The Peaceful Lion | Le Challenge

Every month le challenge deadline arrives, and I am wondering whether I will finish what I intended to make - texting Lu in-between for some moral support. This month's theme was 'mix' and I knew I wanted to make something that would be a mix of fabrics - with hints of vintage. I knew quite quickly that it would a cushion for Little Baby MiH, but that was about it - and then I fell in love with this picture and I just had to make it happen (how did I survive before Pinterest, who knows?). 

I did not have the background  fabric in my stash - but found this great organic herringbone fabric at Ray Stitch (they have a great range of organic fabrics). It is quite sturdy which is great for home dec' projects. I had the felt - probably intended for a Christmas project many years ago, and the vintage fabric is from the vintage sheet swap organised by Mary. 

All set in the Moses basket, and yes the bumper basket is out again

The project was easy to put together once I finished making the template. I never make templates - I just get on with it usually and hope for the best (well to be fair I follow a lot of patterns). But this time I spent some time trying to create a picture and played a bit with the colour scheme. I made the template not knowing what I actually had in my stash, but the colours/fabrics I found are nearly the same one as the ones I had on my original template. 

All the pieces were ironed on the background fabric thanks to the wonders of fusible web - which makes unfortunately the embroidery step just that bit harder - and I really missed having a thimble handy. I drew the eyes and the mouth and just went for it with some black thread. 

I don't have any great pictures of the back - but I used the herringbone fabric and added a zip (thought that it might be wise to be able to wash if needs me). 

I love it despite not being perfect. The face could be a bit smaller, I may have been over-enthusiastic with the embroidery of the nose, and I am really not sure about my French knots technique. But overall the cushion is what I imagined it to be - it is a great mix of vintage and modern fabrics. It is also quite different from high street ones, and makes me happy every time. 

For all the other Le challenge entries, go here. If you enter a recently completed project that fits with the theme 'mix' - and let's face it this is quite easy - you could have a chance of winning a $25 Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate. Please remember to include the button or a link to Le Challenge in your blog post or Flickr description and use the hashtag #lechallenge if you're linking up from Instagram.

Cross-stitched Cushion | Tutorial {Upcycling}

I would like to tell you that I had the patience to make that cross-stitched panel myself - but there is no way I would ever have the patience. So I would just like to thank the person who did it for me, and then the person who put it up on Ebay and letting me have it for £2.99. I still cannot believe my luck. 

The back fabric was also a second-hand purchase - a piece of fabric from Japan - most properly from Etsy. I have had it for a while, and I always knew I was going to make a cushion, it just took me a really long time to get there.

So here is a quick tutorial to show you a very lazy way to make a cushion. 

1. Find a matching fabric for your panel and cut it to size. 

2. With a second-hand cross-stitching panel, you will have to be aware of the weaker points of the panel. Mine had been stitched before and the corner suffered a bit as a result. 

3. Pin the panel to the back fabric - mark the opening you are going to leave to turn the cushion the right way round. And stitched with a narrow stitch length (I used 1.6 on my machine). 

4. Once stitched around, snip off the corners.

5. Turn the cushion cover the right way round - and pull the corner -  I use the help of a pin to make the process easier. 

6. Fill the cushion with some soft toy filling, and sew the opening by hand. 

7. Et voila! A brand new cushion

Clearly the hardest bit is to find a cross-stitched panel, but it is worth looking for one. It makes a really unique cushion for your sofa!

What would you have done with a cross-stitched panel? 

Nautical Scrappy Stripes | Le Challenge {Quilting}

Oh! I am so excited about my stripes entry! Let me tell you it was hard to part with it, because this is a birthday present given at the beginning of the month. 

I did not want to knit another beanie hat for this birthday, so each present made is different. I had not seen the birthday boy for a while, but his Dad is much taller than Mr MiH (who is already 6'2) so I was not going to venture into making clothes. However I thought it would be nice to make something for his room, that hopefully he would keep for a while - not unlike the presents Lucy makes for birthdays. The theme I was given was nautical - with light blue, red and white accents. 

It was a great break from Christmas makes - and an opportunity to make the most of my stash!

Stripes really suited the nautical theme. And suddenly scrappy stripes came into my mind - and I just knew I was on the right path. It was easier to adjust the white and red accents - I am definitely an 'organised scrap' convert. It is also a great way to use my Creative Thursday fabrics (how cute is those little rabbits!). 

I wanted also to add something more specific for this birthday. I considered adding the name of the birthday boy, but I did not think it was really 'nautical' - not as much as a number is. 

I printed the 1 in the circle on golden threads quilting paper and machine quilted around the 1 and the circle and added some embroidery to make it pop.

I did not really quilt the cushion cover. I only stitched in the ditch between the white fabric section and the scrappy section. 

I bought the back fabric for this project as I like to have matching fabric for cushion covers (like for the Happy Feet! cushion). I used the Sew Mama Sew tutorial for the zipper. 

And here we are a birthday present for a super cute little boy!

And my first entry to le challenge that was made AGES before the actual deadline - oh, it feels good to be organised!

For all the other stripes entry, go over to le challenge. Do join the fun for a chance to win a $25 at the Fat Quarter Shop (open until November 16 at 11am UK time). 

Zigzags and other chevrons {In search of inspiration}

Is Chevrons dead? Is it way too 2012? Personally I don’t think chevrons will ever go out of fashion. It is my mathematical mind, it is all well organised, I love it. And yet I hardly have any in my home – and none in my wardrobe. I find it hard to actually make it work for me.

 1. Vintage Rainbow Chevron blanket (Picture from Pinterest, others in the same Etsy shop;

 or you can learn to crochet it via this tutorial and this one for the eyelet); 2. Notebooks 

by Jessica Hogarth Designs found on Notonthehighstreet.

However Jess has given me the perfect opportunity to overcome this difficulty – and I am on the hunt for some inspiration for a quilt. 

 I love the colours of this cushion. 3. Vintage cushion available from NeonVintage on Etsy.

4. Knitted cushion from Seven Gauge Studios found on Notonthehighstreet; 5. Cushion from 

Sian Elin found on Notonthehighstreet; 6. Tray (possible DIY inspiration?). 

7. Jay-Cin Designs for Birch Fabrics

So who feels they need more chevron in their lives? 

MiH and The international dimension

I love blogging.. I love sharing my projects, receiving feedback and learning from other bloggers. But what I especially love is receiving 'surprise' items for my home from other bloggers - especially when they are as talented as Jess and Annabella. 

I am sure both will tell you much more about their makes, the fabric they chose etc... Baby MiH and I decided that our role was to admire them. 

Is it a picture? Baby MiH is slightly taken by it all

I love how the sashiko quilting is fading in places - adds an interesting effect to the front. 

This one is adding some (needed) colour in our spare bedroom

I really need to learn how to make one of these zips!  

Annabella's table runner is just amazing. The quilting - that I tried to capture rather unsuccessfully - is making it very special. And I love the colour palette (brown and blue is actually the colours of our main room - perfect). 

Thank you so much ladies! You made my day, but also made blogging totally worth it! 

Triangles + Curves {sewing}

I finally started piecing together the triangles cushion cover and the Totally Groovy QAL. 

The cushion top quilt is now pieced together and needs to be quilted. I have spent the last couple of days thinking about this - I have it... until I change my mind again. Next week for an update! But so far so good - I do love triangles!

The piecing of the Totally Groovy QAL is on its way too - I must be really slow as everyone seemed to have pieced the quilt top within a day. In my defence I had to master the piecing of curves - a first for me. On the QAL post chains, Alyssa has asked other quilters to show us their tips - and after trying a couple I opted for the pinning method. It totally made sense to me when I read it - and I was able to replicate it quite easily. And here is the curvy start. This is a real fin quilt top to put together. So it may be time to think about the backing fabric - I am totally getting ahead of myself here - wild!  

I decided not to piece it line by line - crazy stuff...  split the quilt into blocks. I thought I may have more of a chance to make it look nice. Well you will have to decide when you see it finished!

Linking up late to Freshly Pieced today! 

Philosophical {Quilting}

I had a plan, a great plan... All was in place: we were going to my parents in France for the bank holiday weekend, I would take the bits for my triangle cushion with me, my very old, ancient sewing machine would be repaired and I would be able to enter Rachel's Heather Ross Nursery Versery contest on Sunday night. The car was absolutely full os essential things for the weekend and off we went. I had everything with me.. And this is how much was done!

You may think, well she was in France, catching up wit my family, there was a big party happening and therefore had no time to sew. Oh no no no.. how wrong, I did have time to sew, and I did sew - I told everyone to leave me alone to sew. The said 'repaired machine' was just not repaired really, and proved to be a nightmare. I should have known when I saw the state of the needle - and gone back to bed then and there! But I pushed through,ringing my Grandma who I knew would have some spare needles and decided it would be fine.  

It was not, and after a frustrating two days, I decided that I should just give up on the contest, and go and enjoy the sunshine. Sometimes you just have to be philosophical and change priorities. It would have been great to be part of it, but spending time with my family was time better spent than me swearing at the Singer (and I don't want the baby's first words to be my best French swear words either). 

Apart from that, the Totally Groovy QAL is now looking like this. We have had tutorials about curve stitching, so will try them out when I am back from my holiday. 

Otherwise I signed up yesterday's to the Low Volume Fabric Swap organised by making Rebecca Lynne. There are still a few places left, so come on guys, get involved! It will be fun! 

I am of course linking up to WIP Wednesday, and you can come and see other - more successful - WIPs here.