Melody Miller Placemats

Today I'm sharing a quick and easy project I put together yesterday, as part of the Placemats Sew Along with the Fat Quarter Shop. I've been meaning to make a set of placemats for a veeery long time, so when I was asked if I'd like to participate in this sew along, I knew it would be the perfect prompt for me to get it done, rather than leaving it for another few years. And this was a seriously quick project - all four placemats took about four hours from start to finish. I call that a win! I'm so thrilled with how these turned out - such an easy way to add a burst of colour to our outdoor eating area.

I made these placemats using a Soft and Stable White Project Pack, kindly supplied by FQS for this sew along, combined with a couple of long-hoarded and very favorite Melody Miller linen/cotton prints. Although the Project Pack comes with full instructions to make strip-pieced placemats, I decided to make use of these gorgeous prints. Not only do they look awesome, but because they are a pretty heavy weight fabric, they will stand up to regular use really well (I made a Necessary Clutch Wallet from one of her cotton/linen prints almost four years ago, and have used it constantly since - and it is still going strong!) And with three smallish children, hard wearing is a pretty essential feature for household items like these! I've not used Soft and Stable before, but I have to say it is ideal for this kind of project - it is lovely to sew with, and looks fantastic quilted. Plus it's washable, so we will be able to throw them in the washing machine when they get grotty!

I made a couple of other very small changes to how I made my placemats compared to the instructions provided in the pack, for purely aesthetic reasons. I wanted to quilt the placemats, so rather than just stitching the strips on quilt as you go style, and then sewing the back on around the edges as per the instructions, I decided to layer my back, Soft and Stable and front, and quilt all three layers as I would a quilt. I used another long-hoarded, favorite fabric on the back of these too - a print from Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party collection.

The other small change I made was to bind them as I would a regular quilt. The instructions provided in the pack teach you how to use the backing fabric as a binding (by folding it over onto the front). This would have been the ideal way to do it - except that I only had enough of my chosen binding fabric to make regular binding. Because I was using a single print for the front of each placemat, I decided they really needed a contrasting binding to finish them off. And happily, I had JUST enough of that fabulous Waterfront Park cerise print to bind the floral place mats - I think you'll agree, it is the perfect combination! I chose a Cotton & Steel print for the binding on the tea cup print placemats - I love how the navy works with the coral.

I wanted to quickly mention the threads I chose for the quilting on these too (because I stash thread almost as much as I stash fabric). I chose a variegated coral Aurifil 40wt for the pink tea cup placemats, and it works awesomely well for a bit of subtle interest. For the floral placemats, I used a heavier weight 28wt Aurifil. I bought a selection of Aurifil 28wt cotton while I was in Adelaide for the Australian Machine Quilting Festival last year for a quilt I was making at the time (and I will be sharing that particular quilt soon - I just need to get around to finishing off editing my photos for the blog post!), and one of the colours I had was the perfect choice for the floral placemats. I'm a bit addicted to 28wt threads at the moment - they give such great definition to quilting stitches and I'm finding I'm using them every chance I get.

These four placemats have found a home on our new outdoor table. Our summer project this year was building a deck in our back garden, and we have been using it almost nightly over the last few weeks, making the most of the longer days before day light savings ends. The only problem is the table seats eight - so I'll be needing to make another set of four sometime soon ;o). I have a few other Melody Miller prints earmarked for the next set of these - so stay tuned, I'm hoping to get them sorted in the near future!

I know I've been promising a few finished quilt posts for a few weeks now - life has conspired against me of late (a really nasty cold + real job doesn't leave much time or energy for blogging), but I'm almost finished editing the photos so I'm hoping next week will be a big blogging week for me ;o).

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I'll be celebrating my brother's 30th birthday and my nephew's 2nd birthday over the weekend, and hopefully get a bit of sewing in around all the cake eating...

xx Jess

Purse Palooza - Necessary Clutch Wallet

A couple of months ago the lovely Sara from Sew Sweetness asked me if I'd like to write up a pattern review for Purse Palooza 2013. I immediately said yes - the wallet I'd been using for the last couple of years had recently busted a few seams, so it gave me a great reason to get my act together and sew myself a new one. If you head over to Sara's blog (sometime soon I think) you can read my review - but I thought I'd share a few photos here as well :o)

I used one of my very favourite Melody Miller prints for the exterior, accented with Kona Cerise - I figured it's something I'll use all the time, so it was worth making it in a fabric I love. It has LOADS of space inside for cards, a huge coin pouch and closes with a twist lock.

I didn't realise until earlier today that the divided section in the middle is designed to hold a phone - it's been tested now and it really is the perfect size for my phone. Complete win.

I'm not normally a matchy-matchy person at all - but the fact that it fits perfectly in the front pocket of my Melody Miller messenger bag and coordinates rather beautifully is a bit of a bonus :o)

xx Jess

Melody Miller Messenger Bag

Since finishing mum's knitting bag over the weekend, I've been on a bag-making high. Who knew I would love making bags as much as quilty things? Admittedly this one has been a looong time coming - I cut most of the pieces last summer and was feeling really nervous about making it (which is probably why I've left it this long). But last week, the bag I had been using finally died, so I decided to put my big girl pants on and make this one. Lots of photos to come :o)

I used Amy Butler's High Street Messenger Bag pattern (yes, the same one as I gave away last week - I accidentally bought two copies.) It's designed to be a laptop bag, but it's incredibly roomy so I'll be using it as an everyday bag (because as a mum I'm always carrying a LOT of stuff.)

I've pretty much used Melody Miller fabrics for all of it (apart from a few bits of natural Essex linen for some of the hidden bits). I've used bits of most of her collections I think. The entire bag is interfaced with cotton duck. I'd never heard of this stuff - it's a heavy cotton canvas, and gives the bag a really nice weight to it. I used my walking foot for pretty much all the sewing (apart from the zips). There were a few tricky bits with lots of layers, but all in all it wasn't as bad as I'd feared.

The bag closes with a flap with a magnetic clasp at the bottom (first time installing one - and it worked pretty well.)

Under the front flap is a pleated pocket. 

I fussy cut some bees and moths for the side panels.

The back has a zip pocket and features one of my all time favorite Melody Miller prints :o)

 The inside of the flap has another pocket.

And the inside has a hanging zippered pocket panel, with lots of little pockets under it for pens and things.

I am completely in love with it! Now I've overcome my bag making fears, I think I'm almost ready to tackle a Weekender :o) Caitlin is now stocking the patterns in her shop if you're interested in jumping on the Weekender bandwagon too!

This is my third finish this quarter in Leanne's FAL! 

xx Jess

Sashiko Cushion {Finish}

This one finally made it's way across the sea to the UK today, so I can show you the cushion I made for Nat in our little swap. After a few stumbles (and abandoning my original idea completely), I decided to use the sashiko panel I made for my tutorial in the Something New blog hop and make it into a cushion.

I cut a piece of batting the same size as the cushion insert (14" x 21") and used simple QAYG to add off-centered borders around the panel. The teal fabric is an Art Gallery solid - I've never used these solids before, but I definitely will again. They are just gorgeous - they have a really soft hand and remind me more of a voile than a quilting cotton. The texture once it's quilted is just to die for.

For the back, I used some Melody Miller typewriter fabric - which coordinates so perfectly with the solid on the front (and works really nicely with the thread colours I used in the sashiko).

Thankfully Nat likes it - but still, I'm pretty sure I got the sweet end of the deal with this swap :o)

The kids are on Easter break until next Wednesday, so I doubt much sewing will get done in the next week or so. I hope all of you who celebrate Easter have a great holiday!

xx Jess

Fabric Stashing - Melody Miller

I think Melody Miller might be an actual genius. I have been fairly besotted with her fabrics since I first saw them, and have been gradually collecting her prints over the last few months. I posted these a while ago:

And they are just so gorgeous, and different and funky that when Ruby Star Shining was released I was desperate to get some. Problem was, by the time I organised myself enough, the gorgeous typewriter prints had sold out :( What else to do but console myself by ordering (most of) the other prints in the collection.

And then by glad coincidence, a few weeks ago Melody tweeted that Miss Matabi on etsy had just gotten some typewriters in, so ordered some of these.

And I'm so glad I did. I feel my life is now complete (no, seriously I do - they are the most lush fabrics I have ever laid eyes on!) I'm seeing quite a few pillows, zippy pouches and maybe a quilt on my horizons. If I can bring myself to actually cut these up :p

xx Jess