Apples - November's challenge for the Across the Pond Sew Along

For the Across the Pond Sew Along Amy from Amy Made That! has chosen Apples as this month's theme. I love apples: eating them (!!!) and in design too. It's incredible how an apple can look really great in so many different designs. Recently I made the Yum-Yum apple bib for the Zakka Along Patchwork, Please.

Have a look at the Patchwork, Please Flickr group to see how many different versions of this bib were made!

Cropping up over Blogland, as Amy noticed, are the fantastic apples from Lori Holt's (Bee In My Bonnet) new book Quilty Fun. Are you following the Sew Along and Blog Tour? You mustn't miss Kerry's version of the apples at verykerryberry. She is hosting the first stop of the Quilty Fun Sew Along and Blog Tour. I'm very tempted to buy this book...

Kerry writes one of my favourite blogs, have a look yourself and you'll see why!

This photo is from her blog verykerryberry showing a detail of her version of the Quilty Fun blocks:

And have you seen this beautiful necklace? It's made by the talented Ingrid Figueras at Sewing Lab.

Take a look at the rest of her Fruta collection too... delicious!

I had better get working on my apple project then!

Fresh Sewing Day: goodbye October!

What has been going on here at Ella & Nesta's Little Room during October?

Skinny Pincushion for the Across the Pond Sew Along

The Maxi Trivet Patchwork Wheel inspired by September's Global Scrap Bee block

The last project for the super fun Patchwork, Please Zakka Along: Giant Prettified Pincushion!

Laura Armiraglio's Tutorial for making a Sew (Knit not) Wool Cowl Scarf

and then the challenge, joining the Blogger's Quilt Festival with these two entries:

The first entry for the Quilt Photographer category is my Phoenix Stealing Happy Hexagon Trivet

The second entry for the Art Quilts category is my Lago Maggiore Quilt:

You can read more about my Lago Maggiore Quilt in my post here.

If you would like to vote for my entries, you can in the Quilt Photographer category here and in the Art Quilts category here starting from the 1st of November until the 7th of November over at Amy's Creative Side. To vote click on the heart in the corner of the photo when you scroll over my entry!

Linking up with Lynne at Lily's Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day

Giant Prettified Pincushion - Zakka Along

OK, so I was joking, it's actually not a Giant Prettified Pincushion but a Giant Prettified Pincushion! The first time I saw the photo on the cover of Ayumi Takahashi's book Patchwork, Please! I thought I was looking at beautiful cushions. Afterwards I noticed there were pins stuck in one of the cushions and so... they were pincushions, of course! But the idea of the cushions stuck in my head and as this is the last day of the Zakka Along 2.0 and seeing as I've really enjoyed this sew along, I decided to make this fun project.

The pattern is enlarged by 380%! If I were to make the cushion again, I'd changed the proportion of the side panels, they came too high even though I used the same percentage to enlarge these too. Don't ask me how that happened, probably some problem with my maths!

This was the largest self-cover button I had but I would have preferred a bigger one and I was missing a mattress needle to pull the button more tight, through the thickness of the cushion, so I'll be fixing that soon.

Thank you to everyone who participated because I really enjoyed looking at your work in the Flickr group. I had no idea this was going to be so interesting. It's incredible how choosing different fabrics and thanks to everyone's personal style, you can get such incredible results, starting from the same project. I'm going to miss the Zakka Along... come on, I'm waiting for the next excellent Zakka book to be published, Please!

Zakka Along - Happy Hexagon Trivet

Before the Phoenix flew off with my Happy Hexagon Trivet I managed to take a few photos! I'm very pleased with how it turned out. 

The trivet is quite hypnotic in black and white and I really enjoyed making it. It's my second paper-piecing project and the hardest part of it was removing the paper when I finished sewing it! Ayumi Takahashi's instructions in Patchwork, Please! are really good. The binding instructions in particular were very clear.

The back is fun too, it' not perfect but it looks quite good!

Zakka Kindle Pouch or Book Pouch - Zakka Along 2.0:: Patchwork, Please

Back again with my latest Zakka project. This time I decided to make a Kindle pouch for my Mum, using the Books-for-Baby Quilt template from Ayumi Takahashi's Patchwork, Please book. My Mum absolutely adores reading, she reads continuously. Over a year ago she bought a Kindle and takes it with her on holiday. To give it extra protection I thought I'd make her a pouch.

Eccomi di nuovo con il mio ultimo progetto Zakka. Questa volta ho deciso di cucire una busta per il Kindle di mia Mamma, usando lo schema per Books-for-Baby Quilt (quilt libri per Baby) dal libro Patchwork, Please di Ayumi Takahashi. Mia Mamma adora leggere, legge in continuazione. Piu' di un anno fa ha comprato un Kindle e se lo porta dietro quando va in vacanza. Per dare al Kindle un'ulteriore protezione contro gli urti ho pensato che avrei potuto cucirle una busta.

 

The pouch can easily become a book pouch too, if she wants to carry a book in her handbag! I might have to make one for myself because I'm always making books scruffy carrying them around all day in my messy handbag!

La busta può anche facilmente contenere un libro, se vuole portarsi dietro un libro nella borsa! Dovrei farmene una anch'io perché rovino sempre i libri portandoli in giro tutto il giorno nella mia disordinatissima borsa!

Yum-Yum Apple Bib - Zakka Along 2.0:: Patchwork, Please!

At last I've managed to finish my Yum-Yum Apple Bib, straight from Ayumi Takahashi's book Patchwork, Please:

I had some fun apple fabric in my stash and I also had this larger scale apple fabric:

So I cut out four apples from this and sandwiched each strap end into two apples. I stitched over the stem with brown thread to make it stand out.
This is the fabric I used for the back:

The only problem I had was with the leaf: the first time I forgot I was supposed to cut the back of the leaf and tried turning it from the side, the second time I made it right but decided it was too small. The third and last time I was, at last, satisfied with the result. I added some batting inside to make the leaf stand out a bit more. Do these things just happen to me?!

I now have to test it with my 18 month old daughter!!!

P.S. Don't miss our two part giveaway to celebrate our 100th Blog Post:.

• 100th BLOG POST Fun Giveaway - first part
• Zakka W.I.P. and 100th BLOG POST Fun Gvieaway - Second Part

Zakka W.I.P. and 100th BLOG POST Fun Gvieaway - Second Part

Our little friend Pinocchio is back and this time he's getting his suitcase ready with some sewing goodies for you!

So if you'd like to invite him to your house leave a comment on this post and on the 100th BLOG POST Fun Giveaway - first part post to have a chance of winning this little present he's got ready for you (giveaway entries until Sunday 28th July):

Including:

- 1 metre each of the three stripy ribbons (two East of India and one Greengate)

- 30 cm of Luzia Pimpinella's decorated ribbon

- two packets of cover buttons

- 50x116cm of Pixie-C9069 by The Pixie Pops for Timeless Treasures Fabrics (in the background).

P.S. Pinocchio will travel anywhere in the world!

And this is what I've been trying to finish this week: the Zakka Along 2:: Patchwork, Please Polka-Dot-Café Apron. Still working on putting together the pocket!

These are my blocks. I was in such a rush to make them that I made some very bad mistakes but, as usual, I've had to find a solution to my problem and I really hope they'll work out anyway!

Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop 2013

Today is my day on the Let's Get Acquainted New Blogger Blog Hop 2013. I would like to start by thanking Beth at Plum and June for hosting the Blog Hop and for giving me the chance to join. It's an incredible way to meet new bloggers and learn from their experience too.

Why did you start your blog and where did your blog name come from?

Ella (my daughter) and I (Nesta) started our blog in a "Little Room" in 2010 as a diary of our craft projects. Only this year did I become particularly curious about the on line craft community and blogging. The blog has passed from just a diary to a way of setting myself goals and getting projects finished, meeting people with the same interests and learning, learning, learning. Sewing and blogging is also very therapeutic!

When did you start quilting and who taught you?

I started quilting three years ago thanks to a patchwork course at a local shop. I enjoyed the course so much I decided to buy myself a really cheap supermarket sewing machine. I am sure I spent more time trying to fix the thread on the machine and unstitching things that the machine had messed up than making anything, but I didn't give up. After a year, still in love with sewing and quilting, I decided it was time to get a real sewing machine (which was actually a wonderful present!).

What is your favourite type of project?

The time I'm left over with, after my job in maintenance of public buildings, maintenance of the household and playing with my two wonderful daughters, is dedicated to sewing. At the moment small scale projects are on my to do list. I'm really enjoying the the Zakka Along 2.0:: Patchwork, Please! sew along.

I would like to invite you to participate in our blog's 100th Post Giveaway, which has just opened and is running until Sunday 28th of July. Thank you so much for visiting our blog and please do not miss the great blogs in today's Blog Hop:

Karen @ Little Birdie Quilting Studio

Kathy @ Kwilty Pleasures

Katie @ Snuggle Up With A Dish From Karma 

Alison @ Making Happyness

Ella and Nesta @ Ella & Nesta's Little Room

Adrienne @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts

Nicole @ Modern Handcraft

Aylin @ AyliN-Nilya

Kelsey and Amanda @ Everyday Fray

Zakka Along 2.0: Dino-Mite Hat

This was a really fun project. If you have a toddler in your family (or friends have toddlers!) you absolutely have to try this one: the Dino-Mite Hat from Ayumi Takahashi's book Patchwork, Please!

It is:
1) really fun to make
2) fast to make
3) gives you a very professional result
4) gives you hours of dinosaur chasing games!

I risked it this time because I decided to use Minky dot fabric to give the effect of dinosaur's scales. I was really worried it was going to be too floppy as in the original project Ajumi had used wool, which can be quite stiff. Instead it worked beautifully and the spikes stand up straight. The fabric I used for the spikes is all "A walk in the woods" by Aneela Hoey for Moda. She has just come out with a new line called Hello Petal. I think this line will be really interesting to use because she's introduced, apart from her signature soft colours and drawings, very bold and dark colours too. Definitely adding this line to my Wish List!

I couldn't resist adding the tail with another spike at the end.

 What's a dinosaur without a tail?!

My model is Lucy but without Ella's help, none of these photos would have been possible. Lucy moves as fast as a Velociraptor!

Don't miss our fun 100th Post Giveaway - part one, which has just opened today and is running until Friday 26th of July.

100th BLOG POST Fun Giveaway - first part

To celebrate our 100th Blog Post (wow!) we've decided to organise a two part fun giveaway! We are really enjoying this trip in Blog Land and can't wait to write another 100 posts (not all on the same day though!). In the first part of this giveaway you could win... Pinocchio!

Our little Pinocchio friend is getting ready for his trip around the world to meet one of our fantastic Blog readers. Where will he be going? 

All our wooden friends are ready to say goodbye to Pinocchio. He is a fun little one, is keyring size and can sit down. He can move arms and head too, of course. He's very good company even though sometimes he tends to say a little lie or two! 

So if you would like to win a little bit of fun straight from Italy (where Pinocchio was born of course!), leave a message on this post and keep your eyes peeled for the second part of this giveaway where there will be some more traditional sewing goodies for a lucky winner! We will be choosing the winner who's left a comment in both the two giveaway posts!

Congratulations to LY MEYERS for winning our previous MIHO Unexpected Things giveaway (see the post here), thanking our wonderful sponsor again too!

In the meantime we've been busy on our latest projects and this is a sneak of one: the Zakka Along 2:: Patchwork, Please Yum-Yum Apple Bib! We can't wait to show you it finished!

Zakka Along 2.0 - Week 3: Teabag Pouch

Back again for Week 3 of Ayumi Takahashi's Patchwork, Please! Sew Along. This week two projects but I knew I'd only have time to make one so I decided to try the Teabag Pouch.

At last I found the perfect home for my cross stitch "I Love Tea" button! I made a lot of cross stitch buttons when I was on leave from work looking after Lucy, they were so relaxing to make (I've written about them here). The pattern is from the magazine CrossStitcher I often buy: it's really good and up to date with trends, very modern.

I've just noticed that the ric rac looks like steam coming out of the teacup in this photo! I love tags and I had this really pretty ribbon in my stash so I couldn't resist adding it. What's a cup of tea without a cake or a biscuit anyway?

The fabric is "TEAPOTS" by Robert Kaufman from the "Metro Cafe" collection. I love the colours and they inspired my choice of the solids too. I had to make a mock pocket to be sure I'd cut the teacup fabric the right size and position it correctly on the pocket. I'm glad I did because otherwise I would have wasted a lot of one of my favourite cotton prints trying to work out how to get it right!

Now time for a cup of tea!

Don't miss the Zakka Along 2.0 Flickr group, with new photos added every day, great fun seeing what everybody's doing! I'm linking up to Plum and June's Let's Get Acquainted Link Up at Heart of Charnwood and with the Zakka Along at LRstitched.