Balloon Mini in 'Apple Farm'

It's my turn on the Penny Rose Fabrics Project Design Team and for the project I am sharing today I picked Elea Lutz' latest line, Apple Farm (which will be in stores any day now!) I love Elea's fabrics and this collection didn't disappoint, in fact it may well be my favourite to date. Cutest farm scenes in these prints - did you spot the duck with the fluffy pompom hat?! Instant naww factor there.


And this is what I created: a balloon mini quilt - a little touch of childhood whimsy.


The 1.5" diameter balloons are applique backed with non-fusible lightweight interfacing. I hand embroidered the balloon strings using back stitch with 4 strands of cotton floss, and hand-quilted the mini in a criss-cross pattern, with circular hand-quilting around each balloon to make them pop. As my wrists have been playing up lately I cheated a little and appliqued the balloons with my sewing machine, set to a really tiny applique stitch, so the stitches are barely visible.


This mini is really a 'repro' quilt as the inspiration for it came from this vintage quilt, circa 1930s, maker unknown. Isn't it incredible? There is a crazy amount of hand-sewing there, both in the applique balloons and the hand-quilting - it's hard not to respect the person who created this piece of art, and no doubt much love went into each and every stitch. Penny Rose Fabrics specialise in vintage and reproduction fabrics - so I thought in keeping with that mission statement it would be nice to recreate this vintage quilt using modern repro fabrics. I didn't quite have the wrist strength or stamina to make the full size version - so I had to contend with a mini. I hope you like it - Alice's doll seems to!


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Cross-stitch love


It may or may not come as a surprise to you but I am a relatively new sewist, having bought my first sewing machine only 4 years ago. But I have been cross-stitching since I was 10 - it's really where my love of sewing first started from. Over the last 30 odd years I have finished dozens of cross-stitch projects, and also several big needlepoint projects too (using tapestry wool on canvas). I may share those old projects with you some day - the earliest ones are pretty funny to look at now as my teenage self clearly had a thing for garish colours!


I added some new cross-stitch books to my library recently, which rekindled my love for cross-stitch. There are some cute mini-motif books by Susan Bates & Jane Prutton, published by my own publisher Tuva, and three books by French artists Helene Le Berre and Veronique Enginger.  I always have a cross-stitch project on the go these days alongside my regular bloggy sewing work - that, and crochet are what I like to do on my 'me-time' and on the couch in the evenings (well not right now as I'm resting my wrists after a flare up of my carpal tunnel, as you may have seen on my Instagram feed. I'm slowly getting better.)

Here are some projects I completed recently - three pincushions which were gifts for sweet friends, and a panel which I am not sure what I'm going to do with, so any suggestions would be welcome! The bunny pattern is a free one from here, the other two pincushion patterns are from 'Friandises & Patisseries' by Helene Le Berre, and the 'Love' panel is from the same author's 'Le Langage Des Fleurs'.


If you are a cross-stitcher and haven't yet discovered Helene Le Berre and Veronique Enginger, go check them out on Google or Pinterest. Such elegant designs! Their older books are a bit hard to find but I managed to find these three on ebay and Amazon, and have a few more on their way to me.


Here is a little appetiser for you from these books. These are all designs that I want to make, in fact I had just started the macarons one when my wrists started acting up, so that's the one I am working on right now.


Hope you enjoyed a little bit of cross-stitch inspiration today and thank you so much for visiting!

10 comments:

Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt: Anniversary!


Today Fat Quarter Shop are holding a special event to celebrate the one year anniversary of Lori Holt's fabulous Farm Girl Vintage quilt and QAL event! In order to celebrate this special occasion Lori has created an anniversary block, which is now available as a free PDF download from the Fat Quarter Shop blog. It's the cutest ever cake block, which includes cutting instructions for two sizes (6" and 12"). I made the 12" block and added cheater print borders to turn into a mini quilt.


I used lots of my favourite fabrics in this quilt. The cake and borders are Yuwa, the heart decoration is Pam Kitty Morning, the frosting in the middle is Lecien, the cake stand is Liberty Capel in mint, and the background is Riley Blake Le Creme swiss dots.


I hope you like my cake quilt! I am now off to enjoy those macarons with my afternoon tea, but before I go, here's a list of all the other bloggers participating in this celebration. Pop over to their blogs to drool over their cakes!

Kerry from Very Kerry Berry
Vickie from Spun Sugar Quilts
Erin from Why Not Sew?
Kelly from Kelbysews
Debbie from Happy Little Cottage
Renee from Sewn with Grace
Sinta from Pink Pin Cushion
Lisa from In the Boondocks
Dana from Old Red Barn Co.
Melissa from Happy Quilting
Kim from Persimon Dreams
Marni from Haberdashery Fun
Jacque from Lily Pad Quilting

 ps - Lori has created a second anniversary block which you can also purchase and download from the Fat Quarter Shop blog, via the link before. Happy sewing!

5 comments:

Crossroads Quilt Along: Intersection Block

It's time for another block in the Crossroads Quilt Along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop in benefit of March of Dimes! The next free block pattern is now available on the Fat Quarter Shop blog, and it's the Intersection block. You can download the pattern here.


This block design is another favourite of mine - a great way to pair up favourite fabrics and colour combos. Here are my three Intersection blocks.

If you would like more inspiration check out the blogs / Instagram feeds of all the other designers participating in this quilt along!

Joanna of Fig Tree Quilts (@figtreequilts)
Pat Sloan (@quilterpatsloan)
April of Prairie Grass Patterns (@amrosenthal)
Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset (@emilyannskloset)
Melissa of Oh How Sweet (@ohhowsweet)
Angie of Gnome Angel (@gnomeangel)
Vanessa of Lella Boutique (@lellaboutique)
Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)
Erin of Why Not Sew (@whynotsewquilts)
Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio (@greydogwoodstudio)
Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)
Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane (@downgrapevinelane)
Taunja of Carried Away Quilting (@taunjalynn)

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'Desert Windmills' cushion

Welcome to my stop on the 'Desert Bloom' blog tour, showcasing the beautiful new fabric collection by my friend and fellow Riley Blake designer, Amanda Herring of The Quilted Fish.


I had the great pleasure of admiring these fabrics in real life at Amanda's spring market booth, so it was great fun to sew with them as soon as I returned back home. I picked the red/pink colourway to make a cushion inspired by windmills in the desert.


I hope you like my 'Desert Windmills' design! If you would like to make a cushion too (or perhaps a mini quilt, or even a big quilt!), I have written up the pattern which is now in my Etsy shop.


Here is a list of all the other bloggers participating in the Desert Bloom blog tour - pop over to their blogs to see the amazing creations they are making!
June 6th
June 7th
June 8th
June 9th
June 10th
June 13th
June 14th
June 15th
June 16th
June 17th
June 18th

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