Zakka Style - FWFS Spring Mug Rug Swap

The big question is: will my partner like this Spring Mug Rug? Fingers crossed because it is travelling her way in a parcel with quite a few goodies and I have absolutely no idea what her favourite style/s are. Hopefully she will like this combination of spring colours and embroidery:

The fabric is Miss Kate by Bonnie and Camille for Moda, a mini charm I was so lucky to win, thanks to my friend Mara at Secretly Stitching.

The pattern for the appliqué is by the Italian Queen of country style appliqué Veronica Ferrari. She blogs at Veronica Country Life and this year is hosting a very successful national Mistery QAL. Veronica is always so generous with her ideas and she kindly agreed to me showing and writing about her appliqué. This is her free pattern: originally for making a "membership badge" to recognise friends of the Mystery QAL during what is probably the most important craft trade fair in Italy, Abilmente Vicenza.

The appliqué is so fun I decided to use it for my secret partner's mug rug and Ella drew out the writing for me to embroider. The sewing machine thread is supposed to look as though it's quilting the patchwork side of the mug rug. What do you think? I had forgotten how relaxing it is to embroider. 

Hope you enjoy the Zakka style Spring Mug Rug and the goodies coming your way, partner!

I really like making mug rugs, that's one reason why I decided to join Fort Worth Fabric Studio's swap. I made some a while ago using laminates and posted about them here and here.

And you can find the tutorial for this Folding Heart Mug Rug here, if you're curious.

Don't miss the FWFS Mug Rug Show and Tell. So many wonderful Mug Rugs to have a look at and inspire new makes! I'm so looking forward to finding out which one is for me!

Thank you Lindsey and Fort Worth Fabric Studio for organising this lovely swap!

How to make a Baby Poncho: Tutorial with free template

The last last two days here in the north of Italy have been so hot, it was funny taking photos of my Baby Poncho under the sun! But if you love sewing, you don't mind the season, do you? 
I designed The Baby Poncho for fresh days and cool evenings when you want to quickly slip something over Baby without all the sleeve hassle! 

The Baby Poncho in fact has armholes to make it super easy to slip on and to stop the poncho from moving out of place when it's on.

The Baby Poncho was made for Fort Worth Studio Fabric Blog and you can find the tutorial here, including a free template. The talented Lindsey invited me to write this tutorial for FWSF Blog's Oh Sew Baby! series. Don't miss the other posts on the series, there are some beautiful ideas for presents for babies. You could also win a $50 gift certificate for the FWFS shop just by linking up a post about something you made for a baby here.

Join in our giveaway here (until the 19th of June 2014), you could win this fab magazine:

Free Baby Sewing Projects + More Great Blog Events

There is so much going on in Blog Land you can't miss. First of all there's the Oh Sew Baby! series over at Fort Worth Fabric Studio. This is especially exciting for me because the super talented Lindsey has invited me to guest post a Baby Sewing Tutorial for this special series. And I'm also looking forward to the Linky for all Baby Sewing Tutorials: starting on May 27 the Fort Worth Fabric Studio blog is opening a linky party for anyone who wants to link up any old or new baby related tutorial. Linking up you have the chance of winning a $50 gift certificate for their shop! I can't wait to see all the tutorials, I love seeing new ideas/excuses for sewing for babies!

Everybody in Quilting Blog Land knows about the Blogger's Quilt Festival! Now the voting is open and it's time to chose my favourite entries!
I've entered the Mini Quilts category and here's the post with the story of my Triangle Fabric Mountains. You can vote here for the Mini Quilts Category!

Heidi at Fabric Mutt is starting a new Quilt Along: The Graph Paper Quilt Along and it's all about using squares. I really like the idea that you can join and make a quilt or small projects. This is going to be really fun! The Quilt along starts the 29th of May.

Starting on the 2nd of June is the Perfect Picnic Blog Hop. There will be loads of inspiration for picnic quilts and for a yummy Picnic Menu too, all included! One picnic the weather isn't going to stop!

The full picnic plan is here!