Sew Me! Take 2 (not just with quilters in mind)

I haven't forgotten to tell you about Cheep's magnificent new tail, the photos have been taken but I have something I must show you first . . .

Remember the Sew Me! project? Well there was another very special secret sewer, Stephanie or as she is know to her many blog, facebook and etsy followers, Madame Millefeuilles. I knew that she would be very busy with her many projects and her lovely family but she's just revealed what she's been making with my fabrics over on the Millefeuilles blog. Thank you so much Stephanie for taking part in Sew Me! xx

In addition to the lovely crisp linen/cotton canvas that Su, Tracy and Gina used and can be seen here on my Sew Me! Pinterest board; I've now added some smaller versions of Stripe and Sprigs with quilters in mind. And to test them out I thought I'd have a bash at machine quilting.

On holiday in Canada in 2001 I bought a book with some lovely ideas for quilting blocks, Scrappy Duos: Color Recipes for Quilting Blocks. Of course it got put on the book shelf and I never did any quilting . . . until this summer!

I had 5 fat quarters of fabric:

Ruby Small Sprigs

Stone Small Sprigs

Sea Small Sprigs

Stone Small Stripe

Sea Small Stripe

From these I was able cut squares for this design

I then machine stitched them together, the book explains this very clearly and it means being very methodical and precise – which is actually very calming and satisfying to do. It doesn't take long to put all the pieces together.

I wanted to try my hand at hand quilting – I don't think any of my vintage sewing machines is cut out for machine quilting and I wanted to work on it while sitting of the sofa in the evenings. I've no idea if this is the 'right' way to do it, but I used a thin cotton batting (actually it's that thermal stuff that's used to make curtains warmer) and backed it with soft well-washed vintage cotton sheeting. The thread is a fine crochet cotton which just happened to be the perfect shade of blue.

I enjoyed working out where the stitching should go to make patterns around the squares.

When the busyness of this pre-Christmas season is over, I'll have time to make it into a large cushion cover/pillow case. 

The fabric is Retired Kona Cotton (quilting weight). Rather frustratingly Spoonflower have introduced a new version of their Kona Cotton with brighter more intense colours. So if you order make sure it's the RETIRED Kona Cotton rather than the new one.

I'll have to do a test swatch and adjust the colours for the new fabric . . . oh well, that's manufacturing for you!

But on a positive note, it's lovely to sew - doesn't slip and irons really easily (though you do have to iron on the reverse or use a protective cloth just in case the heat discolours the fabric).

Mmmmmm this was fun! maybe I'll make a whole king-size bed cover one day?

All my fabrics can be ordered from my Spoonflower shop.

And a huge thank you to Stephanie for adding her needle skills to the Sew Me! project.

Celia

xx

Cheep's tail coming next, I promise x