Jungle Chums

flamingo square

My progress with the jungle chums blanket I started for Bertie quite some time ago is slow but I am gradually getting there.

Work is constantly  busy and because it stays at our house, I only get to work on it at weekends. Recently there has been no time and we have had visitors so there hasn’t been much sewing for me.

tiger and banana tree ready to appliqué into place

There are 7 squares completed and 5 more to go before I can attach and appliqué them to the main green cover. The finish will be plain backed, a brown edge and then I will hand quilt the spaces between the animal blocks.

If I were doing it again, I’d probably do it a bit differently and make it more like the patchwork of Max’s blanket or Henry’s blanket with the appliqué squares forming the middle of each repeat. I am attaching the animal squares by appliquéing them to the blanket so I will have to get my edges spot on.

elephant

I love the characters, especially the lion (who has also become a favourite cushion for little boys like Jack and Arthur), the tiger and the elephant.

the leopard waiting to get his spots

I’m hopeful that my next blog about this will be it completed!!

heart patchwork

the finished blanket

I find it hard to keep up with all the things that I want to make, the list is endlessly long.

Sometimes seeing something that inspires me takes me back to an idea I had and thought I’d forgotten about.

the finished cushion

Heart patchwork is one of those and since I am on a bit of a patchwork roll, I thought I’d give my idea an airing.  I also recently bought quilting rings that hold the quilt in a neat roll while you do your quilting stitches.

quilting rings

I cheat (well, I think it is cheating) and quilt with my normal sewing machine. I’ve never done swirls or shapes and stick to straight lines mostly and it seems to work.

I was only going to do a cushion but got carried away cutting out and decided to do a matching cot quilt.

embroidery silks ready for the hearts

It came together quite quickly and was a real pleasure but the hand applique is still the most pleasurable part of it for me, it is sooooooo relaxing. The rainbow colours of the embroidery silks are like sweeties and selecting the right one for the work is as much fun as the sewing

quilt without wadding, backing, applique or quilting

I used to sit at my sewing machine for hours making clothes, curtains which I still love but given the choice I prefer the hand work and I now find delight in every stitch of hand appliqué.

appliqued heart

The theme was cream and pink with more emphasis on the cream as I wanted it to be subtle (unlike the next one I will make I think!).

applique heart

Anyway, they are both finished now and ready to be gifted or go onto my internet shop. Someone is due to have a baby soon and if it is a girl, it will be the perfect gift.

patchwork cushion

fabric squares in pink

I have been on a real crafting roll this week. I finished my girls cot blanket in record time, have cut out all the fabric for another patchwork blanket, and a matching cushion, I have made another 2 cushions and I am half way through some bunting that is a gift for a fellow crafter.

patchwork border in pink

One of the cushions that I made has been on my rapidly lengthening ‘to do’ list but I grabbed the opportunity and got on with it. I finished it over the weekend even though most of the time I was glued to the olympics.

floral and gingham

I’ve made bunting and other cushions with names on but like the simplicity and the timelessness of a patchwork trim to a name cushion.

patchwork corner

There are more boys than girls in my family and amongst my friends but I still seem to have more pink fabric than anything else. Some of it is quite gorgeous so a cushion for Lucy had to be pink and I happen to know her favourite colour is pink (of course!).

border squares and centre panel ready to join together

I probably would have finished it sooner than Sunday but I couldn’t decide how to finish it so t put the fine detail out to vote on Facebook and Twitter.

with

Initially, the general favourite and what got most votes was the ‘with’ image but eventually, the overwhelming favourite was ‘without’ so ‘without’ it is.

without

The Lucy cushion is simple and clean and I tend to agree with my friends, groups and tweeps. It doesn’t need the flowers adding.

the hand appliquéd letters

This cushion has a home to go to but I’ve made another waiting for a different little girl’s name and it will go in my shop on Facebook, wowthankyou, coriandr and folksy.

finished!!

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patchwork blanket

quilted squares

quilted patches

quilted patches and edging

I have had a really lovely week making this week. It has been unusual for me to be able find the time and I have thoroughly enjoyed it,,

When I sat down on Monday afternoon to cut out some selected squares to make a patchwork baby or cot blanket I really didn’t expect that I would be able to finish it by Tuesday night.  But I did.

squares sewn together

I have a couple of hand sewn pentagonal patchwork quilts part made. One is in red & white and the other is mixed and they will become a large bed throw eventually but I have wanted to make some patchwork cushions and children’s blankets for ages and my chance came up during this quiet week.

all the squares sewn together ready

It has been very satisfying seeing it take shape so swiftly, I’m mostly used to having to grab an hour here or a moment there. Choosing the patterns and laying them out so that the squares all work together is a lovely therapeutic process and it is very easy to understand how addictive patchwork becomes.

quilted edging

Each piece of fabric has a story, which came to mind with each square that found a place on the blanket. It might have been repurposed from something else, it might have been an off cut, or a car boot find, it might have been a bargain that my mum got or a piece that I have bought just because I like it. Some of them even have a second story having also been made into something by tinyinc, be it a blanket, cushion, letters on an apron or bunting. I love finally finding uses for these fabrics but I also love my fabric stash.

the finished blanket

I will do other cot blankets in different colours but it seems that my stash is dominated by pink at the moment so I concentrated on those so it appears that it my be for a little girl.

tinyinc’s handmade jungle blanket

I have been quietly working away at finishing a blanket I started for bertie but since the decorations in bertie’s room are now different, the jungle theme just won’t work.  As a theme, however, I can’t think of anything more cute than monkeys getting up to mischief, elephants having a shower or hippos wallowing so I have persevered and will get it finished eventually.

applique princess pyjama case

Another commission that I took on recently was a christening gift for a little girl called Sarah Eliza and is in the form of a pyjama case that has an appliqued image on the front, blanket stitched around the edges and her name and christening details on a flap at the back.

The applique image is of a castle and a princess among the trees. The pyjama case itself is lightly quilted and has the edges finished in a contrasting blanket stitch and tied with a ribbon bow.  The ocassion is marked in the text on the flap of the case.

Sarah is about three years old and the colours in her gift, hopefully go with what I understand of the decorations she has in her bedroom.  The case itself, has images within the castle and princess picture that are becoming ‘regulars’ in my applique pictures and are such as the sunshine and birds.

The person gifting it is a happy customer so I’m happy too.

tinyinc’s tools of the trade

threads

I was searching for a particular embroidery thread the other day and in the process, I emptied my project bag and started to sort through things.

In the sunshine, the colours sparkle and you realise how yummy these silky, wooden, wooly things are.

buttons

JC says that what I do in my full time job is ‘knock all the walls down and paint everything white’…………

tinyinc’s hand made blanket for bertie

timid tiger

The joys of September seem to be a long way behind me (hand embroidered cushion, blanket for bertie, recycling, blanket for henry, stuff on folksy, blanket for max,sorting out, kid’s aprons) and my full time job has become very demanding again.  It is difficult to find any spare time to sew or knit or crochet.

tinyinc’s hand made applique blanket for henry

frog prince

lovely friends of ours had their second little man arrive to join their family a few months ago and we went to see them recently.  He is a delightful smiley little chap and seems to take everything in his stride.

apple tree

a lot of our friends have things that I have made (and apologies to those who don’t) when their tots arrive and Henry is no different.

 

max’s hand made applique blanket

lighthouse

A very long standing work friend of mine had her first baby at 45 recently.

He is adorable and she took about 3,000 photographs of him in the first few weeks of his young life.

He is very well loved.

She, Annie, had bought a beach house in Sussex some years ago, which has enabled them to move between there and the city. They have just gone to Sussex permanently to enjoy a seaside life.  It seems we are all planning these escapes.

The house is a wonderful open plan place that has the beach and sea in its actual back garden! Wonderful. It is built in white painted shiplap and looks to have all the hallmarks of a designer’s touch inside (She is also a designer).

With this in mind, Max’s present for getting here safely was to be a hand made appliqued and light weight quilt/blanket with the seaside as its theme.

beach huts