Monday, February 20, 2012

Creative inspiration and the kitchen chair cushion

Since stumbling across the site in December, I have spent many hours on Craftgawker. Not only do I like viewing user projects in a giant thumbnail grid, but I also enjoy the way the projects are sorted into categories. I found this tutorial for a quilted chair cushion in the quilt category and immediately wanted to make it for the chair in our kitchen. So after a visit to my favorite local quilting shop, I put together this lovely little cushion.

New cushion for our kitchen chair
I made my cushion a little smaller than the orignal pattern and opted not to do any top stitching. Overall I am quite happy with the way it turned out. If I were to make it again I would possibly make it a little larger and add a little more stuffing.

I anticipate that I will make many more projects with inspiration from craftgawker.

-Steph

Sunday, February 19, 2012

What I've been working on: Chuppah Quilt

For our wedding, PD and I built a chuppah for the ceremony. PD built the frame out of wood, and I sewed the top with the intention of one day making it into a quilt for our home.

Steph & PD

Me and PD under our chuppah on our wedding day

Chuppah quilt

A few weekends ago, after picking up some 100% cotton quilt batting on sale at Fabricland, I finally finished our chuppah quilt! My forearms were a little sore from wrestling the 6 foot x 6 foot quilt through my sewing machine. It was certainly worth it though.

Chuppah quilt

The quilt now has a home on our couch with our pillows and our friend Earl the Owl.


Chuppah Quilt in action
 
It is a nice lightweight blanket that we will enjoy for many years to come. It also makes a great napping blanket, as PD demonstrates for us.

 -Steph

Friday, February 17, 2012

What I've been working on: Fabric storage basket

PD and I share the space that is our workroom. I wanted to make him something to help keep his area tidy. I found a really great post on Skip to My Lou with links to 10 tutorials on making fabric baskets - here. I chose to make a variation on #6 - fabric scrap baskets, and it turned out pretty good. Here are the photos!


Fabric storage basket


Cutting out the fabric - my basket is more wide than the original pattern.


Finished Basket


Finished basket


Work station before


PD's work station before


Work station after


PD's work station after! A nice tidy space.


-Steph

Thursday, February 16, 2012

What I've been workin on: Party Bunting

I celebrated my 28th birthday last week! I wanted to decorate the house but wasn't interested in buying party streamers and balloons. So instead, I sewed up a scalloped fabric bunting banner that we can now use for many different occasions.

Craft time

A pile of fabric to sew.

Sewing from scalloped bunting for my birthday

Scalloped Bunting

Lovely bunting!

Scalloped Bunting

-Steph

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

What I've been working on: The Dinning Room

As promised in my last post I am going to share with you some of the craft projects I have been working on. Since getting married in October most of my crafting energy has been focused on our home. Here are the things I have made for our dinning room.


Patchwork table runner


After our honeymoon in Banff, we took a trip to Ikea to stock up on housewares and buy a dinning room table. I was also planning on getting some table linens but wasn't thrilled with the selection. So I sewed a improvised patchwork table runner for our table using some scraps from my stash.


New cushions


I also covered the dinning room cushions with a nice bold geometric cotton.

-Steph





Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Workroom

After a busy year I am getting ready to get back into the studio. Before I show you what I have been working on I thought I'd take you on a tour of my workroom.


Sorting buttons


I spent many hours sorting craft supplies and hulling irrelevant and outdated materials, and sorting buttons. Lots and lots of buttons.


Buttons sorted by colour


Lots of organized storage


There is lots of organized storage!


Workroom III


And lots of sunlight!


Workroom II


Lots of room to work


Workroom


Lots of room for sewing


Lots of room for sewing!


Tools


New fabrics


And lots of new fabric to work with.


I better get to work!


-Steph