Stitchalong Rach's square 12-141/40

Here are my squares 12 to 14. I think my favourite is the butterfly!

Billycart Markets

Billycart Market is a handmade market aimed at kids 0-12years old. It is held on the Northen Beaches of Sydney. Mum and I will be having a stall at the markets on the following dates this year:

• 26th June
  
• 25th September
• 11th December
  

All markets will run from 9am-3pm at Lakes Parish Hall, 21 Lagoon St, Narrabeen, NSW. There is a $2 entry fee for adults which goes to the Starlight Childrens Foundation.

Come along and have a look. It's always worth checking out a handmade market. You can also have a look at the website for more information- Billycart Markets.

Kitchen set!

Over the weekend I made this pretty kitchen set. The set includes coasters, pot holder and pot mat. The pot holder has both thick batting and a thermal lining so absolutely no heat will pass through. I used a mix of fabrics including cottons and linens. I machine appliqued all the fabrics in a collage like manner and then machine quilted over the top. These are so pretty they could also be used on the reverse side. More images on flickr, going on Etsy

Stitchalong Rach's square 11/40

Here's my 11th square - shopping basket with bread and flowers. Will be doing a double square tonight!

Stitchingalong Sarah's Square 10-14/36

I was away for a long weekend so didn't get to blog any of my squares. I actually stitched 5 over the three days as I really enjoyed doing them. I expect to get another one done tonight. Rach- Love your robot!

Coasters, coasters, coasters

I made 3 sets of coasters yesterday. It was fun to combine the fabrics together! I think I'll make some more of these they are great for gifts. I also made this gorgeous 'pot mat' I just love it. I combined all different types of fabrics, appliquing layer on layer and then machine quilting. I was inspired by one of my Japanese books.

Stitchalong Rach's square 10/40

Patchwork storage baskets

I had a very productive day today, that always makes me feel happy! I'll blog over the next few days. Firstly I made some new storage baskets. A little different to my last one, these are made with a combination of fabrics including linen, antique linen, cotton and Japanese fabrics. These baskets are great for storing anything from sewing supplies, to stockings, to scarves or even potatoes in the kitchen! I have ideas for more and want to make them in different sizes.

Stitchalong Rach's square 9/40

Stitchingalong Sarah's Square 9/36

This is my 9th square. Another double one!

Patchwork bird tote

I loved the bag I made the other day so much I had to make another one. I changed one of the fabrics though. Going on Etsy

Stitchalong Rach's square 8/40

Stitchingalong Sarah's Square 8/36

This is my 8th square.

Stitchingalong Sarah's Square 6&7/36

These are my 6th and 7th squares.

Stitchalong Rach's square 7/40

Here is my 7th square - a cute little house with felt applique and embroidery, my design.

Stitchalong Rach's square 6/40

Stitchingalong Sarah's 5/36

Here is my 5th square.

Bird totes

Last week I made these cute little girly totes for a special order. They are very pretty and femminine. To make these I used some vintage French linen my mum gave me, combined with cotton and antique hand woven Italian linen. I machine appliqued the bird and then hand embroidered. The flower is a vintage hand dyed doiley. So pretty!

Stitchalong Rach'ssquare 5/40

My 5th square is complete! A cute little ladybug hand embroidered, my own design. I've used this design all over the place it's so cute!

Stitchalong Rach's first 4 squares 1-4/40

I have finally caught up after being ill on Friday. I have finished 4 squares and will do the fifth today. It is so much fun, you get to embroider all the things you love in mini version so it keeps it really interesting. Square 2 is appliqued lace with embroidery which I learnt to do last year at my creative embroidery class. Square 3 is my design felt applique with embroidery. Square is also my design little sprig embroidery. Some of the future embroideries are from (or inspired by) some of my books so I will indicate this as I go along. Stay tuned for more. Of I always love everything my sister Sarah does and I can't wait to see mum's work!

Stitchingalong Sarah's 4/36

Here is my fourth square. I have almost finished my 5th so will blog it soon. Love Rach's mushroom!!

Rachel's 1st '40 Squares' block

This is my first of my 40 squares. I was ill yesterday so I will have to do the 2nd and third blocks today so I'm not behind. Stay tuned!

Various Embroideries

These are some embroideries that mum, Rach and I have done in the past. I made all of them up into cushions.

The top and 4th ones were made by mum. I think that she got the design from a French Embroidery book. The 2nd and 3rd ones were made by me. The 2nd one was my design and the 3rd one was from a really old Australian embroidery book that I have. The last one is by Rach- her own design.

Stitchingalong Sarah's Square 3/36

Here is my 3rd square. It's my fairtale character- Little Red Riding Hood. Sorry the photo is a little crooked!

Little Bears

A little something I stitched from another Japanese Embroidery book. I did another one of a bear hanging from a clothes line but forgot to take a photo of it. They are really cute!!

Stitchingalong Sarah's Square 2/36

Here is my second square. A cute little frog. Jamie especially loves this one!

Stitchingalong Sarah's Square 1/36

This is my first square (rectangle) in my mission to stitch 36 (1 for each year of my life). I have designed all my squares, some of my inspiration like this first one has come from books/magazines/fabric and others I have designed myself. It is very tempting to sew more than one per day as some of them will be very quick to sew. This one took a little longer. I have made my grid 8 x 5 am using 1 1/2 inch squares. 1 inch was very small. I have also drew up 4 double squares (rectangles- like my first one) so that there are 36 blocks in my grid rather than 40.

Crowns, crowns, crowns

Last week I made 11 eleven crowns for our riends kids. We had a late Easter Egg hunt for all the kids in the park. My friend and I decided to make all the children crowns and Easter egg bags. They had great fun and looked so cute! More images on flickr

Stitchalong

Rach and I just discovered the 'Stitchalong' idea- link on the right. What a great idea!

We are going to take the challenge and tell mum to do it as well. It's exciting getting a new project to do! Rach will be doing 40 squares for her 40 years of life, I will be doing 36 and mum will be doing too many to count!! Rach's Italian friend Carla is also going to do it- 38 squares. We decided to put together a list of things we would like to sew (like Amy suggested) and see how different we make them. The aim is to stitch one square per day and blog them. We will also put the pictures on Flickr. Our list is as follows:
1. Mushroom
2. Mouse
3. Flower
4. Gnome
5. Bird
6. Heart
7. Cat
8. Dog
9. House
10. Tree
11. Teapot
12. Teacup
13. Umbrella
14. Butterfly
15. Bird Cage/House
16. Fish
17. Whale
18. Robot
19. Babushka
20. Hedgehog
21. dragonfly
22. Little Girl
23. Little Boy
24. Owl
25. Bunny
26. Turtle
27. Apple
28. Bee
29. Ladybug
30. Fairytale Character

All sqaures after 30 are to be a surprise made up by each person.

This is going to be fun! I have to go now and start sewing sqaure number 1!

Lucy's easter present

Yippee I managed to finish Lucy's last minute Easter present in time! She's 4 and spends a large part of the day drawing. She wakes up in the morning and draws! As she often does wonderful drawings I decided I need to immortalise some of them with embroidery and/ or application. I kept this little drawing in a safe place for months waiting for an opportunity to do something with it. As Lulu loves bags I made a spring bag for her with her design on it. I machine appliqued and then embroidered all of her line work. I'm really happy with the result and Lulu is too she recognised her design immediately! Happy Easter to you all!

New creations

Some new creations finished off this week, and new ones begun! I decided at the last minute to make Bellaboo bunny for Lulu for Easter. The pattern is from Melly and Me's 'Kaleidoscope' book. I bought it at the Sydney Quilt and Craft Fair last June and hadn't made anything from it. I just love their patterns they work so well! It's just amazing how things turn out, fantastic. I love Bellaboo's dress and it was so easy to make. I'm making something else for Lulu which I'll blog before Sunday. I think I will make some late Bellaboo Easter gifts for some special girls in Oz after this weekend. I'm a bit slow off the mark this year!

Also made this cushion using some of my gorgeous antique linen. I machine appliqued the birds and then hand embroidered them. The heart is filled with lavender and is so pretty. I machine quilted the base fabric and then made a tulle and cotton flower to finish it off. More images on flickr