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.

Highbury + Islington Baby Quilt | WIP {Quilting}

Is it bad to hope that my friend's baby will be late? I can remember that being overdue was awful... and I would not wish it on anyone, but I do not think that this is going to be ready for when the baby arrives. I am making progress but not quickly enough - and yes it is the simplest quilt of all (5 big strips of fabric). But it is going to be so cute!  

 

Here are my fabric choices..

1. (backing) Koi - Smile and Wave in Reed; 2. Happy Drawing Elephants; 

3. Free as  bird | Pollen, Up, Up & Away; 4. Botanics: Graph Paper Garden in blue

The quilting is very simple, as I really wanted to focus on the fabrics. I did consider FMQ .. for 5 minutes ... and thought better of it. It is not for me, so I am going for safer grounds here.

I am totally getting ahead of myself here - because I have a long quilting way to go, but I need to think about the binding - what do you think guys?I cannot get gold out of my head for some reason... 

In case you wonder she is expecting a boy... I know there is blue fabric in it but I do not think it is really gender specific.

As it is Wednesday, and this is actually a quilt, I am linking up to Freshly Pieced today.

How to Sunday - How to showcase your handmade {Photography}

On Monday I started watching the Quiltcon lectures (available for free on Craftsy) - they fit in neatly in my routine as they are about a naptime-long. There is one that has totally inspired me - 'Homemade Lifestyle Photography', by David Butler. David talks about talking photography of course. This is not a technical lecture however, it is about writing a story and how photography conveys the story.  

If you did not know (I did not), David Butler is Amy Butler's husband and the designer behind Parson Gray fabric line (which I used in my Totally Retro Groovy Quilt) .. He also does all the lifestyle inspiration pictures for Amy Butler Designs. 

The lecture really spoke to me because I really find it hard to showcase my handmade makes. It is easier in a way to show work-in-progress projects because it does not need styling. Clothes are easier to show as well because you just need to wear them... But how do you make the most of your quilts, cushions etc? 

I suppose it never clicked that handmade interiors items could be treated like clothes that I can style, despite the fact that I read a lot of interior design magazines. But why not? I put as much effort in making them as I do for clothes, so why treat them differently?

So here I was on Saturday, Baby MiH asleep upstair changing my whole living room around, pulling out handmade items scattered around my house, and styling it, just for fun and see how I can style a space. There are many areas in the house that I can style differently - without foam board (David talks a lot about foam boards).  My living room looked totally different in an hour, which is not too bad considering how long it takes for a quilt to be handmade. 

Another thing came out of this styling, I actually want my living room to look like this all the time - and so does Mr MiH. Guess we should start saving as the whole electrics need to be changed to make it happen... 

Has a lecture, post or article inspired you recently? How do you style your handmade - do you have a conscious process or you have a preferred space to take pictures? I would love to hear your thoughts.