A Mat for Stumpy

When we moved into the new house I decided to retire my old dressing gown. It was tending to be used as a lap blanket mostly anyway. It was Stumpy's favourite.
Rather than just throw it away I cut it up and made a little blanket for Stumpy. My main motivation was him sleeping on my ironing board. I needed to make him a nice place behind my machine.

I cut the biggest rectangle I could get from the front then squared the corners. I cut 2 x 3" strips from some cat fabric. I measured the long side and cut two border strips to size and stitched them on. I then measured for the second two border strips. Such a simple thing, but I had to learn that making the opposite border strips the same length kept my quilt square.

The cat fabric had the cutest selvedge.

I used my trusty 505 basting spray. A few squirts along the borders and a few waves across the middle and press it neatly into place on the backing. I didn't use any wadding. I just cut a second piece of the dressing gown for the backing. No fancy FMQ for the cat. I stitched in the ditch of the borders.

I also stitched around the edges after trimming the backing. I made some single fold binding with my binding machine. So quick and neat. I don't roll it up. I just feed it through by hand and let it fall off the edge of the table as it comes out.

It fits behind my sewing machine. Well, close enough anyway. Now all I have to do is get Stumpy to use it instead of sleeping on the ironing board.

DH and I also worked on some Glassapplique business. We have found a lovely couple who visit all the weekend markets and they love our dichroic glass jewellery. We hope to have a healthy wholesale business with them. Here are some of the pendant sets we made. They are not fine art but they are great at the markets. I will get back to playing with the glass soon.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Update:

Opening Glass Applique

For the past 3 months I have been having a lot of fun making little fused glass beauties. When My husband said he wanted to buy a kiln my first thought was "Yay! I can make my own buttons... or glass quilt blocks....or zipper pulls! What fun!"
I have done a lot of surfing the web and visiting craft shows but I have not seen quilt themed fused glass items. After playing around for a while I realised why. It is very fiddly but it is also satisfying. Since my first thought is to make something to go with my sewing I don't mind fiddly. I like to try to copy the different quilt block designs or just try to make something cute and pretty.

This one is flying birds.

My husband was keen to try his skills at making detailed animal pendants. He has the skills with the tools but just needed the right outlet to use them. His interest was in the sparkly dichroic glass to highlight the silhouettes. Of course I saw pretty sparkly buttons.

I made this shirt from my Short and Stout range.

Just with fabrics I never seem to have enough glass colours and a big trick with the glass is that what you see is not what you get when you fire it. Also if I don't like something I have to make a new one and glue bits one day, then fire it the next day, then look at it the next day. It takes three days to try something. It is like crafting in slow motion.

Since I liked many of the pieces I made and I hadn't seen much like them around I thought maybe others would be interested, so I have joined my husband in the shop. I make quilt block pendants, buttons, zipper pulls and brooches all with a bit of a patchwork and applique theme.

I bought some very pretty fabrics to make some small projects from Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

I thought it would be easy to make some things to showcase my buttons and zipper pulls.

Not so! I can make a great pouch. This one is from Sew4Home with a few changes. The fabric is the feature not my zipper pull. It seems I need a whole new way of thinking to use the pieces I make.

I then made a little frame purse. The first one I made had little owls on the outside. Once again I had made the fabric the feature. Back to the sewing table. I tried the brown and orange piece with the new arrangement. You would think it would look OK but it still got lost in the fabric. I then tried the little cream letter and I think it looks great.

I didn't fully close the jump ring because I am putting this one in the shop.

Finally I am asking that you go and have a look at all the things we have made over at Glass Applique and maybe pin a picture or two from here or from the shop.

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Short and Stout Tote

I have so gone off making quilts and have just gone crazy buying fabric to make little things. I originally bought the Short and Stout to make a quilt but I don't really want to start another quilt and I didn't want it to go in the cupboard so I made a tote bag.
I subscribe to Sew 4 Home and they had this pattern featured a few weeks ago. I added an outside zipper pocket and I made the phone pocket into a zipper pocket for extra safety. I also put a wider zipper pocket above the open pockets on the other side. I am quite an expert at inserting those pockets now.

Wouldn't you know that even though I have made lots of glass buttons not one was the right colours. I don't have too many glass colours but I thought this combination would look OK. The colours change slightly when melted. I put together a zipper pull for the outside pocket too. These are waiting until I get a few more pieces to fill up the kiln.

I am thinking I will make the fabric flower to put on the bag as well.
The link will take you to the page with the Tim Hiltz tote and a few other items. I also love the Eclectic Elements fabric.
Eclectic Elements projects

Happy Quilting and Crafting,
Val

Buttons or earrings???

I can't decide if I will make buttons or earrings from my projects. Maybe both. I love the feel of the fused glass. It is so much fun to make quilty looking jewellery and I can't wait to try some little dishes.

Maybe some brooches when I get a little neater with my piecing.

Linking up with SewDarnCrafty linky party week 124

Happy Quilting,

Val

 

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