Pompom - tastic

Hello ! I snuck in a little making time today, another project thats been hanging around in my shelves waiting to be made ..... 

I created these picture panels way back in 2012 using Spoonflower . 

I used a few pictures from Paris travels as fabric panels, I've had a few scattered through my house for a while 

but this particular panel that I have named after the street it was photographed in "rue de buci" needed a little bit extra and on and off I have been keeping my eye out for pompom trimming and hadn't found anything.......

that is until yesterday when I was at the Sydney Quilt and Craft fair.

No Chintz had a booth and a few things caught my eye, namely the pompom trimming they had for sale - 3 meters ending up in my bag..... 

I love it. I want to pompom trim everything.

I used a heavy weighted linen/ cotton blend fabric for the back with a chunky blue zipper. I ran the zipper along the stripes for something a little different.



Looking at the collage below you can see I pinned the trimming to the top of the front panel with the pompoms facing in. I pinned it all the way around so that I had the spacing of the pompoms right in the corners.

I then used my zipper foot on my Bernina 710 to sew along as close to the pompom edge as possible all the way around.


Next you need to have your backing ready (cut to a slightly bigger size than the front panel and zipper in)
Pin the front and back together (right sides facing in)make sure the zipper is a little open and making sure to keep the pompoms inside.  

Sew all the way around on the same line you had sewn before with a straight stitch using the zipper foot again.

I also did a zigzag stitch all the way around to stop any fraying.

Trim a little bit of the corners.

Turn you cushion cover the right way around, and make sure the corners are good and all the pompoms are sitting nicely.

Voila - One large pompom cushion

Xx Siobhan 

Summer Holidays coming to an end

Time sure does go fast! 

I'm enjoying the last week of our summer school holidays, 

attempting to bring the very thirsty garden back to life and get the house back in order. 

Our eldest has had rowing camp which means 6am starts every day for the last 4 days (only 2 more to go!)

Its actually been lovely to get up early with him and then go walking before the sun and heat hit. 

Clearing my mind and helping me plan the next 12 months - also trying to not get so far ahead of myself......... BALANCE is the key

Australian Flowering Gum tree

February can tend to be one of the hottest months of the year in Sydney - just when your trying to get back into routine with school and work the hot still nights kick in, at least I know that nice cool March is only around the corner.

before I know it, it will be Autumn......

with the cool crisp mornings and bare tree's

no more mangoes, watermelon & swimming everyday

Over the Summer I haven't blogged as much as usual, I have however been very active on Instagram!

my handle is

@Beaspokequilts

Its nice to look back over our trip away and see all the lovely colours of summer

I have managed a very limited amount of time in "The Shed" in the last 6 days home.

I finished a single bed Denim quilt much to my relief! Its so nice to finish something....

I also laid out all my unfinished bits and pieces 

from left to right

- A basic squares quilt for a tutorial I'm late with (sorry)

- Two blocks from the swoon quilt pattern by Camille Roskelley made out of my Spoonflower fabrics - another 7 to go.......

- A applique pattern I started on my summer beach holiday, inspired by Kim McLean here is a look at some of her patterns (I couldn't find her blog or website sorry)

- A test block for a pattern I made for Windham Fabrics (free PDF download)

- The Owl Block which is to become a big quilt (pattern being created)

- lastly down below we have a very long over due project made using a template that I have created and really should be finished and listed in my ETSY store ASAP!

and I also became slightly side tracked this morning sorting through my scrap basket and started putting fabric aside to make a Scrappy Trip along Quilt, Its all over Instagram at the moment and its been very hard not to start one!   

I'm off to enjoy my kids company and eat an ice cream :)) & swim in the pool 

Xx Siobhan

Which Fabric .............

What current fabrics are you collecting?

I really wish I had bought more of the "Echo" range by Lotta Jansdotter. 

I don't get to spend much time on the net anymore - between work and kids.I feel like I miss out on whats happening in the fabric/ quilting world sometimes.

so many good designs and colours around.

I've been collecting fabric over the last month or so for a magazine project I'm designing, I need lots of colours.

Now it's getting to a stage that I need to cull and cut.

of course I had to add in a pile of my own designed fabric.........

and below I'm pretending I'm supper organised - note bobbins wound and ready to go!

I'm busily machine quilting a quilt that I have made for a design challenge for the Fat Quarterly Team. The quilt features Lu Summers new range with Moda called "Summerville".

That's me for today!

Xx Siobhan

A little Competition

You may or may not know,

but I have fabric for sale on spoonflower

and for the first time ever - I have entered one of the weekly contests

below are lots of pictures of stuff I have made using the Text fabric that I have for sale on spoonflower

If you would like to see more examples of my Fabric - have a look at my Flickr account :)

and Please vote for ME!

Hope you all had a lovely Easter

Xx Siobhan

working away

Hope you all had a great Weekend

I'm on the last week of school holidays, busily getting four little people equipped and ready.

This week the issue #151 of Down Under Quilts should be in store & my Liberty Quilt is on the Cover, pattern etc included and lots of info/ stories about Liberty of London

In other news

I'm working on a full instructions & post about the Lone Star, sneak peak above

 and I also have been seriously side tracked by this block - Swoon by Camille Roskelley at Thimble Blossom

my block is made up from all of my Spoonflower Designs

Katy from I'm a ginger monkey is hosting a swoon-along

Back to work for me!

Xx Siobhan

When Life Smiles

Everything just fell into line today. 

House organised, kids happy, paper work done, computer work/emails done, deliveries turned up & Sewing Done!

Its when all the little stuff works out - Thats when I smile :)

all fabric from my BeaSpoke Spoonflower range

Xx Siobhan

A bit of Colour

 Hi All

I've been busy making a pillow for a swap I joined, in my usual style I've made it a lot bigger than it needed to be.....I'm not good at small.

I'm considering making a smaller version to post overseas? not sure how this one will go in the post?

I've been making a few zig zag quilts lately and I usually prefer to make them from half square triangles, I like the shape and width of the zig zag.

I saw these tiles in Italy and I was looking at some Missoni designs - love Missoni. 

I decided to give a different technique a whirl.

Once I worked out my angle and cut a template it was easy. I like that I can vary the width of the zig zag.

I'm already looking at other material combinations and trying this pattern out again. I think its very Missoni-ish

I also finally got my spoonflower order of new colours and used the mustard numbers fabric on the back.

Cushion Back - Mustard Numbers Fabric

Liberty & Mustard Numbers

here you can see a little tiny bit of a quilt that will be in the Dec/Jan 2011 issue of DownUnder Quilt

finished cushion size is 75cm X 75cm

I'd also like to say a big thank you to all the  people that support my blog!

Its always so nice (& a surprise) to see my blog on other peoples blogs (mouth full)

I'd like you to leave a link in the comments to your blog and next post I'll post a list

until then

Xx Siobhan

Sticking with the classics

Hi All

I've settled back to routine nicely :)

Kids back to school today & everyone cheery 

Playing with fabrics today - working out what to do next!

sometimes I get overwhelmed by my stash of fabrics and colour choices, I think thats why I always have a go to fabric.

I have no real intention of being a fabric designer, when I design and print fabrics on spoon flower the intention is usually to make a fabric that will mix n match with designer fabrics - I dub these my "classics". 

When I say classic - I mean something that will have a staying power from season to season, something that will mix with new designs - a fabric that will go with everything.

If you look at most of my quilts/ cushions - they all have a bit of my own fabrics in them.

below are some I received in the post today, 

I needed a few more colours to mix up with my stash. 

Mustard, red, turquoise, pink & grey

if you'd like to have a look they are all on my Spoonflower shop

and here we have some IKEA fabric, this is going to make some great cushion backs

Im desperate to put some of my mustard numbers & black/white/grey text fabric with the IKEA fabric - Love the combination

This matches beautifully with a new lot of Liberty fabric I picked up!

Looks like I have some sewing to do

Have a good week :)

Xx Siobhan

much better this week

Nice bright winter skies and sun, perfect for a trip on Sydney Harbour :)

Monday 25th July 2011

On another note, my daughter Miss nearly 5 needed a bag for pre school to keep her towel for Yoga (I know thats funny !)

I had some scraps from making my Amy Butler bag back in this post. For the applique I went the lazy way and used fusible webbing and raw edges with a bit of hand stitching.

bit of ribbon for a draw string and bobs your uncle!

bag 1

bag 2

I also made this little lined tote bag for miss 9 to carry her important stuff, apparently miss nearly 5 cant have something made for "only" her - apparently that would imply I only love miss nearly 5 and not miss 9. 

Who knew thats how love was measured?

obviously not by all the home made food/ time I spend reading or positive encouragement I give :)

I've had a few emails about my fabric - you can get them at Spoonflower. 

Its mostly text fabric. I like to mix the text fabric in with the patterned fabric I buy and grey always goes with everything.

I'm teaching my first beginners class at Hobby Sew tonight!

and dont forget to sign up for the one day workshops at Calico & Ivy

XxSiobhan