Home Sewn

I attended a wonderful sewing retreat on the weekend. It was lovely to be able to sew up a storm with friends, and have all the meals taken care of. Bliss .....

After recently finishing a new quilt, it was nice to be able to work on some smaller projects. I made up a collection of cushions/pillows for our family room. You may recall that I am gradually adding more aqua and white to the room to freshen it up.

First up, three rectangular pillows, made from duck-cloth, with a patchwork panel of Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow in the Pond Palette.

Finished off at the back with an envelope closure and three self covered buttons.

Two square cushions in Herringbone Pond fabric and backed with duck-cloth.

Two square cushions in printed duck-cloth with New York Subway text print (fabric purchased from Spotlight).

I will share more photos of our living space when I have put a few more finishing touches to it! It feels so good to have finally made the pillows - they have been on my sewing To Do list since January.

{Book Reviews} Quilts from the House of Tula Pink & Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters

Our book titles this week will inspire those with a love of modern and contemporary patchwork and quilting designs.

Quilts from the House of Tula Pink: 20 Fabric Projects to Make, Use and Love is a delightful quilting book with colourful, modern designs. The book includes 10 quilt patterns which are perfect to showcase many of the beautiful large scale prints available in the market today.It also includes 10 accessory sewing projects, such as an embroidered lampshade, shower curtain, notebook cover, pillows and more. These smaller items are perfect home decorating and gift items, and are a great way to use smaller cuts of fabric.

The author, Tula Pink, is an American textile designer and quilt maker. Tula includes a helpful section on the techniques covering cutting, sewing, and quilting;  "Fearless Fabric Selection"; as well as an enlightening "Peak Into the Design Process".  The techniques are all clearly shown with step by step photos; as well as Tula's own tips and tricks to achieve a professional result.The book includes all the templates needed to make the projects, and they are shown at 100%, so there is no need to enlarge!

Here are some of my favourite projects from the book:

Quilts from the House of Tula Pink would make a great addition to a Quilters Library. You can find a google preview of the book over at Fishpond.

Book Details:
ISBN:               9781440218187
Publisher:          Krause Publications
Format:             Paperback, 144 pages
RRP:                 $29.00

Quilts from the House of Tula Pink is available at  Fishpond , Can Do Books, and  Booktopia.

Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters: 60 Blocks + a Dozen Quilts and Projects by Katy Jones, Bioni Greenberg, Tacha Bruecher, and John Q Adams is a terrific resource book for quilters of all levels. This book is presented in a workshop style and present six common quilting shapes used in modern and dynamic ways. For each shape you will find 10 different quilt blocks, followed by a smaller quilted project (such as placemats, wall hanging, pillow) and a full sized quilt. The projects include clear photos, illustrations,and instructions to guide you through the construction process. It is a great resource book for all quilters, with a fresh and modern take on some traditional shapes. The book includes all the templates you require but most need to be enlarged by 100 - 200%.

Here are some of our favourite projects:

Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters is recommended for quilters of all levels who are looking for some modern inspiration. 

Book Details:

ISBN:           9781454702825

Publisher:      Lark Books

Format:         Paperback, 144 pages

RRP:             $27.99

Fat Quartely Shape Workshop for Quilters is available from Fishpond, Can Do Books, and Booktopia.

Disclaimer: Please note that we are not paid to write book reviews but we do receive a review copy of the book from distributors/publishers. We are affiliates of Booktopia and Fishpond.

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Flavoured Coffee Beans

We are big coffee drinkers in our home and especially love Vanilla Flavoured Coffee. Yummm.  We have a coffee machine with a built in grinder, and occasionally treat ourselves to flavoured coffee beans. If you want to make your own flavoured coffee beans,  they are so quick and easy to prepare, and have a fabulous taste. Best of all, you can create your own flavour blend.

Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with different techniques and flavours to make our own flavoured coffee beans. Our favourite has to be Vanilla Coffee -

Vanilla Flavoured Coffee Beans

• Purchase freshly roasted coffee beans.
• Place approx 1/2 kg (1 lb) coffee beans into a glass jar with a tight fitting lid.
• Add 3-4 vanilla beans that have been split down the centre and mix them in with the coffee beans.
• Allow the vanilla and coffee beans at least 24 hours to infuse (or longer if you want a more intense flavour). Remove the vanilla pods and use the coffee as desired.
• Store coffee beans in an air tight container in a dry, dark place at room temperature. Glass, ceramic or non reactive metal containers make the best storage for coffee beans.

Other flavours you can use include: cinnamon sticks; whole nutmeg; cardamom; and whole cloves. 

One of the advantages of making your own flavoured coffee is avoiding the synthetic flavours and preservatives found in many of the commercially available flavoured coffees  - it is a much healthier alternative.

With Fathers Day rapidly approaching here in Australia, flavoured coffee beans would make a great gift for Dad. Team it with a Coffee Machine or Grinder to really make Dad's day.

Thanks to Big W for sponsoring this post.

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Vanilla Bean Cookies

You may have noticed that A Spoonful of Sugar has been fairly quiet over the past few weeks. We had a couple of weeks off to relax - including a much anticipated family holiday to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. We have also had school and university holidays over recent weeks and it was lovely to spend time with the teens. I am now on extended long service leave from the day job. There are lots of plans afoot for sewing and crafty projects; baking and healthy meals; and home organisation projects. Stay tuned!

This week Sarah baked us a big batch of Vanilla Bean Cookies. If you are after a plain, crisp cookie, then these will fit the bill. They are lovely and light, and the vanilla bean paste gives them a delicious vanilla taste. They are particularly good served warm from the oven. They also freeze well.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup plain (all purpose) flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Method:

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 F).
• Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Mix butter and sugar in the mix-master on medium high speed until pale and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla extract and paste, Mix until smooth. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour.
• Using a 1 inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with baking paper. Bake until golden and just set, approx 8 - 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Makes: Approx 30 cookies.

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Chocolate Box

Chocolate Boxes add a special touch to a celebratory dinner and can be easily constructed from pretty scrap booking paper. They are the perfect size to hide a chocolate mint or chocolate coin. Long time readers may remember the little chocolate boxes that we made a few years ago, that were mentioned in this post here. 

  

A lovely reader, 12 year old Thea, has turned our hand drawn sketch into a template for you to download. (Thea and her friend are very enterprising girls who do odd jobs to raise money for their favourite charities - you can read all about them on their website Shiny Clean). Thanks so much Thea!

You can download the template here. 

Simply print out the templates and cut around the outline to make your own chocolate boxes. Thea has designed a selection of patterned paper options to make small Chocolate Boxes with a base measurement of 1.5 inches. Alternately, you can trace the outline of the larger template with a base measurement of 2 inches  onto your own paper supplies. They also look great made from double sided scrap booking paper.

Here is how you fold the boxes:

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Easy Fleece Scarf for Kids

If you are looking for an easy beginner sewing pattern to teach your kids some basic embroidery skills and keep them entertained during the school holidays, check out our tutorial for an Easy Fleece Scarf over at Mum's Business. 

Disclosure: We are paid Contributors to Mum's Business.

Fabric Flower

Fabric flowers can be quickly made from small pieces of fabric, and add a special touch to a gift box. If you add a brooch back to the rear side of the flower, it can also be used as a brooch to add some colour to your favourite cardigan or handbag.

I am really loving the combination of yellow and grey at the moment, so raided my fabric scraps to find four yellow and four grey fabrics.

Supplies:

• felt circle - 3 inches in diameter
• 4 fabric circles - 3 inches in diameter
• 4 fabric circles - 2 inches in diameter
• 2 co-ordinating buttons - one small, one medium
• brooch clasp
• needle and thread

I cut the circles using my Accuquilt Go Cutter with the circle die but they can be easily traced onto the fabric using a compass, and cut to size.

Fold the 3 inch fabric circles in half and finger press. Layer the circles onto the felt so that they overlap (refer to photos below). Stitch the centre of the circles in place onto the felt backing.

Repeat for the 2 inch circles and position them on top of the 3 inch circles, and stitch in place at the centre of the flower.

Position the buttons on the centre of the flower and stitch in place. Stitch the brooch clasp to the back of the felt.

You can add your fabric flowers to a gift; to a scarf; to a handbag; or make a garland of them! They are so versatile and quick to make.

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Origami Dress Card

After seeing the sweet Origami Dresses over at Craft & Creativity, I was inspired to make an Origami Dress Card for a special friend's birthday. There is a helpful uTube video that guides you through the steps on folding the dress.

I used a 6 x 6 inch square of origami paper that I had in my paper stash (purchased from Daiso); added some twine; little pegs; and washi tape. I love how the dress gives the card a 3D element.

It would be fun to make up a batch of dresses and them frame them to decorate a little girls bedroom. I think I will be making a lot more of these origami dresses.

The dresses are quite easy to make - they would be fun creative activity to do with kids over the school holidays.



As I love to give hand made, I also sewed a House Lavender Sachet to pop in with my friend's gift, using the fabulous tutorial over at Retro Mama (complete with a Number 1 for her new house that is under construction!)

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