Shush makes a Tilda princess make-up bag

Sometimes I'm last to the party.  That's just how it is.  One example of this is my recent discovery of Tilda.  Yes, I know, I must be the last person in bloggy crafty land who didn't know about Tilda.  In fact I would still be oblivious if Kristyne hadn't recently featured the book 'Tilda's Fairy Tale Wonderland' on her blog. Thanks to the quick shopping from the Book Depository, I've now been pretty much sucked into the vortex that is all things Tildaness.

Although I would love to make the princess and the pea on the cover, I first need to source a little doll's bed.  In the meantime, the princess make-up bag was an essential.  I did change it up a bit though - I decided to add interfacing, and change the construction of the purse so that the zip was fully hidden.  I also made it a smidgen bigger - which is relative, because it's still tiny.

The exterior is a cute butterfly fabric I snaffled in a de-stash recently. I used some hot pink Kaffe fabric for the lining, and a matching hot pink zip.  I also thought it was a good opportunity to use one of my little crocheted violets, made following a craft day at Spotlight one Saturday morning last month.

I added some little notions to the inside, because this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a pay-it-forward project finished.  I have three to do after signing up with Renee at Quilts of a Feather earlier this year.  Although it's not in the photo, there was also some teeny Whittaker's Easter chocolate and a wee manicure set that was too cute to leave at the shop.

I have to confess that I forgot the little side tag.  I'll add that to the next one.
 

And in case you were wondering what I was given in my pay it forward gift, here it is.  Renee did the most amazing paper pieced feather.  I would sooooo love to do a whole quilt of these.  That can go on my quilting bucket list!  She also made a gorgeous little zipper pouch for Princess, which has been swiped and filled with (even more) little treasures.  Lucky monkey.

I ummed and ahhhed about whether to take it to work or not.  In the end it has been put in pride of place on the china cupboard in the entrance way. It even matches the art work we have on the wall.  It was meant to be!

I will be linking up this week to Show and Tell, Needle and Thread Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts.  Howdy visitors!

Crystallised - cushion finish

A long time ago I made a cushion for Princess' friend for her birthday. At the time I promised to make one for Princess, but never got around to it.  About a month ago I bought a feather inner at Spotlight, which then sat on the back of the couch waiting to have a purpose in life.

One hot pink cushion extravaganza

During the week, Hubby and princess spent some time going through Pillow Pop to choose the best cushion design. Princess decided on a half square triangle design called Crystallise. I think she has great taste, because it was one of my favourites too.  After all my recent hand sewing, I was keen to get on the machine this weekend.

All. The. Cushions.  Including mine - huh.

First I cut 100 3" squares (50 each in cool and warm colours). I then sewed the squares in pairs (one cool and one warm) down the diagonal (1/4" either side of the middle). Then the 100 new squares were pressed, and trimmed down to 2.5". That was definitely my least favourite bit. The best bit was laying the squares out in the design. Princess thought it was just like a puzzle.

A side trip to Spotlight was necessary to pick the hot pink corduroy backing, hot pink ric rac (I hate piping mummy) and hot pink zip. I then sewed it all up on Saturday night when little miss was in bed.  I inserted a panel of quilting fabric in the back to break up All. The. Pink.

The back in all it's glory

There may have been a moment on Sunday when I nearly traded Princess in after she announced she didn't like the ric rac after all.  It all seems to be sorted now, after we spent some time looking at all the special animals and pretty flowers.  I am not allowed to give the cushion away, in any event. I think that's a good sign.

Spoiled little madam. It's lucky I love her.

Turtle and snail

The feather inner was 25", but it was a bit sparse, so it squidged perfectly into the cover, which is finished at 20" square.

Fish and baby turtle

I pointed out to Hubby that if I had made the blocks 10" finished instead of 2.5", that we would have a quilt big enough for our bed, for the same amount of work.  *sigh*

More little fish

It is pretty cool to have enough of a stash to just get the fabrics you need for a project without going to the shop. It is a bit spoiled too.

Wee wander little footsteps

 I even used a snippet of Heather Ross.  Princess doesn't know just how lucky she is...

Heather Ross bees and mice

I think this might be a good week for some link ups (if I remember!) to Needle and Thread Thursday, Show and Tell and Crazy Moms. Hello visitors!

Super simple baby quilt 4

I had a sudden thought that I should get a baby quilt started on Friday evening after work.  I recalled that the baby was due on Sunday, so I thought that something super duper easy was in order.  And it doesn't get much easier than sewing six fat quarters of fabric together (18' x 20").  But I thought I could do a little bit better than that!

All wrapped up and ready to go and keep a baby warm.

I decided to do an appliqué word at the bottom.  I had some spare iron on appliqué stuff (I can't for the life of me remember what it is called), but couldn't figure out a word.  The baby name is the usual choice - but I didn't know that.  I have also seen the great "eat, play, sleep, repeat" baby quilt, but that seemed like too much work!  The main fabric gave me a hint in the end - zombies are attracted by loud noises and lights. See, it says so ...

Critical zombie survival information.

And as Princess rightly said, "shhh..." is what you say when the baby is sleeping.  Precisely.

Terrible inside photo taken first thing this morning.

The appliqué was done by printing up the letters "S" and "h" from Microsoft Word.  The font is American Typewriter, and I used size 600.  I then cut the letters out and traced around them (back to front) with a pen on to one side the iron on fusible web.  The letters were ironed on to the back of the fabric.  Then I cut them out along the shape of the letter, and ironed them on to the quilt top.  I blanket stitched around the edge in white thread.  If I was more confident with my machine appliqué skills with Bernie, I would have used colour thread.  I'll save that for next time.

The fabric is Zombie Apocalypse by Emily Taylor Design for Riley Blake.  I discovered there are zombie doll panels on fabric.com this morning.  My life is pretty much incomplete without one, so a panel may have fallen into my shopping cart.  Like I don't have enough fabric or projects.

I used some soft towelling for the back - it is drapey and warm, and 100% cotton, which I think is important for baby.  I love minky, but find polyester doesn't breathe.  It has been quilted in my favourite new quilting technique - wavy lines across the quilt, 2" apart.  The chevron binding is also from Riley Blake.

On reflection, I would have preferred to use dark grey for the lettering - but that is a lesson learned for next time.  As it turns out, it was just as well I didn't muck around with the quilt.  While I was doing the quilting, the baby turned up at Saturday lunch time on a friend's bathroom floor.  Daddy helped deliver him together with the help of emergency services over the phone.  The little guy is doing well, and Mum looks fantastic.  Phew.  Talk about making my hospital delivery look like high tea at the Hilton.

Hope you're all doing well and had a great weekend!