Something for the weekend…

So tell me, did you wake up this morning, wondering what to do with yourself…

and then you thought… hmm i could go shopping?… but i have no bag! and what you need is a tutorial on how to make a cute Tilda shopping bag, well i heard you, here is my free tutorial…

Say NO to plastic bags

Download my PDF here…

Tilda Shopping Bag 

If you like this pattern, keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming tutorial for my Dresden quilt, in Quilt Now magazine, coming June 2019.

‘Do what makes your heart smile’

Check out my Instagram and Facebook page @creativeblonde66

~Michelle~

x creativeblonde x

 

Michelle Roberts from www.creativeblonde.co.uk3 Comments

an extra hour…

Hi, thanks for stopping by this week, as the clocks in the UK go back an hour, i thought what better way to spend that extra hour, but to write my blog. Can i just say i really do appreciate each and every comment that you leave me 🙂

This week, was half term and also the week our very and manky (my sons words) kitchen got taken out, and the new one installed. Surprisingly i wasn’t worried about the fact i wouldn’t have an oven for the week, but the fact my conservatory was out of bounds! My conservatory is where i take most of my photos, it gives the best light with the least amount of shadow – who knew

I finished my valentine quilt, and oh my goodness, how lovely is double gauze to work with, i will be totally honest and let you into a little secret, i’d never heard of it, but i LOVE it, and its definitely something i will work with again and again.

I love the soft and cosy feel to it, and using it for raw edge applique, i think gave my quilt a real shabby chic feel.

Click here to see the huge range by  Higgs & Higgs

“Double gauze is, very simply, two layers of gauze that are tacked together at regular intervals with little stitches that are undetectable from the right side of the fabric. Soft, airy and slightly crinkled for a casual look these textiles make fabulous fashion and nursery items”

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Gutermann threads were beautiful to work with for this fabric too

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I was so excited when i was asked to make some wash bags, the fabrics i chose are from Gutermann from their Marrakesch range, and i LOVE it, definitely going to have to fill my stash with more of this beautiful fabric. I was also given the chance to try out a sample of Vlieseline Lamifix – my conclusion… FAB!! The two wash bags below are both lined with Lamifix, the pale green is covered all over, and the navy piece is just fabric, with base covered in Lamifix. Its so versatile and i would recommend the product. Ive almost finished a toiletry roll which i lined with Lamifix, I will share with your next week

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In honor of my new kitchen i have made a table topper, i hoping to get round to making matching seat covers too, the cat thought this one was for him 🙂  These beautiful fabrics are by Moda from the caroline collection designed by Brenda Riddle, Kate and Birdie and Tilda and all available for Honeybee Cloth  and if you head over there this week, dawn is offering 10% off EVERYTHING in their shop, use the promo code CREATIVEBLONDE

 

They have a beautiful range of the most prettiest fabrics, each and every piece of fabric is cut and packaged in the most adorable way, makes an idea gift for someone or just a well deserved treat for yourself

 

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Next month brings new and exciting fabric from Craft Cotton – its their new ‘Winnie the Pooh’ range, isn’t it adorable. I will be making a quilt and some coordinating bunting – its the perfect fabric for anyone expecting a baby in the new year. Pre-order yours now  – click here

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That rounds up another week, I would love to hear from you, please leave me a comment  🙂

Many thanks for reading, have a lovely week ahead, until next time… happy sewing

Check out my Instagram and Facebook page @creativeblonde66

~Michelle~

x creativeblonde x

Michelle Roberts from www.creativeblonde.co.uk10 Comments

Welcome to my house…

Hey, and welcome to my house, today is my day to reveal my house quilt for the ‘welcome to my house’ blog hop hosted by Carol @justletmequilt…

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I just had to join in as soon as heard about it, there is something quite sweet about a quilted home… I would say ive finally found my ‘home’, after moving 18 times with my husband in 21 years, some of those moves were here in the uk, 7 of them were in Australia, and then a few more since arriving back in the uk…

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Home is where i am now, a 100 year old Toll Cottage, situated in the country in the South east of England, with my four kids, 2 dogs, 4 cats and hubby 🙂

I really love all things rustic/shabby chic or as my hubby calls it shabby shit! but i love it never-the-less, so i wanted my quilt to reflect this…

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I started by looking through my stash, to find suitable pieces, i love the natural linen from Higgs&Higgs – even though it has a tendency to crinkle, as linen does… and i was so pleased to find some natural Jute to frame the quilt, and a cute button

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The fabrics were a combination :

The flowers are from the Cottage garden range designed by Debbie Shore from Craft Cotton  and ‘Tilda Bumblebee Fabric’ from Tilda

The door and stepping stones are from ‘wild things’ collection by Island Batik

The Fairies and lettering are ‘prairie fairies night’ and ‘sprinkled petals moon’ from Art Gallery Fabric

The wadding and Bondaweb are both by Vliseline  and the threads are by Gutermann

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AND the reason i mention all this…  because its

Giveaway Time!!

Im going to give away the pattern for this quilt, plus a kit that contains EVERYTHING you need to make your very own ‘home sweet home’ quilt. Yep, thats every piece of fabric, the button, the jute, the threads, the wadding, Bondaweb, binding and backing fabric!! This could make a fab Christmas present or simple a gift from me to you to keep.

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To enter, simple:

1: Follow my blog, Facebook or Instagram page, or ALL three for a bonus entry

2: Tag your friends

3: Leave me a comment

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Thanks for reading, be sure to head over to see all the other bloggers involved in this blog hop on the list below…

September 10
September 11 
September 12 – TODAY
September 13
September 14

Check out my Instagram and Facebook page @creativeblonde66

Happy sewing, until next time…

~Michelle~

x creativeblonde x

 

Michelle Roberts from www.creativeblonde.co.uk65 Comments

My tilda bumblebee table runner…

Bumblebee Tilda Fabric – Table runner tutorial

Follow the tutorial here

What you will need:

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•       Tilda bumblebee Fat quarter bundle from poppies & polka dots

        http://www.poppiesandpolkadots.co.uk/product/tilda-bumblebee-10-fat-quarter-bundle-10-discount/

•       1 metre of Kona cotton solids – snow white from poppies & polka dots    http://www.poppiesandpolkadots.co.uk/product/kona-cotton-solids-snow/

•       Wadding measuring 48”x12”

•       1” paper hexies x 42

•       Paper for creating  your own petal template

•       Sewing machine, cutting mat, rotary cutter, pins, needles, quality threads, glue pen, scissors, erasable marker pen.

•       Small piece of light fusible interfacing, measuring 10”x10”

•       505 basting spray

 

Preparing your fabric…

Order your gorgeous fabrics from poppies & polka dots -fast delivery and wrapped beautifully

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Cutting…

Take these four fat quarters from your bundle and cut out 10 hexies from each of the green, pink and cream fabrics using your EPP 1” hexagon template and cut 12 of the blue. Leaving a ¼” seam allowance all the way round. Using your glue pen, fold the fabric making sure you get crisp corners and edges all the way round

•       From the kona snow white fabric, cut a piece 44”x8” for the table runner main piece.

•       Cut the Wadding to 38”x11” (trim of excess later to measure 37”x10”)

•       5 pieces of backing fabric measuring 8.5”x11” (see diagram below)

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Preparing your flowers…

Create your petal, use graph paper to get it symmetrical (mine are about 1.5” in length and 1” diameter. Fuse your interfacing to the reverse of the fabric and then cut petals to correct size and shape. You need 5 petals from each fabric design, I loved the bumblebees so much, I fussy cut these for my petals

Blanket stitch

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•       Using your glue pen, fix your petals in place on the white fabric.

•       Using a white thread. Blanket stitch round each petal, see photo for below for the finished result on the front and the reverse of the white fabric.

•       Using your erasible marker pen, draw your spiral pattern on the top of the white fabric

 

Joining up your hexies up

To achieve this without stitches showing on the front, put your individual hexies right sides together and use a ladder stitch, pulling your stitches tight as you go, and create a chain of 21 hexies for each long edge of your table runner

 

Top stitch your hexies and then remove the papers…

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Preparing the back of the table runner

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Sew your fabric in the order shown above, using the ¼”seam allowance, right side together, then press seams

 

Baste your top and bottom fabric to the wadding to create a quilt sandwich, I use 505 spray.

Free motion quilting

•       Drop your feed dog and attach the quilting foot to your machine, you can choose any shade of thread ,I chose a bright king tut turquoise thread – shade 927, to show you the design, but I would usually choose a pale colour to keep the delicate feel.

The edges…

•       Create mitred corners, by trimming the excess wadding and folding your backing fabric over twice, to seal your raw edges, and pin in place.

Finishing off…

Pin or baste your hexies in place, then sew your two short binding egdes with a small whip stitch, and secure the corners with small stitches.

Sew each point of your hexies in place, with a small stitch sewn from underneath the edge of the fabric, so no stitches can be seen

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Bring out the tea and warm scones, for the perfect afternoon tea

Enjoy…

 

Bumblebee Tilda Fabric poppies and polka dots

Thanks for reading, follow me at www.instagram.com/creativeblonde66

Michelle Roberts from www.creativeblonde.co.uk2 Comments

Tilda table runner, with matching tablemats…

The beautiful bumblebee Tilda fabric, is lovely to work with, here is my step by step tutorial on how I created a table runner with matching placemats.

Tilda bumblebee fabric – Placemat tutorial…

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The gorgeous fabric…

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Purchase your tilda bumblebee fabric from poppies and polka dots.

They sell a beautiful fat quarter bundle of tilda bumblebee yumminess.

Plus you will need a metre of kona snow white fabric.

(wash, dry and press all fabric before cutting)

 

Lets begin…

Take your fat quarter bundle of bumble bee fabric and cut the following pieces:

  • garden bees ginger 15” x 12”
  • garden bees ginger 12.5” x 3.3”
  • flowers nest teal 21” x 2” (2 of these)
  • flowers nest teal 18” x 2” (2 of these)

From your snow white kona fabric cut:

  • 12.5” x 5”
  • 12.5” x 8.5”

You will also need:

  • Wadding measuring 16” x 13”
  • Small piece of interlining for the petals (measuring 4” x 4”)
  • 5 petals (3 from the cherry blossom pink fabric and 2 petals from the cherry blossom blue flower fabric)
  • 6 EPP hexagons, and enough fabric from the flower nest pink fabric, rosa mollis teal fabric, and the rosa mollis linen fabric to make 2 of each

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Start by sewing the narrowest white strip to the narrow orange panel, followed by the other white piece onto the other side of the orange panel, pressing your seams open, then using 505 adhesive basting spray, create your quilt sandwich, with this piece on top, then the wadding, and finally the large orange piece as the backing fabric – see photo.

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Make up your 6 EPP hexies and sew them together in a long strip, these can now be temporarily basted to the quilt in place.

Next take your fusible interlining and iron to the wrong side of the fabric you are using to create the petals, cut the petals out and baste them also in place on your placemat. Using a blanket stitch, sew around each petal leaf.

 

Sew through all the layers of your quilted placemat along the edges of your hexies, and also down each edge of the orange panel, this will make sure the wadding stays in place – see photo

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Free motion quilting

Drop your feed dog and attach your quilting foot. Mark out where you want to draw your pattern using a removable marker, I chose a white thread, to give it a delicate feel. Once completed, remove any pen marks.

 

The reverse is kept soft and delicate, when a white bobbin thread is used

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Attaching the binding…

Sew the long blue strips, right sides together on the reverse of the placemat, making sure each strip is evenly placed, with equal overlap at each end. Press and turn placemat over, to make life easier I then press my raw edge over, then using a whip stitch, sew your binding in place using a white top thread cotton.

 

 

 To make more of these using your tilda bumblebee fat quarters, simply swap out the orange backing fabric and the orange panel and replace with another fat quarter.

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Makes a lovely gift, check out my tilda table runner tutorial, and create the matching set. Here is  a print friendly link for this tutorial.

tilda placemat

Thanks for reading, follow me on Instagram

 

 

 

 

Michelle Roberts from www.creativeblonde.co.ukLeave a comment

Tilda bumblebee table runner tutorial is here….

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My tilda bumblebee table runner tutorial is up on the Poppiesandpolkadots blog go check it out and get sewing.  The Tilda fabrics are beautiful, And so perfect for this summer sunshine and whats better then relaxing in the sunshine this bank holiday weekend doing a little bit of EPP 🙂 #tildasworld #tildabumblebeefabric #epp #tablerunner #poppiesandpolkadots.

Come follow me on Facebook, twitter or Instagram. I love a like and comments     make my day 🙂

Happy crafting 🙂

 

Michelle Roberts from www.creativeblonde.co.uk2 Comments