Marmalade quilty love, teeny cars and more pink tweed

August 3, 2013April 1, 2015 ~ Cuckooblue ~ Leave a comment

The sun is still shining here in Scotland (Yay!!!) so I took the opportunity to photograph this little quilt made with Marmalade fabrics from Bonnie and Camille for Moda. It measures 31.5” x 36”, 100% cotton.

I was really excited to see a collection in flannels, so bought them for this quilt, making it gorgeously cosy and soft. I think it is a beautiful quilt and exactly what I would choose if I had a girl – definitely my taste!

I stipple quilted it, backing it in this Ikea cotton print called Rosalie based on a Cath Kidston design. The design is a little “pixelated”, but really it doesn’t seem to matter once it’s all sewed up, and makes a lovely quilt backing.

My only minor regret with this quilt is that I hadn’t realised only some of the designs were in flannel, and so I didn’t receive many of the beautiful prints I really like, like this one:

So I did buy some of this print and make it into a washbag, which is very pretty, and may be on the “for sale” page soon! I keep wondering whether to go the whole hog and reinvest in the whole marmalade cotton collection just to satisfy my love for it, but I haven’t got a daughter – and even this quilt has not got a home to go to yet. I might put it for sale too. And I still have enough of the flannel for a 45” x 45” toddler quilt (bigger if I use a border), so I can’t really justify it 😦 I think my affair with Marmalade may be over…

… particularly as I am falling in love with (and trying hard to resist) this latest collection again by Bonnie and Camille called Happy Go Lucky:

… But I am seriously trying to resist because I have already spent many impatient months waiting for the release of this collection called “High Street” by Lily Ashbury for Moda:

You can’t see much of the fabrics here, but trust me, the designs are too beautiful, with just a hint of ethnicity and yet such modern bright girlish colours! I have NO BUSINESS getting this, as I am not going to get a daughter, and all the babies coming are boys, but I so badly want to sew up this collection that I have promised myself I can get it. If I make some sewing money. And when it is released. Which is August in the U.S. and probably ages for the UK 😦

Instead I am busying myself with wee projects like this little washbag I made for baby Hamish – I know I made him bunting, but this print was too cute – check those teeny tiny cars! You’d think a child doesn’t need a washbag, until you think about cotton wool, wipes, cream, bath wash and later on toothbrush, their own toothpaste – they are more high maintenance than me!

…and despite my dislike of making the same thing over and over, I was persuaded to make another bag using those pink and aqua fabrics, but this time a bit smaller 10.5” wide x 3” deep x 8” tall in middle – and with the fabrics reversed – pink on top. I actually like it much better this way – like the size and love the pink tweed. It was given to me years ago as a present, so when it’s gone it’s gone – I should remember that and enjoy using it now! The felt flower is a brooch, so is removable. I probably would remove it if it was for myself, but a lot of folk seem to like it.

And purse feet! Well, they are my new favourite thing 🙂 I know, I need to get out more…

So I should get going. I have heaps of stuff still to sew up instead of sitting procrastinating at my computer! Such as: A huge beanbag (pattern review to follow) almost finished for my friend’s husband. More travel chalkboards. A quilt for my goddaughter to be. Some Happy Birthday bunting for same precious girl (almost done!). A wholecloth quilt for a neighbour’s daughter. A christmas stocking for a neighbour’s new grandson. Some baby quilts for a few babies – including my new nephew who’s on his way in a few months, I can’t wait! Some washbag commissions. That’s a sneak preview of the next few blog page!! And at some stage I’ll be listing a few things on my new “For Sale” page… hopefully…

Hope you are enjoying the sun wherever you are,

Till the next time,

Poppy xx

ps you can email me at poppy@cuckooblue.co.uk

or visit my flickrstream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuckoo-blue/

All manner of bits and bobs

July 19, 2013April 1, 2015 ~ Cuckooblue ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t been working on anything too big since my friend’s two bags, which I gave her today – It’s so lovely to see her reaction, she was so thrilled! Particularly with her bag, she loved the size, pockets, shape, purse feet and particularly the fabric – and I gave her a few wee accesories to go with it, which was a nice surprise for her. She really is a darling, it’s hard not to give her more, she’s so appreciative!

And the accessories – I actually stole the bigger flat zip bag on the left to keep all Kiddo’s wee toys and things for my bag…

Drawstring bags by the way! They are the business, it’s the cord and toggle that did it for me. I love this one and was tempted to steal it too, but my superego won in the end and did the right thing. My friend was pleased with it, so I guess it was the right thing to do!

Meanwhile I got some thick insulating batting from my local fabric shop at a good price – like a loon on ecstasy I couldn’t resist it, even though I had no idea what I’d do with it. It is thicker than insulbrite wadding which I’ve used for insulated lunch bags, but it would make rather bulky lunch bags. But tea cosies on the other hand… they are supposed to be thick and, well, cosy. And I had the perfect fabric:

Then I realised that I never use a tea cosy, and hardly even this tea pot. So it is going to be a present to my friend Caroline, who has an amazing farmhouse cottage in the middle of gorgeous countryside with the most stunning views of the sea… and who insists on using a tea cosy every time – how aspirational is that?! And I seem to remember she has china mugs with exactly this pattern on it. I may become number one friend 😉 She is making me Godmother to her beautiful daughter in August; she gives me a daughter and I give her a teacosy. Not an equal exchange but she will have warm tea.

Next up is a commission from a girl in our village, who bought a travel chalkboard for her little son at the craft fair and got in touch asking for one for a gift. This is for a litttle boy too, so I used some Thomas the Tank Engine fabric I had – it’s a fact that all little boys love Thomas!

These are great and with ours I roll up some paper and sheets of stickers, and put chalks and coloured pencils in the pouch, so it’s a lightweight but sturdy complete art pack on the go.

I used a zipper pouch rather than velcro spots as the child is still quite young, and I worried in case the spots came off despite the most superduper glue ever. I think it’s an improvement – and then the hubby said ” I don’t know why you don’t make the pouch as tall as the board, then it will fit full size pencils in too”. Doh! Of course. It is a bit more fabric, but I think it’ll be worth it – I’ll try it next time.

And finally…

My lovely neighbour has had a new grandson. She is a huge fan of handmade, and bought several things from me for him whilst he was still snuggled in his mummy’s tummy, including these two quilts (both detailed in my Flickr stream)

So I thought I’d make the baby a wee present, this time of some bunting, for his room, maybe on the wall above his cot or above his door:

Hamish! Isn’t it a sweet name? I can’t wait to meet him 🙂

Well I think I should get some sleep now – we are having the best summer I have ever seen in Scotland – Kiddo and I even paddled through the sea yeasterday and the water was warm! Actually WARM! But all this summer makes you get out and do things all day, and frankly I’m pooped. I tell you, we wouldn’t be a naation of couch potatoes eating deep fried mars bars and goodnaturedly grumping at our lot if summers were like this more often – the country has been transformed! We have builders working in our garden just now who didn’t touch the chocolate biscuits I gave them with their coffee but ate all the fruit! What the??!

🙂

Till next time,

Poppy xx

ps you can email me at poppy@cuckooblue.co.uk

or visit my flickrstream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuckoo-blue/

In love with my machine

June 7, 2013April 1, 2015 ~ Cuckooblue ~ Leave a comment

And I am! The new needleplate came superfast thanks to the lovely folks at http://www.uksewing.com/ who were just wonderful and coped admirably when I phoned up slightly hysterical – and it arrived the following day, hurrah! And it turns out, the whole episode was A Good Thing, as I now feel suitably chastised about not regularly cleaning out the machine now that it is supersmooth. And where is that ratatatatatat noise of it sewing? Gone. I had forgotten how quiet it is supposed to be! Ahem.

So I have been putting it to good use. First with the ill-fated quilt of my last post. It remained a bit ill-fated as I sewed a deep pucker into the back and couldn’t bring myself to unpick it after everything – I thought it would never get done! So I left it, beautifully scarred, but made with love. (and sanity). The back is completely plain, and with all our plain-backed quilts we never see or show the backs, so hopefully it won’t be too awful. The front looks good though, I think!

This is the beautiful “Etchings” collection by 3 Sisters for Moda. I have used their fabrics a few times and am always struck by how unbelieveably soft they are – why aren’t all fabrics like that? More than any other Moda fabrics. And they are genuinely luminescent. With gorgeous classic designs.The biggest problem is they don’t show up as beautifully on photos as in real life.

This is from a quilt I made with this same collection last year (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cuckoo-blue/7443697326/in/set-72157630302286578) – just to show you that amongst all the muted classic colours and patterns there are street maps of Paris and blueprints of French buildings – quirky and sweet, but still grown up. I really like the collection 🙂

We ran across the road to take this picture against the backdrop of the forest we live next to after I complained that the car isn’t very inspiring, snapped a couple of pictures and ran back as the baby monitor was out of range despite us being 10 metres in front of the house… So not a great picture of the quilt, despite the lovely setting sun, but those wildflowers make me happy! I can’t imagine what the neighbours thought we were doing. N said it felt like streaking. If only we were so adventurous!

Quilter’s dream cotton batting, pattern is the “double slice” free pattern by Missouri Quilt Co again (link to the tutorial/ pattern is in my previous blog post).

… And I made myself a bag for the holidays, a pretty one which still carries all that kid stuff! Hurray. I initially chose this wonderful home decor print by Valorie Wells called Finnelopy in Curry from her Novella collection:

It’s so great and I was so sold on this as THE BAG for the holidays. Started making it. Was uncommonly pleased with how it was all going. Then, partway through, the husband wandered in, casually said he “wasn’t keen on the yellow” – “but it’s OK, it’s your bag, if you like it that’s what matters”. Hmpfff.

So. Somehow I just lost 100% confidence in it, and changed my mind; chose instead a lovely print called songbird in powder blue by Little Yellow Bicycle for Blend fabrics and here’s my new bag for the holidays:

Sorry in advance about the rubbish photos, I was losing the light! This is the fabric as it actually is, the colour is almost accurate, so you might just have to use some imagination and “superimpose” this on my bag picture!

It’s a pleated bag, measuring 15” at botton, 14” height and 4” depth, and I can confirm it’s the perfect toddler bag size!

The interfacing makes it soft but structured and will stand on its own. I actually really love it 🙂 So bring on the holidays!

I won’t be blogging for a couple of weeks as we will be enjoying the longawaited and most welcome sunshine with some time off, so meanwhile I’ll leave you with a picture of a finished lily stem – I did them with pipe cleaners and green florist tape. They look really lovely actually, and the flowers have been getting lots of compliments – another silver lining to the needleplate incident 😉 I will show you how I did them in another post as the internet was no help in making the stems for me (though lily tutorials are all over the place, which is great!)

Till the next time,

Poppy xx

ps you can email me at poppy@cuckooblue.co.uk

or visit my flickrstream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuckoo-blue/

Needleplates and paper flowers

May 23, 2013April 1, 2015 ~ Cuckooblue ~ Leave a comment

So yesterday I mentioned a quilt I was making – it’s for my brother and his wife for their new house. They’ve bought an amazing Victorian house near London and have been doing it up.

(from blog: http://victorianrestoration.tumblr.com/)

This is a picture of their living room, which is on their blog. Isn’t it lovely? On the basis of that, I’ve chosen what I think is the perfect fabric collection for a vintage but modern, cool, quirky but elegant quilt. I’ve made the top. Very happy with it. I chose cotton batting and have basted it. I thought I was so in control. Then I started quilting it.

ARGHHHHHH!!! Total disaster! It felt like the fabric was snagging all the time, especially at the turns (stippling, so a LOT of turns), and on the back – looped stitches, puckering, birds’ nests, the lot. Very unhappy. Deep breaths.

Messed with tension. Changed needle – 3 times. Re-threaded bobbin. Cleaned out sewing machine. OMG I could have stuffed a cushion with the lint! For every sewist reading this – CLEAN OUT YOUR MACHINE RIGHT NOW! Thought I’d cracked it. Machine easier, quieter, but just as bad.

Finally I saw this as I was reassembling my machine –

See that there? That tiny tiny little nick in the needle plate at the bottom of the hole where the needle should go through? THAT’S MY NEMESIS.

Eventually I ordered a new plate, and I’m machine-less for a few days till it’s here. Almost hyperventilated at the thought.

So I revived a very old love – origami, which I used to do as a kid, and decided to make myself flowers! Origami Lilies to be precise, very therapeutic! Here is the start of my bouquet:

I used Hello Luscious By Basic Grey- the paper version of the “Hello Luscious” quilt I did for my niece Florence (below).

I loved those colours, but with a boy-filled household (even including the dog!) I couldn’t justify making one for this house – so perhaps the flowers will be a compensation!

I just have to do a few more and fit stems to them – will keep you posted. By the way they are so easy to do – if you fancy a bouquet which won’t die or give you hayfever, google origami lilies and have a go! It stopped my idle machine-less evening hands baking anyway… good news for waistline, bad news for husband and son who are active hungry boys who care not about waistlines!

Hope the sun is shining where you are, till next time,

Poppy xx

ps you can email me at poppy@cuckooblue.co.uk

or visit my flickrstream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuckoo-blue/

A Finish!

May 22, 2013April 1, 2015 ~ Cuckooblue ~ 2 Comments

So I’ve finally finished a quilt for myself in a fabric line I’d coveted for SO long – Butterscotch and Rose by the enormously talented Joanna Figuera of Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. I didn’t need another quilt. But eventually I guiltily bought some in fear of it being discontinued soon and regretting. But the guilt has passed now it’s finished and being used – and I LOVE it!

Aren’t the colours glorious? It’s so cosy. The patterns are floral and vintagey but with a modern feel, and as all their fabrics the colours feel so fresh and vibrant whilst staying cottagey. It’s about 52” x 56” (I’ll check those figures at some point, but they are about right, a perfect sofa quilt size anyway).

I used the “double slice” pattern for Layer cakes demonstrated here by the ever-perky Jenny from Missouri Quilt Company :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxC-0T5lXw4

It’s a great pattern, so quick and easy. I made another quilt top (which I’ll show another day as it’s a gift) with it recently – in an evening, and a real pleasure to do, easy but not too monotonous.

I used wool batting for the first time – Hobbs’ Tuscany wool batting. It’s gorgeous to use, really easy to quilt. It gives a puffier result than cotton, but not nearly as much as high-loft polyester – it makes it feel very cosy. I’m worried about washing it, but I’ve read lots of forum posts by folk saying they’ve cool washed – and tumble dried! – with no problems, so fingers crossed when that time comes. It’s drapes so beautifully. My little boy keeps cosying up in it which makes me smile a lot.

And here it is on our futon sofa ready for TV watching with the husband when the boy is in bed (if I ever get off the computer/ off my sewing machine – ha!)

Till next time

Poppy

ps you can email me at poppy@cuckooblue.co.uk

or visit my flickrstream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuckoo-blue/