Embroidered Cushion...Finished!

This week, I finally had a chance to complete my Aneela Hoey embroidered cushion. Again, I used the "Girl on a Tree Swing Pattern" from Aneela's new book, "Little Stitches." I then used some of my Liberty Lifestyle Bloomsbury Gardens fabric to create a simple pieced border. 

I think it came out really sweet and it was great fun to work on!

Funny Friday

My sister sent this to me on Facebook. I thought it was pretty funny...

Have a good weekend :)

WIP Wednesday...Embroidered Cushion

This week's task is to finish sewing up my Aneela Hoey embroidered cushion. I began the project during Aneela's class the other week. I've finally decided on what fabric to use to finish it off...my Liberty prints from the Bloomsbury Gardens collection. It will be tough to cut into but worth it as I think the colors really complement the embroidery.

Also, I found this great fuzzy mustache applique that I plan to make into a Can't Grow a Mo', Sew a Mo' block for DJ Coolbear.

Linking up with...

A book signing with Oliver Jeffers

This week, we were lucky enough to attend a book signing with Oliver Jeffers at our local Waterstones book store. Oliver Jeffers is one of our favorite children's authors and he was out promoting his new book, "This Moose Belongs to Me."

Little miss waited patiently in line so that I could get her a signed copy of the new book (he even drew the moose). The author was also kind enough to sign our copy of "Stuck" which is our favorite Oliver Jeffers' title. 

The kiddos waited patiently in the queue as my good friend, Mrs. Brown read "Stuck" aloud. 

I have such a great love for children's books and I'm so happy that I get these types of opportunities to meet our favorite authors and expose the little one to my love of reading as well. 

What's next? Another book signing by another favorite, Rod Campbell, in a few weeks time :)

DIY Christmas Ornament Tutorials (Christmas in July)

I'm still trying to shake an annoying cold so new sewing this week. However, as part of the LMQG, I put together this little mosaic of DIY Christmas ornament tutorials for a swap that we're doing in November. They're all so darn cute that I thought I'd share.

1. Scrappy Stockings 2. Felt Ornaments 3. Sewn Birds 4. Matryoshka Ornament 5. Quilted Coasters 6. Quilted Trees 7. Felt squirrel 8. Hexagons (for any EPP people out there)

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Can you believe that Christmas is in 94 days? Keep Calm and Panic now :)

Embroidery Class with Aneela Hoey

I had the great pleasure of taking an embroidery class with Aneela Hoey last Saturday along with some fellow members of the LMQG.

Aneela was such a great teacher and really down to earth. The class was fun and relaxing and I'm sure that everyone had a great time. We were all given a copy of Aneela's new book, "Little Stitches" and worked on the project called "Cherry on a Tree Swing" in class.  Initially, we went through some basic stitches and then spent the afternoon getting on with our embroidery.

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Aneela personally signed her book for each of us. Did I mention how nice she was?

I only managed to outline the little girl and tree during the class. I'm happy to do my homework though :)

I also picked up one of Aneela's new journals and a charm pack of her sew stitchy fabrics.

All in all, a great day out and looking forward to doing it again soon.

W.I.P. Wednesday

Not much sewing lately so I'm hoping to get back into the groove with these projects:

1. Sweet Little Dress Pattern by Leila & Ben: I've had this pattern saved for a while so when a fellow guild member made one last month, I was inspired to get out the scissors :)

2. Japanese Charm Swap: I'm up to my ears in cuteness with this one.

Until next week!

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Japanese Charm Swap

I'm participating in a Japanese Charm Swap over at Sarah's Narcoleptic in a Cupbaord.

I chose Postage Stamps by Pushpin for Kokka. 

Even the selvage was super cute...

All cut up and ready to swap...

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I can't wait to see what I get back :)

Union Jack Cushion..."I Love London"

Yes, yet another Union Jack Cushion/Pillow...

[Btw, I finally learned that here in the UK, a "cushion" is the decorative thing that you put on your sofa and a "pillow" is what goes on your bed. To contrast, in the US, a "cushion" is what you sit on when on your sofa while a "pillow" is everything else. Confused yet?]

Anyway, this one is a birthday present for my big sister (if you're reading this, it's in the mail!). She picked out all the fabrics to remind her of her last trip to London. Again, I used a pattern from the Bramble Patch like in my previous cushions here and here).

Front...

Back...

I used a serpentine stitch to do some simple quilting. I didn't think it needed any more since the fabrics had such busy patterns.

I hope she enjoys the cushion though...it's such a happy little thing.

A Toddler Reward Chart and other Shenanigans

I wanted to share this reward chart that we have been using (with great success) for potty training the little one. First, I found a free printable on Pinterest from Arian Armstrong (she has both a superboy & supergirl version).  Next, I simply printed it out at home, glued it to some colorful paper and then eventually had one laminated at my local print shop so that we can re-use it once it's been filled up with stickers. Little Miss gets a sticker every time she either sits on or uses the potty. It's really made a difference.

Here's the first version...

Here's the new laminated version...

Here it is up on the wall where she can actually reach it and put her stickers up...

Other Toddler Shenanigans...

It's was back to school yesterday (Hooray! but sad at the same time) but here's what the little one got up to in the 3 free hours before school started...

Water painting...

 Big Dot Marker fun....

Makeover time.... (poor "Sheepsies")

Until next time :)

A little stitch card...

I wanted to use a serpentine stitch to quilt a recent project so I created this little stitch card to keep track of my machine's stitches. There are a few of these on my Viking 875Q of varying widths and lengths with endless adjustment possibilities. So I documented the standard stitches and then started fiddling.

Someone once told me that stitching on paper can dull your needle but it's the only thing I had with straight lines. All I do now is hold up the card to any potential projects and pick my stitch and it's settings. It's primitive, but it works!