Bluebirds On Roses by Elea Lutz

One of my favourite fabric designers Elea Lutz has a new collection out and it's sweet as can be. Flowers, strawberries, bluebirds - and a lovely mix of blues, pinks, reds, and yellow. Sweetness indeed!

I made two projects with these fabrics. The first is an 'Ultimate Pincushion' - the pattern for which is in my book Zakka Home. This is a large pincushion at 6" square - I designed it extra big like that as I was tired of having a multitude of pincushions on my desk, for all the different types of pins I use (regular pins, fine patchwork pins, long quilting pins, decorative pins..)

The pattern in the book has a patchwork design for the pincushion top - I decided to leave out the patchwork so I could showcase this beautiful blue floral fabric. Isn't it lovely?

I also made a bag with a drawstring cover, which I will be using for my crochet WIPs. We've had a sweet little addition to our family recently - a ragdoll kitten called 'Sugar'. We are all absolutely smitten with her! She is a clever little minx, and boy does she love my yarn! I needed something to keep my crochet safe from those cute little fluffy paws.

I did not use a pattern for my bag - I kind of winged it as I went. But there is a good tutorial here to make a very similar one. My bag is a slightly bigger size.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I made with Bluebirds on Roses by Elea Lutz for Riley Blake Designs - this collection is now available in stores worldwide. Tomorrow I will run a giveaway for a bundle of these fabrics on my Instagram feed - keep an eye out if you would like to enter!

Free Pattern 'Reflections' + Newsletter!

Some of you may remember this old project from many years back.  It's a modern applique wall art, and I think it must be doing the rounds again on Pinterest as I've been getting requests for the pattern. I meant to publish it at the time, but never got around to it - better late than never, right?!



This was a quick morning's sew amidst a heap of fabric design deadlines at the time - I was very happy with how it turned out despite being put together so fast. My friend Amy of Nana Company was running a triangle-themed design challenge, and I was inspired by a modern art print I had seen recently, which would be perfect for the challenge. I decided to take the design in a slightly different direction - mountains reflecting over water, so I could use two different colours in graduated shades.

I named my wall art 'mountains-in-sunset-reflecting-on-water' (I told you I am terrible with picking names). Luckily my friend Xanthe from Wife-made came to my rescue again and suggested 'Reflections' instead. Much, much better.

I made this wall art using the fusible web applique technique, as it was for display purposes only so the edges wouldn't fray. It would also look great as a foundation paper pieced project if you are a fan of that method!

To download a free copy of the 'Reflections' pattern please subscribe to my newsletter.  By subscribing you can also keep up to date with my new pattern releases, receive exclusive discount codes and early bird shopping, and get notified of new blog posts and free patterns. I promise not to flood your inboxes with annoying daily emails - I hate getting those also. Thank you dear friends!

'Toy Chest' Cot Quilt Tutorial

I made this cot quilt and wrote the tutorial for the Penny Rose blog back in 2015 - before I was a fabric designer for Riley Blake! Someone recently reminded me of it and gosh I love it so much!

The collection I used for this cot quilt is called 'Toy Chest' - it is long out of print now but if you look around you may be still able to find it. I heard Fabric Pixie still has some in stock. It really is the perfect fabric for a cot quilt, with frolicking lambs, fluffy bunnies, and birds on see saws!

And here is the quilt I designed. I went for a simple design with a vintage feel, and no fiddly points so it's beginner friendly.

It has been quilted on a long arm machine, in a sweet floral swirly pattern.

Here are the steps to make this sweet quilt.

Toy Chest Cot Quilt Tutorial

Finished size 35" x 47"

All seams are 1/4"

RST = Right sides together

Fabric Requirements

All requirements based on fabric 42" wide (WOF)

Fat Quarter bundle of Toy Chest (patchwork centre and pieced border)

3/4 yard Toy Chest Little Lambs Pink (border)

1/2 yard Toy Chest Bunnies & Balloons Aqua (binding)

1/2 yard Ivory Solid Quilting Cotton (border)

41" x 53" batting

41" x 53" backing fabric (1.5 yard if using Toy Chest)

Cutting Instructions

From the Toy Chest fat quarter bundle

24 - 4.5" squares in mixed colours (A)

120 - 2.5" squares in mixed colours (B)

20 - 4 1/4" x 1 1/2" rectangles in mixed colours (C)

14 - 4 1/2 " x 1 1/2 " rectangles in mixed colours (D)

From ivory solid

2 - 24 1/2 " x 1 1/2 " strips (E)

2 - 38 1/2" x 1 1/2" strips (F)

2 - 40 1/2" x 1 1/2" strips (G)

2 - 30 1/2" x 1 1/2" strips (H)

From Toy Chest Little Lambs Pink

2 - 42 1/2" x 3" strips (I)

2 - 35 1/2" x 3" strips (J)

From Toy Chest Bunnies & Balloons Aqua

4 - 2 1/4" x WOF strips (for the binding)

Quilt Top Assembly

The central patchwork of this quilt consists of 24 blocks, laid out in a 4 x 6 grid. Each block consists of a large square surrounded on two sides by two small squares. These blocks are rotated throughout the patchwork to give an overall random effect.

Layout the fabric squares on a flat surface / design wall until you are happy with the configuration of the blocks and colour distribution. Pay attention to directional prints during layout and assembly, so you don't end up with upside-down ducks in the finished quilt.

To make one block, sew two B squares together, then place along one side of the A square RST, sew in place. Press seam towards the B squares. Sew the remaining three B squares together, place along the other edge of the sewn rectangle RST, carefully pinning and checking that the seam intersections match. Sew in place. Press the seam towards the B squares.

Make 24. Place the finished blocks together on a flat surface, rotating them as required. Sew the blocks together in rows, press seams in alternate directions, then sew the rows together, nesting the seams at the intersections. 

Sew an E strip along the top and bottom edges of the central patchwork. Then sew an F strip along the right and left edges.

Sew 10 C rectangles together for the strippy border. Make two. Sew each strippy border along the right and left edges.

Sew 7 D rectangles together. Make two. Sew along the top and bottom edges.

Sew a G strip along the right and left edges. Then sew an H strip along the top and bottom edges.

Sew an I strip along the right and left edges. Then sew a J strip along the top and bottom edges.

Your quilt top is now complete.

Finishing

Make a quilt sandwich with your quilt top, batting, and backing, and quilt as desired. Join the binding strips using diagonal seams. Press the entire binding in half lengthwise, wrong sides facing. Starting half way down one side of the quilt, place the binding strip on the quilt, raw edge to raw edge. Sew it onto the quilt, mitreing the corners. Join the ends of the binding, fold it over to the back of the quilt, and slip stitch it by hand along the back edge of the binding.

And your sweet quilt is ready! Thanks so much for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Scandi Throw Pillow

I'm a guest blogger today on my fellow Riley Blake designer Amy Smart's blog Diary of A Quilter , where I'm sharing the 10 simple steps to make this Scandi inspired modern cushion!

It's no secret that I love throw pillows - they are scattered all over my house and my 6 year old daughter is especially fond of them. She has a huge collection in her bedroom! I used my Summer Blush fabric collection for my pillow but this design would look really good in solid cottons too.

Head over to Amy's blog for the tutorial! Happy sewing!