My Tuesday Treasure is .....

A Treasure Chest......

for my favourite pirate who turned 5 last week

This lovely edible treasure chest was made by DD1 - I think it's wonderful

Our little Pirate lives in the UK and he was 3 last time I cuddled him.....  it really is time for another cuddle. 

I felt really bad&sad as I had promised him I would be there for his party but things didn't work out.....

(eat your heart out Johnny Depp - you can walk the plank)

Pop along to Melody's House on the Side of the Hill and see what other treasures have been found - I do love the cottages she has found this week

My little blocks are growing......

hearts......

oh - I love, love yellow daisies.....

I really should clear up the loose threads before taking pictures!!

don't you just love this cute little stitchery on a 2" square

Definitely a project where I can get lost in my Happy Place

Hope you can too!

Mr Random has chosen ......

Hello, hello...

I had a chat to Mr Random this morning for the Bread Basket kit.........

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

2 

Timestamp: 2011-07-16 23:12:19 UTC

who is..............

2

Talin's Corner said...

Not sure if your "Bread" kit is open to USA residents, but please count me in. I love the way yours turned out.

Of course I will send to USA ... I'll send you an email to get your snail mail address......

I see others put the random thing and comments in nice boxes and lines..... I can't do that so you have my copy and paste way...... haha

If you haven't been round to Talin's Corner before pop over HERE.... she always has lots of lovely things to see... I just love the pincushion she has just made.... and an amazing Crazy Log Cabin quilt top - which is just another one I'd like to try...... mmmm

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Hubz is away for the weekend -  and it's cold and wet... so I stocked up with a nice pot of home made soup and my Precious, with a quilt to finish.... some videos, an audio book... with hand work to do ..... slippers and tracksuit...... mmmmmm

Amazing how much can get done when you don't have to tidy up...... or get dressed.... or make the bed......

Magical pinwheels....

.... free motion quilting....

Christmas Crafts ....

Thanks everyone for wonderful Needleturn tips on the last post......

6 1/2" square blocks ....

little stitcheries......

Well... I'm off to put the kettle on.... and I do have to go outside for a bit... the birds need some seed, the dog needs a doodle, and the fish want some snacks......... some chores cannot be avoided!!

Hope you get to spend some time in your Happy Place this weekend.....

A Journey to NEEDLETURN.....

A couple of years ago a saw a quilt made using needleturn....

"NEVER" ... said I ... "Far too Fiddly" ....

Never say Never

 

Wendy over at The Crafters Apprentice is challenging us to Learn something new and share it - so I had to take this up and try something new...... 

"Hey Wendy -  I present to you my LANT....."

I fell in love with Leanne Beasley's Butterfly Garden and I knew I really wanted Needleturn included ..........  so I have started my Needleturn journey...

There are a number of wonderful links - and I will just share a few that I have found helpful for learning needleturn....

Joanna at Applique today has a couple of great tutorials... One here on Preparation and another here on the Stitching....

This was relatively easy going and I rather liked the tuck and stitching......

I struggled with the little crease in the heart

and used a water soluble pen here so no marks after a spray

but the thicker lines were difficult to follow

  I found the pencil marks drawn messy on the light fabric - even after washing and small centre was difficult to do....

I tried this method here at One Piece at a Time using template plastic - mine was obviously not heat resistant as it buckled and bent but the method was easy to do.... so I used the same idea but using freezer paper as shown on Esther's blog - it is a bit fiddly and I did struggle to get the smooth edges as the paper can bend but I found I had a much better result.... (a toothpick was very handy to hold down edges whilst I ironed the starch)

and next time I am going to use a double layer of freezer paper to firm the template

I am going to add a bit of padding to the centre stars in my quilt... it will stop the other fabric showing through and give a little extra dimension....

I enjoyed going through all of Erin's Applique Lessons HERE and in this one she suggests using a double layer of freezer paper..... and a lovely BOM called My Tweets HERE - if I wasn't a learner I think I would be trying this one.....

Sue pointed out this tutorial at Fabric Therapy to me - she has used it with great results.  It is similar to the  I am doing but you place the freezer paper on the right side and use a glue stick instead of starch.....

I also tried a couple of different threads... a matching cotton ....

 

silk - light grey

  polyester matching the applique ....

I did enjoy the smoothness of the silk and the polyester threads

So many different ways, different threads..... in my humble opinion - try as many as you can until you find the one that gives you the best result..... for the moment I will be using the freezer paper and as close a matching polyester thread

I've made my plastic templates and cut out some freezer paper templates

attached them to the fabrics

and prepared some blocks.... I'm using dots of glue to attach the applique on the block prior to stitching

and last night this happened.....

Today is cold (Mr Weatherman tells me it's going to get to a whole 10 C) and it's wet ...

..... I'm not complaining - guess what I'll be doing!! .......

My Butterfly Garden Needleturn Applique has officially started!!!

If you Needleturn Applique I would love to hear your tips

Hope you can find your Happy Place today....

A Reversible Bread Basket......

I recently participated in a Bread Basket swap

.... I do enjoy the swaps that get me to make things I haven't done before....

I did find a number of tutorials which were wonderful for giving guidelines to size, how and what was needed.... however I did want to do one that was reversible.... so I adapted and thought I would share with you.....

It's not too difficult.... but of course we do need a snack first..... there's a fruit cake on the side-board.....

you do remember to wash hands don't you?

..... we are playing with fabric...

Supplies:

15" square of colour 1 (or adapt size to what suits you)

16" square of batting/wadding (ditto)

16" square of colour 2 (ditto)

2 1/2" strip for binding - about 80" long (I used a neutral linen) (ditto)

perfect project for fat quarters

2 metres of ribbon (80")

..... thread of choice ....

press all your fabrics

you are going to sandwich your pieces to quilt

I am doing straight line quilting here so you do not need to be an experienced quilter (I'm not)

place the larger fabric (colour 2) right side down

I used spray glue (but you can use safety pins - and if you're game a good press with the iron will hold it together (small project)

roll the wadding/batting over the glue sliding your hand and pressing to keep smooth

spray and add the 15" square right side up to the batting

cool... we have a small quilt sandwich

I find using a smaller piece on top means I will be able to see easily when I am 'quilting' it

draw your quilting lines... I used a water soluble pen but chalk or masking tape will do...

it does need to be able to wash out

do first lines 2 3/4" in from the sides at all corners... this will form the shape for the sides of the basket

you can see clearly how I did the lines in this next picture

the 4 lines across to form the shape of the sides

then diagonally from corner to corner (I like the little corner point as it forms the shape when you tie the ribbon)

then I did a criss cross along the base and lines around the sides ... you don't actually need to do anything at all but I would advise the basic 4 lines and corner points to help in getting a nice shape basket....

quilt on the lines

a close up of my quilting lines

and quilted.....

on my gifted one I did an all over free motion design - also with the 4 shape lines....

cut your 2 metres of ribbon into 8 equal pieces

pin them to the edges using your straight quilting lines as a guide... the ribbons go straight over the 2 3/4" lines  - 2 on each side of the square....

here you can see where I am using the quilting line as a guide....

stitch these close to the edge to hold in place

then add your binding ensuring  your ribbons are tucked neatly into place....

join the binding edges whichever is your favourite way....

sew the binding down.....

Done... Side 1

and Side 2

Now this does make a soft basket.... my bloggy friend Shez suggests using a very stiff interfacing and some pellon to get a more firm but soft basket -

and of course you can make the square bigger to make a larger base or higher sides..... (I was given one which is 18" square and has 3.5" sides.... it's lovely)

and of course you can make them rectangle... aah the possibilities are endless

Ooops... sorry I forgot to stop for snacks......

have a cuppa....

Now.. silly me didn't concentrate when I was cutting and cut the fabric while it was folded... so I ended up with 2 pieces of each size....

so I have a 'kit' for the same bread basket

(the ribbons not in the picture but I will get some)

make it for you or for someone else

great for summer BBQ's

just comment here - mention the word BREAD and I'll have a chat to Mr Random at the weekend

I'm trying to keep up with Helen's stitchery Lessons... this was Lesson 1

I need to go and trace out Lesson 2 - backstitch and get it done by the weekend!

I hope you can find your Happy Place today