Christmas Sewing - It's a Wrap!

As with every other household in the world, things here have been crazy!!  We've had my 16 year old God-daughter staying with us for three weeks - which meant I had five kids to sort out, children finishing school, organising school for next year.  Christmas parties, birthday parties and work work work.  I'm also struggling dreadfully with a horrid virus called "pityriasis rosea" - otherwise known as "the rash from hell". In between all of that and more, I've managed to get a ridiculous amount of Christmas sewing done.  I didn't actually realise just how much I had done, until I sat down to do this post.  You see, although I haven't been blogging very regularly lately, I HAVE been taking photos of what I've made and waiting until I had time to sit here and document it all!  Now is that time.....  Here are lots of pretty pictures, capturing all the pretty things that have been gifted or are waiting to be gifted!

 

Three lovely little zippered pouches.  The middle one was gifted to my Mum and is Liberty - it proved very interesting to sew.  Anyone with tips and hints on sewing with such fine fabric, feel free to share!  I love the other two pouches also, as I cut up little Cotton + Steel selvedges and added them.

 

I've become obsessed with metal zippers.

 

This yummy cushion cover has been sent to our December birthday gal from the Australian Handmade Birthday Club.  Simple AMH squares working together beautifully with linen and 12wt Aurifil thread.

 

I added a fat quarter of Tula and a little key fob.

 

We had our annual family Christmas party for my father in law's family this past weekend.  We only buy gifts for the kids under 16, and there's only our kids and two others left in that pool now!  So little Bianca received her own little personalised cushion.  She loved it!

 

Teacher's gifts have been received now.  This zippered case is for my daughter's teacher - a 23 year old man in his first year of teaching.  I was very happy with how enthusiastic he was upon opening it!

May have had something to do with the contents....

 

The prep teacher was gifted this yummy cushion.  I asked her what her favourite colour was a few weeks ago - yellow.

 

More 12wt Aurifil.  I freakin love using it for a distinctive finish!

 

After last week's horrible siege in Sydney, my lovely friend Molli took it upon himself to rally the quilting troops and whip up some of his hashtag blocks, which will be made in to some quilts for the victim's families.  These are my contribution.  If you want to know how you can help, head over to mollisparkles.com for all the details.

 

I joined the key fob gang, and whipped up these for little gifts.

 

I caught up on November's QCA Bee Blocks.

 

And put together this personalised cushion for my son's best friend's birthday.

 

And last, but certainly far from least, I participated in the Sweet Pouch Swap - Xmas edition - run by Ros at Sew Delicious.  This is my AMAZE-BALLS package I received from the ever lovely Peta!  I was gobsmacked, and thrilled with what she had sent me.  It was all a little overwhelming really!  The pouch itself it divine.  And when I took it with me to our Melbourne MQG get together, it got a whole lot of attention!!!  

 

In return - I sent off these goodies to Peta.  I forgot to take photos, so Peta very nicely sent these to me!  Peta is a huge fan of Bonnie & Camille, so I took out some of my charm squares and made her a linen and B&C pouch in Christmas colours.  The Christmas tree is really simple to put together - basically three little flying geese and then a trunk on the bottom.

And this is the other side.  Isn't she pretty?

So - that, my friends, is a WRAP!  I do have one gift left to make, but will get to it asap.  You know, given Christmas is two days away......

I hope you all have a super fabulous Christmas Day and enjoy time spent with family, friends and/or doing what you love.  I am looking forward to some time away after Christmas, so am unsure whether I'll be back here blogging before the New Year.  If I'm not, I'll just say Happy New Year now!
xxxx

The Cushion For Christmas Blog Hop Winners Edition!

Firstly, I want to throw out a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who not only participated in the blog hop, but also just popped in and commented leaving your encouragement for everyone involved and also letting me know that you were inspired to get your cushion making skills happening!  If there was one thing I wished to gain from this experience, it was to see all you creative peeps becoming even more creative (who thought that was even possible?) and sharing said creativeness with the rest of the world!  In total, there were more than 70 cushions made and shared between the Flickr Group, emails and the linky!  That's amazing!  I'm so proud of you all!

But having said that…… I now have to pick a favourite.  As I have explained before, it's like being told to choose your favourite child (which for interest's sake THIS WEEK is Lochie!  The eldest received a bevy of awards for his efforts in year 9.  Ssshhhhh, I didn't choose ok?).  Given I clearly have no problem choosing my favourite children  on a weekly basis, surely I can choose my favourite cushion yes?  No.  I threw it open to the other fabulous bloggers who all worked very hard to help bring you this blog hop, and they helped make it more difficult by all choosing different ones!  But……. This is the conclusion I came to:

The winner of a $50 voucher to the Fat Quarter Shop, for having the most votes for Favourite Cushion is……..

Mary Emmens!  Congratulations Mary, your gorgeous Snowy, Pebbles and Pete are fabulous!

Fat Quarter Shop - $50 Voucher!

Now on to the winners chosen for all our amazing runners up prizes……..

Congrats to Kathy for this gorgeous Waterfront Park cushion!  You have won a bundle of fabric from Polka Dot Tea Fabrics!

Polka Dot Tea - Fabric Bundle!

And to Amy with this fab "Xmas Tree" low volume cushion.  You have won a $25 gift voucher to The Intrepid Thread!

Intrepid Thread - $25 Voucher!

This darling mermaid cushion by Good Golly Ginger was especially chosen to be one of the winners by my mermaid adoring five year old Chloe.  Apparently I now have to make her one!  Congrats to you Katie, you've won your choice of three paper piecing patterns from Quiet Play!

Quiet Play - Winner's choice of 3 Paper Piecing Patterns!

Erin from Missy Mac Creations!  You've won yourself a $20 voucher to Patternsonly.com!

Patterns Only - $20 Voucher

Jan from Sew Surprising made quite a few awesome cushions!  This Pinterest one was a winner!  You've won a $20 voucher to The Oz Material Girls!

The Oz Material Girls - $20 Voucher

And last but certainly not very least is……

This super cute steering wheel cushion by Alisa at A stitch in Between!  Congrats!  You've won a fabulous pattern from Blossom Heart Quilts!

Blossom Heart Quilts - Ornamental Quilt Pattern!

Aren't they all amazing?  I truly wish I had enough prizes to give everyone something!  To those who have won, I shall forward your email addresses to the sponsors so you can receive your goodies ASAP.  

Once again - thank you ALL so much!  I was so very nervous hosting my first ever blog hop, and even though it was in the middle of the most busiest time of the year, I have enjoyed every single moment of it!  Seeing all the wonderful cushions shared by my favourite bloggers and all of YOU has put a big smile on my dial and kept my spirits high!

So to everyone - I wish you a very Merry Christmas and I hope that all of the lucky recipients of your cushions are just as impressed as I!

xxxx

Monday Night Quickie…..

Just a quick post tonight…… Basically because I don't have time to scratch myself at present!

I just want to say - YOU'RE MAKING MY LIFE VERY DIFFICULT!  I mean, when I said "hey - make a cushion for Christmas", you took me literally!  You have to go and check out the very talented peeps who have linked up so far HERE and HERE.  And a reminder to the rest of you - you have less than two days left to link up if you want to go in the draw for the awesome prizes!  Link up closes at 10am Wednesday 18th December (EST Aust.).

That's all folks! xx

GIVEAWAY DAY WINNER!

Thanks to each and every one of you who took the time to come and visit my blog and enter my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day competition!  The most fantastic part about it was that I got to see where you all came from!  I am quite certain you had every continent covered and I learnt a little about geography!

To all of you who chose to stick around and see what I get up to - thank you again.  I love that people actually see what I do and say!

So now….on to the winner…..  Mr Random.org pulled a rabbit out of his hat…… and would you believe…….

Out of 282 entries from all over the world…… Mr Random.org picked

Very random indeed!  So congratulations Jane!  Your charm pack will be in the mail this week!

On another note - the Cushion for Christmas Blog Hop is now open for everyone to link up their creations!  I have around 25 entries so far - keep them coming!  You have until 10am 18th December to link up - whether it be via HERE on the linky or Flickr or email.  GO!

It's A Wrap - Cushion For Christmas Blog Hop!

It's Day 14 of the Cushion for Christmas Blog Hop!  Which, sadly, means it's come to an end!  But on a very happy note - means you now get to…. SHOW ME YOUR CUSHIONS!!

But first, let's re-cap all the fabulous and inspirational bloggers who have shared their talents with you and I…..

Top L-R: Pretty Bobbins, Finding Fifth, Party of Eight, Things for Boys.

Top L-R: Molly and Mama, Me, Tickle & Hide, On the Windy Side.

Top L-R: Molli Sparkles, Blossom Heart Quilts, Me.

Top L-R: Me, Quiet Play, Quilt Jane, Little White Dove.

There have also been some wonderful creations added to the FLICKR GROUP.  You don't have to have a blog to link up here - anywhere that your photos are hosted - and they have a URL - you can link them up!  If you don't have your photos hosted anywhere on the internet, then feel free to email me and I will add them for you.  Basically, I just want to see what you've created - any which way!

On to the prizes……

Patterns Only - $20 Voucher

The Oz Material Girls - $20 Voucher

Fat Quarter Shop - $50 Voucher!

Polka Dot Tea - Fabric Bundle!

Intrepid Thread - $25 Voucher!

Blossom Heart Quilts - Ornamental Quilt Pattern!

Quiet Play - Winner's choice of 3 Paper Piecing Patterns!

One GRAND winner will be chosen by me - based on creativity and technique/skills.  The remainder of the prizes will be awarded randomly!

The link will be open from right now until 10am Wednesday 18th of December (EST Aust).  Winners will be announced 8pm Wednesday 18th of December (EST Aust).

So you have the next few days to get any cushions started and/or finished and linked up!  Go on…..what are you waiting for?

Day 13 - Cushion for Christmas Blog Hop!

Today is our last - but certainly not least - guest blogger in the blog hop!  Now, I LOVE all my bloggy friends who have helped bring you this hop BUT I have to say - I have a bit of a quilt crush on today's host - the fantabulous Quilt Jane!  There is nothing I don't like that Jane has produced, so when she responded to my request with a "yes" I was jumping for joy!  So thanks Jane! xx  Head on over HERE and see her wonderful interchangeable cushion covers - genius!

Now be sure to come back here tomorrow - as I will be opening up the Linky Party so you can all join up and show us your cushions for Christmas!  If you have somehow missed my blog posts for the past two weeks and are wondering what all the hoopla is about - head over HERE to my original blog post to get the goss…...

In other breaking news…… I managed to get 12 zippered pouches made up yesterday!  So I dare say I am done with the teachers gifts as well as some to sell!

The Elephants and Unicorns are big enough to be iPad covers!

I "only" have about half a dozen more projects to finish before Christmas….  How are you travelling?

I'm linking up with T.G.I.F.F. over at Quilt Matters - You can too!

Day 12 - Cushion for Christmas Blog Hop & A Custom Order First!

Day 12 people!  You just HAVE to head over to see Gina at Party of Eight: Our Story!  She has the sweetest little tutorial for a Christmas cushion!  Makes me want to get paint out.  When the kids aren't here.  Terrible mother I am…..

Anyway, there's only a couple of days left until I open the Linky party up for everyone to SHOW ME YOUR CUSHIONS!  If you're not down with the program, head on over HERE to my original post to get all the information you need, and make sure you're back here on time to link up!

Meanwhile, back at my place, I've finished my final order for the year!  Well, ever time I say that, someone else asks me to make something, so I shouldn't bet on it.  Every now and then, a customer comes to me with a new request - an item I haven't made before or made to sell before.  This happened a couple of weeks ago.  The lovely Emma had seen the Fairytale fabric I had in stock and asked whether I could make a doona (duvet) cover set for her daughter for Christmas?  Ummmmm, sure!  I've only ever made one doona cover before, but I knew it was feasible.  It was just working out a quote and getting the thumbs up.  Which I did to both.

So without further ado, here is the divine Fairytales Doona Cover Set that was posted off yesterday!

I had to try it on my daughter's bed to make sure it all fit properly……I didn't want to take it off….

I'd never made a pillowcase before, so had to wing it a bit……  I'll show you how I put it together at the end of this post!

It's just a little bit patchworky…...

So, how does one make a pillowcase when one cannot find a tutorial that mentions the foldy/envelope bit that tucks your pillow in?  Well, one takes off her own pillowcase, turns it inside out and works it out from there…..

But in case you were wondering, I took some photos to show you!

First of all, I measured up the existing pillowcase.  Mine was 29" x 20".  And then the envelope section on the inside of the case is an extra 7".  So, for the pillowcase front, it is 36" x 20".  The back is 29" x 20".

On both the front and back right hand sides, I did a neat little seam with no raw edges showing.  So fold the edge over half an inch, and then again, and sew done.

Here you can see the two pieces ready to go.

Place the back on top of the front, right sides together, with the longer section to the right (with the neat seams).

Then fold the longer section over on top of the back.

Like so.  You will have the right side down on to the wrong side of the back.

Pin it all in place.

Sew the entire way around with a 1/4" seam allowance and then neaten your edges with an overlocker or serger.

And you're done!  See the fabulous little envelope inside that will hold the pillow in?

This order was actually a lot of fun to make!  And it ended up so neat I was even surprised with my efforts!  All the inside seams - even on all the sections of the pillowcase were overlocked, so it should last many years to come!

I'm linking up with Needle & Thread Thursday - You can too!