BossyOz

Hair scrunchies With girls around, it seems that one can never have too many hair scrunchies! They are super easy to make with jelly roll strips and some elastics! ( Instructions on UK Quilters United ) Odds & sods bags Perfect little bag for storing some nappies, wet wipes, spare set of clothes and a small cuddly toy. You can make these fully reversible bags with two Fat Quarters. ( Instructions on UK Quilters United ) Art work display To avoid making wholes in the walls in our rental space, I made this art work display by using some hand printed charm squares. Once folded in half and sewn together, I filled them with dried yellow peas. ( Instructions on UK Quilters United )

= = =   Currently £4   = = = Almost seven years ago, I posted a tutorial of sorts, showing how you can make your own customised footmuff (also known as cosytoe, bunting bag, pushchair bag, etc). It has by far been my most popular post, attracting over 50k hits. After receiving a request to contribute to the Baby Feature (#babyfeatureUKQU) on the UKQU website , I have now updated the tutorial and turned it into a downloadable PDF pattern with images explaining the various steps of the process. As usual, it has taken longer to get the pattern and tutorial written up than actually making the item itself! Feedback on  my original tutorial  can be found in the comments section on the original post. Get your copy of the pattern To make your own customised footmuff, please head over to my UKQU shop ; whilst you are there, don’t miss the opportunity to also download some of my free patterns to make the UKQU logo (appliqué and FPP); just make sure you cli...

As part of the work with the UKQU website, I was given some Makower Christmas fabrics to make something with - more or less free marketing for Makower and a chance to play with some fabrics for me... I don't often accept 'making something for nothing', but this being the Scandi 2018 range and being allowed to keep the makes, I couldn't resist. With the bright sunlight this weekend it was rather difficult to get great pictures, and one is definitely out of focus.. Head over to  ukqu.co.uk  to see the full article, including a short tutorial on how I made the runner.

My sister bought a new sofa and the parents said it was purple / plum. Not knowing the exact colour I opted for a scrappy cushion cover in various purple and lilac colours. As I had some leftover, I also made three coasters.  By reusing the hardware from lanyards at work (we rebranded and everyone got new lanyards), I made around 50 new lanyards, some of which were donated to charity. DD1 made me proud whilst designing and sewing this LOVE-ly quilt for her little sister's dollies. One of my work colleagues emigrated to the United States and couldn't bring all her fabrics with her.... This is one of the bags I made with the fabrics I got from her. Thanks Jo ! As DD2 already has a large-ish quilt, it was time to make one for DD1. Her favourite colour is yellow, as may may have guessed. It still needs to be quilted, but at least the top is pieced! 

Sometimes it is just easier to make your own rather than go out hunting for the right size in the shops!   These have special double layered thermal insulation in the middle and then one side made from cotton fabric and the other with super soft brushed cotton.

This is a common combination of useful gifts for a newborn and the mother! The simple feeding apron, or more jokingly sometimes called " the hooter hider ", provide the mother (and the nursing baby!) some privacy whilst feeding in public. Once you get the hang of it, it is really useful and makes sure you don't hesitate to breast feed when the baby is hungry, no matter where you are!  There are also two covers for the soft packs of wetwipes (see TUTORIAL here ), and finally a really useful odds and sods bag . The bag is lined and easily takes a few diapers / nappies, a bottle, wipes (in their cover!) and a burp cloth. As the baby gets older it also works as a first bag for kindergarten / nursery with spare clothes and perhaps a cuddly. 

Of course, if the big brother gets new cool pillow cases, then the little one NEEDS some too!!! She is absolutely fascinated by flowers and ladybirds at the moment so the front version was a given! The one behind, has some red dots on pink background.  She absolutely LOVES them!

I have recently made two new pillow cases for DS, as he has moved up to full sized pillow for sleeping (and reading!). He was given a selection of my fabric stash to select from and immediately grabbed these ones with scooters and vintage planes!

This is my entry to the Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013 . UPDATE:  The baby has arrived!!!  Please see end of the post! Presenting the Friendship Star and Tulip Baby Quilt : So why this quilt? First of all I am expecting our third child, it should in fact have arrived a week ago, but it is still hanging on in there. It has now been nick named The Squatter and an eviction order may been served any time now! Secondly, I was sent some really yummy fabrics by one of my online quilting friends which I just HAD to use! So, this was what I started with, all originally cut as 5x5 inch squares. Based on what I had at hand, I sketched out a few different layouts based on quilt blocks I like. The friendship star block is one of my favourites and I knew I wanted to use it. At this stage I had (stupidly) already stitched together the HSTs, so had to make do with what I had. At times it felt like an IQ test... This is what I came up with (excuse the hand drawn sketc...

This cover fits UK standard packs of soft packs of baby wipes., e.g. the Pampers packs with 56 wipes. Approx finished size is 18 x 11 x 3 cm (7 1/4 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/4 inch) If this is the end of the tutorial, please click the link below saying READ MORE >>

It was Mamma's birthday on Wednesday last week, but due to extremely slow mail deliveries, I haven't been able to publish this entry until now!! It seemed a shame if she'd seen her presents on the blog before she had opened the parcels! As almost everyone else I know, she already has everything , and as always it is really difficult to come up with ideas of what to give her, especially when we are no longer living together, or even in the same country. She was the one that made me interested in sewing, much more so than the horrible sewing teachers I had to endure at school... So, here goes, this year's birthday presents : two vintage star cushion covers, based on the Starflower block. Both have a quilted front and a simple back with the border fabric at the edge of the opening on the envelope cover.

I haven't had as much time as I have hoped to get things ready for the Charity Christmas Fair this year, as DH has been doing lots of travelling and I am also busy preparing for Baby 3 arriving some time in October.  Currently I am working on five of these star blocks. I haven't yet decided if I make some more and turn it into a larger rectangular table runner, or if I keep them as separate blocks. Individually they'll be almost as place mats or "mug rugs". In the end it really comes down to what I believe we'd get most money by selling. There seem to be a magic limit for how much anyone is prepared to pay for a table runner, and based on that we'll probably raise more money by selling them individually. I have based these on the blocks we used for the Hugs Quilt , but simplified it down to only two colours.

Another one I hadn't blogged, as at the time I couldn't.  It is over a year since my niece was born, so definitely time to share pictures of these gifts!  I was given a metre or so of the top of some Barbapapa sheer curtains by my sister, with the request to make "something" for her not yet born daughter. Thanks Sis.... Trying to be good, I made her some practical things: Change bag, lined with pink and red spotted fabric. Apparently she has been asked many times where she has bought the bag and she is known due to her bag at the local children's centre! Cushion cover: I also made her a pillow case to fit the cot pillow, but unfortunately don't seem to have a decent photo of it.

I know it is August, but it is already time to prepare for the annual charity Christmas Fair in November.   I am really struggling to find inspiration, and there are so many other things I like to do before Baby 3 arrives. I have however managed to "help" the local fabric shop to get rid of some of the Christmas fabrics from last year... A definite win-win as they gave me a rather good price. Thanks!

Resized a pillow case to fit the pillow we are using for DS.  It is not as crooked in real life as it looks in the photo..

When we visited the parents in law a few weeks back, MIL showed me the catalogue for Paul Feiler's exhibition at the local gallery with a comment that his paintings would look great as quilts.  I thought that was a brilliant idea and planned on making her a quilt for Christmas, but then her birthday was coming up and there was just about time to make a cushion cover for her.   The one I have tried to recreate was on the page she left open. This piece was made in 2000 and is called Janicon XLI (oil, silver and gold leaf on canvas).   Hopefully this was one of her favourites!

As seen over at Happier than a Bird Quilts , I have made a start on the giant star quilt. It is so fast!!! This is also a great quilt block for showing off fabric with larger patterns. It seems this is originally from  In Color Order , do go there and have a look at the tutorial; although it is really simple using huge HST.

It is done and it has been given to its little owner, who immediately sucked it... Must be a good sign, right?

The Christmas Fair at the Swedish Church in London opens to the general public tomorrow Thursday. Then it's closed on Friday, before opening again on Saturday and Sunday. Just make your way to Harcourt Street (close to Edgware Road, Marleybone and Baker Street stations) in London. This year I have made and donated only child related items as they sold well last year. The other  ladies have all been busy making Christmas related items. I am going to be in the stall tomorrow morning through to early afternoon. Please come by and say Hello! or Hej! My items include: Long-eared soft cuddly fleece rabbits, wetwipe covers, crinkly squares, pencil rolls and fleece hats have all been delivered ahead of the VIP opening tonight and the general opening tomorrow. 

Today, I have finally managed to create something for the Christmas Fair!!! I made some covers for packs of wetwipes as the ones for pocket tissues  Kickssons made last year sold really well. Hopefully these will be popular too! If you are interested in making these, but don't fancy 'winging it', please come back as I am preparing a tutorial for this simple but fun little project.