Hex-cell-ent!

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? So, the good people over at Makeful asked me to participate in a little challenge they were hosting to decorate cellphone cases. Being that I'm a quilter, I tried to think of a way to use fabric to decorate the case (not very easy once I started thinking of all the ways that wouldn't work very well), and I came up with this wee idea!

Unfortunately, they weren't able to get a hold of a case that would fit my Galaxy, so they sent me one for an iPhone 6. Luckily, it fits my iPod Touch almost exactly. The camera hole is a little off but since I never use the camera on my iPod - not a big deal!

I used some little Liberty scraps from my stash and made the hexies using the English Paper Piecing method I describe in this tutorial; these hexies are 1/2" per side. I was worried about the hexies lifting off the case or the fabric getting dirty and grubby, so I adhered them to the inside of the case rather than the outside.

Can we talk about how hard it is to take a picture of a clear phone case?! So many reflections! I love how the hexies look like they're floating in the case, and it's pretty fun to be able to show off some much-loved fabric prints.

P.S. In case you're wondering where I've been the last few months, I was very busy getting married and stuff! It was a great day and we had so, so, so much fun.

Stash-Busting Blog Hop + More Liberty Love!

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? I am thrilled to have been asked to participate in the Stash-Busting Blog Hop, and today is my day! There are two books featured in this blog hop, but I'm only going to focus on Scrap Happy Sewing by Kim Kruzich right now. I may have my reasons for saving the other book for another day *wink*!

I had a little bit of extra time over the weekend after finishing the quilting on a little baby gift, so I decided to get started on one of the projects in the book. This little hoop is part of the Simple Cloud and Raindrop Hoops pattern; I used a print from Indian Summer for the background and a lovely Liberty tana lawn for the raindrop itself. This little hoop is made using one of my absolute favourite sewing techniques - sketchy applique!

Here is the full pattern set from the book. The templates include the cloud and four different sizes of raindrop; mine above uses the largest size raindrop in a 6" hoop.

I'm sure many of you have heard of Kim, better know as Retro Mama, or read her blog. I am absolutely thrilled for her and the book is fabulous. If you'd like to see even more projects from the book, be sure to check out her blog as she's been posting lots of pictures over the last little bit.

After I finish off my little hoop, this is the next project I want to make from the book! This is the Fox Clothespin Bag and I think it's flippin' adorable! See the thing is though, I don't have a clothesline, so I need to figure out another fun way to put these little guy to use because I really am in love.

Frankly, all of the projects in Scrap Happy Sewing are adorable and I want to make at least one of everything (the Easy as Pie Apple Potholders? My gosh!) and I think you will too! If you're at all interested, Stitch Craft Create is hosting a giveaway for this book, the other book I mentioned (try to figure out why I'm not talking about it in this post!), and a bunch of fat quarters. You can enter that giveaway and see all of the other blog hop participants here.

Sew Pretty for Little Girls + a Liberty Fabric Pull

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? I am so thrilled to have been asked to participate in the Sew Pretty for Little Girls blog hop - it is one gorgeous book!

Just to nip any confusion in the bud straight off, this lovely book by Alice Caroline is also known as "Little Lady Liberty" in the UK (which is a title I just adore by the way).

This book is just full of lovely Liberty goodness, and you know I love me some Liberty! While the book is marketed as projects for little girls, I think many of them (such as the Isabel Baskets, Rosie Floor Cushion, or Zoe Lampshade) could work for just about anyone depending on the fabric choices.

Case in point, my Grandma is turning 85 in June and I'll be making her the Mia doll! She absolutely loves this type of doll, so this is the perfect opportunity for me to make one for her.

These are the fabrics and trimmings I'm thinking of using for the dress portion of the doll. All of the fabrics are Liberty quilting cotton and I'll be using the pink for one side of the dress and one of the blues for the other (I'm leaning towards the pale blue in the middle right now).

I'll also definitely be making myself a variation on the Orla Pencil Case, because I have this...

Liberty scraps! This is just a snippet of my Liberty scrap stash and I think making an Orla would be the perfect use for them (I'm also contemplating some EPP clamshells). Yep, this book is giving me all kinds of ideas!

If you're interested to learn more about the Sew Pretty for Little Girls (or if you want to see some more lovely pictures and drool over all of the Liberty goodness), be sure to check out the list of hop participants here.

Tutorial: Welcome to the Neighbourhood

Hey y'all! Things have been quiet around these parts lately but that's because I'm in the middle of getting everything ready for the EPP class I'm teaching at Sewing Summit - I cannot believe that it's only 10 days away. I'm so excited! But let's not talk about that right now, let's get onto a fun, new tutorial - woot!

I received these lovely fabrics in the mail a couple of weeks ago from Liberty of London and Sew, Mama, Sew. These fabrics are from the Stile collection by Liberty Art Fabrics and they are lovely! You would not believe how excited I was to receive a package marked with the Liberty logo in the mail - I've never been able to buy anything directly from Liberty, so it was quite a treat! Now why, you may ask, would Liberty and SMS possibly send me these beauties? To take part in a super-fun pillow challenge of course! And, because I'm me and I love to write patterns, I decided to turn the challenge into a tutorial - woot!

Introducing... Welcome to the Neighbourhood! This little pillow uses all 8 of the Liberty prints I was sent, plus a few solids, to create a little gathering of sketchy applique houses! This tutorial is more about the applique than the specific dimensions of the pillow itself so you can feel free to make it any size you'd like (mine is about 9x13"). So let's go!

Materials:
-Scraps (prints and solids) for the houses
-Linen background fabric
-Black thread
-Heat and Bond (or other paper-backed fusible web)
-Template

Directions:

Print off the houses template (print at 100% without scaling). Using your fusible web, trace each piece from the template onto the paper side.

Cut out the templates from the fusible web, leaving a little bit of room around each template. Label each template so that alignment and fabric selection is easier.

Following the directions for your specific web, steam the template (glue-side down) to the wrong side of your fabric.

Cut out each template along your tracing lines.

Peel off the paper backings and decide on the placement of your pieces against the linen background fabric  - as you can see from the picture above, the roof overlaps the chimneys and a teeny bit of the body of the house. Follow the directions for your fusible web to fuse them into place.

Repeat the above with the window and door pieces. Fuse into place.

Now here's where we get to the fun sketchy bit! Using your black thread, stitch around all of the pieces that you've fused. This is supposed to look sketchy and slightly uneven - try not to get hung up on perfection here! It's all part of the fun! Make sure to go around each bit so that they are permanently stitched down.

As you can see, after I finished sketchy-stitching my bits down, I added another strip of Liberty fabric across the top to resemble the sky. I also added some sketchy wisps out of the chimneys, and hand stitched a french knot onto each door for a door knob.

I finished off the pillow by stitching a piece of cotton batting to the wrong side of both the front and back pieces of the pillow to give it a little loft. I used another Liberty print on the back (and for the label) and did a simple turned finish.

I hope you like my little tutorial and that it inspires you to try some sketchy applique - it's quite fast and fun! If you do end up using the Welcome to the Neighbourhood templates or tutorial, I would love to see it! Either share it in my Flickr group or feel free to drop me a line!

Thanks so much to both Liberty of London for the fabrics and to the entire Sew, Mama, Sew team for putting this challenge together - I sure had a good time!

Be happy. It's one way of being wise. -Colette

A couple of weekends ago Alex and I headed up to the blue mountain for our friends' wedding - we had a grand time and it was a really lovely celebration. I decided to make myself a clutch for the occasion since I didn't own a small purse that matched my dress.

I used Anna's Envelope Clutch pattern and made the small version with a pointed flap. I didn't have a swivel clasp on hand (and no time to head to the fabric store) so I inserted the wrist strap directly to the pouch while sewing it together. I used Essex linen/cotton in natural for the body and some Liberty of London tana lawn in Caesar for the flap. The Liberty was a gift from the super-awesome Jo and is actually available in her Etsy shop right now!

For the interior I used the turtle bay print in aqua from Tula Pink's Prince Charming collection; I also used the same print in cream for creating the little accordion pocket (which I think I messed up by the way, but it still works). I included one of my labels that I printed through Spoonflower... ya know, just in case I forget who made it *wink*!

As always, Anna's pattern was well-laid out with lots of pictures and great instructions! I really enjoyed making this clutch and will definitely be making more in the future. I want to make a bigger version with the other flap style for carrying around day-to-day when I don't need my huge purse; I also want to try a version with piping since I've never tried it before!

I also made Tim and Julie a card to go along with their wedding presents. I absolutely love using small fabric scraps for making cards and have made quite a few in the past - it's especially great for using up little bits of fabric that are too small for actual patchwork. As you can see there are some small pieces of original release Flea Market Fancy in there that I've been keeping; I keep all of my teeny pieces in a sandwich sized zipper bag so that they're easy to access when I'm card making.

If you stay posted to my little space here you just might see some more cards coming in the near future... just sayin' *double wink*!!