dress, but with a few pieces of silk to go with...

When the perfect fabric leaps off the shelf and into your hand, what can you say?

I hadn't realised to begin with that it was silk I was dealing with. The lovely slubby fabric, and the oyster coloured lower sleeves are both silk. Sadly, the main fabric for the skirts is more mundane..

I also made the King his outfit. Well, you know how it goes. I was only making the costume for Carabosse, so we were off fabric hunting and there, on the shelf, was the perfect fabric for a frock coat for the King... Well, he was going to need to be clad, so, 'Would you?' How could I say no?

This fabric works both ways out, predominantly black the one side and bronze the other. A bit of pretend frogging...

And then, breathe, and smile!

Wednesday, 4 January 2017

Those Christmas makes..

A request was made, for a cushion cover starring a beach scene. Well, I had done something like this before, so, lets get to it...

and the back- quite simple, so that was the first gift made this Christmas.

Someone else wanted an apron. Do you recall, a few years ago, some duck themed kitchen accessories?

A matching apron seemed suitable, so this little creation materialised, I almost never throw stuff out if there is a remote chance of it's being pressed into service once more, so, an apron gift was made.

And I saw a tutorial, for making a zippy pouch, mainly using the overlocker, including zip insertion with the overlocker- I kid you not, these zips went in using the overlocker! Yes, topstitching was on the flatbed, but they were quick and simple to make.... one for a daughter, one for a son's girlfriend- yes she is a dream, she sews too!