High Tea Blog Hop

Welcome to my turn on the lovely High Tea blog hop! High tea for Lecien is Jera Brandvig’s debut collection and oh my goodness its a truly sweet collection. Even the print names are yummy, with colourways like Fig Red, Butter Cream and Brown Sugar two name a few.

I wanted to use the fabrics in a way that would showcase the divine soft colours and pretty high tea inspired prints.  I knew what ever I created it definitely needed to feature fussy cutting.  I actually made this little dresden before I had a plan on what to use it for.

After much consideration I decided to make a treat for myself, by making a sweet tea cosy featuring Jera’s prints and linen. Growing up my Grandma always crocheted tea cosies for the family however since her passing and my inability to crochet that tradition kind of stopped. And when you realise how cute they can be with fabric like High Tea and how easy they are I’m pretty sure a tea cosy will be added to your handmade Christmas gift repertoire.

 

I followed the fantastic free tutorial by Jesse at the Messy Jesse blog. I did waver slightly after step four.  I skipped step 5  and instead separately sewed bias binding to the bottom edges of the two sides of the tea cosy.  Then I placed the tea cosy sides wrong sides together and sewed around the curved edge with a 1/4 inch seam.   You should now have a tea cosy (albeit with a messy edge).  However by adding the bias binding to this curved edge you will conceal those messy edges.

Of course if I am going to have a tea cosy it only seams fitting to have matching coasters. So I used Cheri’s from the blog Tinker With This free hexie coaster pattern to make two perfectly sweet and matching High Tea coasters.

 

 

I think this tea cosy and coaster set would make a perfect gift (especially in High Tea fabrics) when combined with your favourite tea and handmade biscuits. (or shop bought biscuits – if like me you are a maker not a baker 🙂

Thank you for taking the time to read my post! And great news the blog hop continues tomorrow with the very talented quilter Peta from She Quilts A Lot working with this pretty collection.

Apple Farm Blog Hop

Hi! Welcome to my blog and my turn on the Apple Farm Blog Hop for Elea Lutz’s latest collection for Riley Blake Designs.

Ok let’s be honest Elea is yet to create a collection that I don’t absolutely adore so no real surprise how much I love this collection. But seriously who wouldn’t! With its pretty
pops of colour, pretty ginghams, sweet apples and adorable critters it has been so much fun to create with (especially as our Australian winter has been filled with many gloomy grey days).

 

 

The arrival of Apple Farm coincided with the arrival of my first great niece. And so I set to create a few special gifts for her. For me one of the greatest quilting honours I can have is for a designer to ask me to work with their designs. I wanted to make a truly special quilt that honoured the traditional side of quilting whilst celebrated the vibrant colours of Apple Farm. So after seeing so many gorgeous Lucy Boston blocks posted on Instagram I decided to give them a go. Sewing these blocks was quite a challenge because as well as fussy cutting the pieces, fabric placement can have a huge impact on the look of the block. (The nice part about these blocks is they only use one shape – elongated hexies – and as it only takes 24 papers to make a block  you don’t have to make a huge financial investment to give them a go.)

 

After two weeks of solid hand stitching (and many moments thinking I would never finish)completed my great niece’s baby quilt. I hand stitched everything except the sashing between the blocks and after hanging it on the line to dry I couldn’t believe the effect the winter sun had shining through my hand pieced blocks.

 

 

I also made my great niece a cute bear pillow to match her quilt. I used the pattern from Amy 
Sinibaldi’s book Sweetly Stitched Handmades. My hope is that my niece and her baby daughter use this teddy pillow to snuggle with, lay on, read books next to and it becomes all squishy and well loved like the ones I made my girls

 

 

 

It feels so special to share my quilting with my family and to create pieces that are designed to be loved by children and their parents. I am sure that is what Elea had in mind when she designed this collection and the fact that I have this fabric because I was asked by Elea to create with it makes these handmade gifts that much sweeter.

I hope I have inspired you to try a technique, create with this collection and continue enjoying the blog hop. Make sure you check out Lauren’s creations at Transient Art and tomorrow have a look at Jessica from Euphoria Jessica and Kristyne from Pretty by Hand blog posts.

Posy Garden Blog Hop

 

Welcome! Today is my turn on the Posy Garden blog hop.

Posy Garden is Carina Gardner’s latest collection for Riley Blake and is a perfect combination of soft tiny florals and bold colours. Along with the pretty prints and colours what I really love about Carina’s collection is how versatile the designs are!  One week in and the blog hop has featured a wide range of makes from baby quilts, a fantastic tote and a gorgeous tunic for a little girl.

The Posy Garden prints are so pretty so I decided to use it for a project I had long promised my youngest daughter – a tooth fairy pillow… well actually a tooth fairy wall hanging. My eldest has a pillow but with months between tooth fairy visits it can be quite hard to find her tiny pillow just before bedtime. So instead of a pillow I made a tooth fairy wall hanging. That way when not tucked under her pillow waiting for a visit she can have it hanging on her wall above her bed. And when you use the super cute tooth fairy quilt block pattern from Elea Lutz’s book Pretty Playtime sewn with Carina’s beautiful collection who wouldn’t to have it displayed as art!

 

 

The little fairy’s dress pocket on Elea’s quilt block is the perfect size for the envelopes our fairy leaves behind. (Side note: if your fairy is interested in leaving an envelope like the one our fairy leaves let her know she can download the free printable from Handmade Charlotte’s blog)

 

 

I turned the block into a mini quilt by making a quilt sandwich (quilt block, batting and then backing fabric) and just prior to binding I added two triangle sections at the back top corners to make two little pockets I could slip in a piece of dowel when I needed to hang it on the wall.

To hang it to the wall and because every fairy really needs a special place I used the free star pattern from Mollie’s blog Wild Olive (I printed the template at 40 percent). I changed her tutorial slightly by added a little batting between the back and front fabrics. Then just prior to sewing the back and front together I added a loop of thread to the top point of the star and a piece of thread coming out of the two bottom points.  Then with the two threads hanging at the bottom of the star I tied them to each end of the dowel with a simple knot. Ta da, a super simple and pretty way to hang a mini quilt.

Now when the tooth fairy visits we can easily remove the tooth fairy wall hanging and place it under her pillow, and the next morning we can pop it back on to the wall.

And as I said at the start of this blog the collection is so versatile it works for all sorts of projects for all sorts of ages. When I saw how perfectly the print looked with some soft faux leather I just had to give the You and Mie free tutorial for a foldover clutch a go. And the result is sweet posy perfection!

To continue to be inspired by this gorgeous collection make sure you visit Amy from Ameroonie Designs blog tomorrow and for a full list of bloggers participating in the hop have a look at Carina’s beautiful website.

Happy creating