Hanmade quilt experiment!

Don't you love quilts?! They look so good.

But I haven never done it, it looks abit scary. So I decided to look into it to find out what you need to get started.

I read that you need a machine quilting foot or a darning foot for your machine. Or a walking foot for straight line quilting. I looked into my box and found out that I didn't have either for my sewing machine, doh! But I htought I would take the foot off and give that a try...

So I got to my machine, took the foot off, put the feed dogs down and started stitching. It was working! I sandwiched some wadding inbetween two pieces of scrap fabric. I tried different patterns and shapes in a continuous line. I was so chuffed it was working!

Below is the front of the fabric and then the back .

 

A few things I learnt whilst doing this...

 

It needs alot of practice and practice before you practice!

 

Go slow and steady - this is abit tricky, you don't want to go too fast but you need to be steady and consistant with the stiches

 

You go through alot of thread, get prepared and have a few spools of thread all ready

 

If you are just starting out, start off with a small quilting project. I can imagine a big piece would takes ages

 

Baste the wadding and fabric sandwich before you start, so that none of the fabric moves when you start quilting. Either safety pin or small stitches

 

But watch out...It can be addicitve!

 

Eek its exciting! I am going to do a small quilting project before I attempt a quilt.

 

Go on give it a try and see how you get on.

Let me know what quilting projects you try!

 

Hanmade thank you's

I have been making some more thank you cards. Using cut out wallpaper and sewing them onto coloured card. I love this look and think its quite effective.

 

 

 

 

And here they are, simple and effective, give it a try, its so easy!

recently...

Life is pretty busy, but here is a round up of what I have been up to recently...

 

 

So I have got back into crocheting, I have been making small flowers and playing around with different flowers

We went to a local abbey, with a picnic and then the sun came out!

Our sunflowers have finally come out, hooray! Its about 6 feet tall

Been picking lavender from the garden

Pansies are looking pretty

My daughter and I do lots of baking together, including these very chocolatey chocolate cookies, umm!

New crafty bits!

Look what I bought!

I splashed out and bought some coloured card (desperatly needed) and my first roll of washi tape. I have never used it before and seen it used in so many ways. So I went for it! I bought some purple checked tape. I haven't used it yet, but am looking forward to it!

 

 

Keep an eye out on what project I will make with my new washi tape!

Have you used washi tape before?

What proejcts have you used it for?

Sewing programme

I am quite excited about applying for this

The makers of BBC Two's The Great British Bake Off are on the hunt for a new kind of talent.

Are you serious about sewing?

We're looking for amateur sewing enthusiasts to take part in a brand new TV series.

From skirts to shirts, blinds to bags, if you're at home behind a sewing machine and a dab hand with a needle and thread, we'd love to hear from you.

New sewing series is produced for the BBC by Love Productions

I am going to apply for fun! Why not ah?!

Apart of the application I will add a photo collage of some of my sewing projects that I have done.

Watch this space to see what I come up with!

If you want to see more info on this new programme click here

Hanmade birthday card

Its always fun to sew stright onto paper, I love it, as you may well know. I think it adds another element to anything your making whether its for your scrapbook or a greeting card, it look great.

I needed to make a birthday card for a special friend, so I whipped one together. I hope you like it!

Hanmade scones: book club

We met together to talk about the thirtenth tale by Diane Setterfield and it was my turn to host. There are a couple of American ladies that are apart of the club, so usually the refreshments are a new tasty treat. I wanted to make something different and very English, so I got out my scone recipe and made some.

These are super easy and very tasty.

Ingredients

8 oz self raisng flour, plus extra for dusting

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 oz butter plus extra for greasing

2 oz mixed fruit (I used cheeries for half the mix)

5 fl oz milk

3 tbsp milk to glaze

Preheat the over to 220C.

Stift together the four, salt, baking powder and sugar. Rub in the butter and add the fruit. Stir in

150 ml of milk using a round bladed knife and make a soft dough.

Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and lightly flatten the dough until it is of an even

thickness about 1cm. Do not be heavy handed, scones need a light touch.

Using a pastry cutter, cut out the scones and place on the prepared baking tray.

 Glaze with a little milk.

Bake in the preheated over for 10-12 minutes until golden and well risen.

Remove from the oven and coll on a colling rack. Serve freshly baked.

I am from Cornwall so any cream tea has to be served with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam. Scrummy! Wrap in a tea cloth hot until your guests arrive and cut some strawberries, perfect, enjoy!

Enjoy your cream tea!