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.

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.

Rag quilt steps part two

 I then arranged all the squares to get an idea of how I wanted the quilt to look, just as a side note I arranged the squares to create an alternating pattern on the back as well. Then I stitched the squares together in rows using a 1/2 inch seam, then stitched the rows together, then lastly stitched around the entire border 1/2 inch from the outer edge again using the red top stitch thread.  Having removed the corners on each of the blocks reduced the bulk in the joins.

 I then snipped all the seams, the outer edge of the quilt and the raw edge of the stars using the rag Quilt snips.

 I used a lot of top stitch thread.

 I then washed the quilt in the washing machine and threw it in the dryer to fluff up the cut edges.