Project number three for the year

Fabric flowers from 2" circles

Begin by cutting five 2" circles from fabric using the Fiskars circle cutter.

Fold the circle in half. Thread a needle then tie a knot at the end of the threads. Sew a running/gathering stitch along the curved edge. Begin and end on the same side.

Gather up to form a petal, leave the petal on the thread.

Repeat for all five petals.

Sew the first petal to the last at the gathering point to secure then knot and cut off thread.

Add a button or bead to the centre. Glue a small circle of felt to the back then add a brooch back to the felt.

For the other flower, cut seven 2" flowers in the same way as before. Fold the circle in half then fold a third of the half circle towards you as shown below.

Fold the last third away form you as shown below.

Thread a needle as for the last flower and tie a knot at the end. Sew through the point then leave on the thread.

Repeat for all seven petals.

Sew the first petal to the last then secure with a couple of knots.

Stitch a bead or button to the centre. Glue a small circle of felt to the back then add a brooch back to the felt.

Second project for the year, fabric bucket

This is another project for a customer of Fiskars, these ad hoc projects just add to my goal of weekly projects for the blog and keep the momentum. These are instructions for a small bucket, but just alter the measurements accordingly to make a larger bucket.

1. Choose two coordinating fabrics, choose from heavy weight fabrics like canvas, furnishing fabrics etc. You want them to be pretty sturdy, although you can add stiffening or interfacing to the fabrics if you like.

2. Cut two, four inch circles using the Fiskars fabric circle cutter, one from each fabric.

3. Cut two strips of fabric 14 inches x 5 1/2 inches, one from each fabric, then sew each strip into a tube by stitching the short sides together.

4. Pin the matching circle base to the tube, then sew in place for both fabric buckets. One is the outer and the other is the lining.

5. No need to decide which pattern you prefer for the outside of the bucket as it will be reversible.

6. Turn both buckets inside out, then insert one into the other, right sides together matching the side seams. Pin around the top edges to hold in place for sewing.

7. Stitch around the top edge leaving a gap big enough to turn through to the right side.

8. Turn through.

9. Push one bucket inside the other then pin around the top edge closing the turn through gap. Top stitch around the top edge. 

10. Turn a cuff over the top of the bucket to expose the lining, then fill with your favourite things.

Done!

Bag panel progress

 Here is a little snap of what I am working on lately. Its a panel for a bag. I recently went to the AQC here in Melbourne and purchased some Japanese pre cut squares to make a bag, which I started then had a heap of little off cuts that I couldn't bare to waste so I cut them into circles by tracing around the base of a cotton reel before cutting. I then cut 2 inch squares from the remaining fabric and pieced two panels 6 x 6 squares each, popped a circle in the centre of each square using some Vliesofix then hand stitched through them all on the diagonal with some hand dyed thread

                                                                    a closer look

                 Both panels done. Now I just have to decide what type of bag to turn them into.

Christmas cheer and a Happy New Year

Here is a little decoration that I made for a friend for Christmas, it was fun and quite easy to make. I only made the one, as usual I left all Christmas crafting to the last minute and ran out of time. I'm hoping to create some more of these during the year for next Christmas, you never know, it might just happen.

Finished quilt

This is the finished quilt, I am not used to the whole blogging thing and really don't know what I am doing here so until I figure it all out the quilt steps will be out of order. I think I  need to post backwards.
Any way it's all below, out of order. I hope you like it.

this is how I created my quilt

 I cut up my old denim jeans into 6 1/2 inch squares, then I chose two flannelette fabrics for the backing and cut these into 6 1/2 inch squares.

I chose four red and white cotton fabrics for the stars and cut these into 5 1/2 inch squares, then I cut the wadding into 5 1/2 inch squares.

To create the stars for my quilt I used a Fiskars shape template and traced the star onto the wrong side of 24 denim squares, then I cut along the trace line from the inside leaving the edges of the square intact.

 To create the star blocks layer a 6 1/2 inch square of backing flannelette right side down, then layer a 5 1/2 inch square of wadding in the centre of the flannelette. Place one of the 5 1/2 inch red and white fabric squares on top of the wadding right side up.

 Layer the denim square with the cut out star on top right side up then pin in place.

 Six of each red and white stars pinned and ready to sew.

 I sewed around each star using red top stitch thread and just red sewing thread in the bobbin a little more than 1/4 inch from the raw edge.

 These are the sewn star blocks, where I didn't back tack I pulled the threads through to the back then tied them off.

For all the other blocks I layered the backing flannelette right side down then the smaller wadding in the centre then the denim square on top. I sewed straight through all three layers diagonally with the top stitch thread as before.

 Once all my 99 squares were sewn I cut a 1/2 inch square out of each corner of all the squares using the Fiskars rag quilt snips.