Scandi Stitches Hot Water Bottle Cover

Back in the summer I made this hot water bottle cover for Stitch magazine. This is the magazine produced by the Embroider's Guild which is published every 2 months.

My pattern is part of a Christmas Gift Supplement with 15 projects.

I loved making the Scandi Stitch pillow for Love Patchwork and Quilting last year and wanted to try some more embroidery on felt.

This is a new version of that original pattern, slimmed down and simplified but still using red perle cotton #8 on wool felt (the colour is antique white, available from the Eternal Maker) and still very much inspired by Scandinavian needlework. 

I added blanket stitch around the edge to make it look extra cosy.

I had this great idea to sew ribbon along the opening to stop the felt stretching there. But I should have made the opening nearer to the bottom to make it easier to get the hot water bottle in and out. I made another version of this afterwards (for a workshop) and made this alteration successfully. It's very often trial and error in my job!!

There are some lovely ideas in the gift supplement, like these beautiful sashiko Kinchaku bags by Katie Chaplin.

And I am keeping very good company here - loving the details on this beautiful scarf by Sheena Norquay (a real quilting hero of mine from many year's back).

Stitch magazine is available in WHSmith's and other good retailers and has some lovely patterns and articles on embroidery.
I love embroidery and really wish I had more time to pursue it!

But at least I'm all set for winter now with my pretty hot water bottle cover!

New Workshops for the Autumn!

We've just launched our Autumn Term prospectus at myBearpaw Craft Studio!

I've been very busy over the last few weeks making some new class samples, and feeling quite festive despite it being July (not that you'd know it as we have had the most atrocious weather this summer in Scotland - it's just starting raining again as I type!!).

The one I struggled most with was this Christmas Tree Skirt. First of all I tried out a patchwork Dresden wedge type idea. This proved way too hard for a class (and too hard for me!), and I have now accidentally made a  Christmas place mat with my failed samples (photo to follow in a future post).

Looking around for inspiration I encountered the pattern that Brioni Jenkins had made for Fat Quarterly a few years back. This had houses around the edge and small stars in the centre and was machine appliqued. I realised this was too much work for a day class, but then I remembered the ticker tape quilts that were all the rage a few years back and this cot quilt I had made to sell in the shop...

And so this Tree Skirt has been made using this quick, easy 'glue and FMQ' method. And it worked really well! But I must say a huge thanks to Brioni for the initial inspiration. I hope my design doesn't look too much like her original!

Next up is a new Crochet Garland, this time for Christmas. I started by crocheting poinsettias...

I had a few goes at this and got it right with my third attempt, that's the flowers on the right hand side, one flower was outright rejected. After the class I plan to post the pattern for this so look out for it sometime in late November!

Next up holly leaves. I found an excellent pattern on Attic 24 which really couldn't be bettered so these were all made with this.

The mistletoe pattern was pretty easy to make up. I added pretty pearly buttons for berries on all the leaves.

And lastly snowflakes. Again I turned to Attic 24 for my first try at these, and then made the rest up. I wanted them to each be different like actual snowflakes.

And here is the finished garland!

Lastly I have designed a new embroidery on felt for a hot water bottle cover.
I wanted to make this quite a simple design so it wasn't too daunting a project for a beginner, or for anyone really.

I like using felt for embroidery as you don't need a hoop and when finished you have a more versatile material than linen.
But it can stretch at openings, so my little tip is to sew ribbon to the raw edges as you can see on the back of the cover below, which reinforces it as well as looking pretty :)

All our workshops old and new are one our website here. 

We even have Karen Lewis coming back up in November to teach two full days of screen printing! Better be quick if you want a place on one of these though!

Scandi Stitch Cushion

I've been working on a short series of 'stitchy' projects for Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine and the first one to appear in print is this Scandi style needlework cushion.

It's in issue 16 which should be out now and features Lynne's fabulous Honeycomb Hexie quilt on the cover.

The photo at the top is from the magazine and here are some photos I took before I sent the cushion off. Can you spot the difference??!

The cushion is made from wool felt and embroidered with Appleton's crewel wool.
I think this is one of my favourite magazine projects yet! I loved designing the pattern and stitching it.

I haven't done much embroidering on felt before and it is really nice to do. You don't need to use a hoop as the felt is so stable. The crewel wool can be a little annoying to work with but I like the cosy feel it gives the finished piece.



LP&Q have produced a fabulous free stitch guide pdf to go along with this project which you can download from their website, it is so well done and could be useful for all sorts of embroidery projects.

For each of the stitchy projects I have designed an accompanying hanging heart as a 'mini make'.
I think this would make a fabulous tree decoration and as it is so small you probably still have time to whip one up for your tree this year!

It's a lovely feeling to see something you are so proud of in the pages of a magazine and think 'I made that!'.
Really looking forward to seeing some other folks have a go at this one too!

Meanwhile I'm about to go quiet for a week as I am off to Tenerife for a week with my sister! Can't wait to feel the sun on my face again :)
I may try and do a 'scheduled post' while I'm away if I get time tomorrow in between packing and finishing Christmas present making!

Hansel and Gretel Quilt

I've made another Fairytale Quilt.
You may remember the 2 Red Riding Hood quilts and a 3 Little Pig quilt that I made previously. Well this time it is Hansel and Gretel!
Christina, the lovely lady who commissioned the second Red Riding Hood quilt has also commissioned this one. The first one was for her daughter, Eden, and now she has had another little girl, Olive, and this one is for her.

Creating the gingerbread cottage was challenging but lots of fun. I used a mixture of colourful buttons and felt for the sweets.
I bought some Hansel and Gretel fabric from Spoonflower and used this for the witch and for Hansel and Gretel. Here she is making her way back to the cottage.

And here comes Gretel, she's been planning her escape and it's time to make a run for it. Quick Gretel! Get away now before the witch comes!

She's got away to the woods and now she is calling to Hansel. Hurry Hansel! You've still got time to escape before the witch gets there! (luckily for Hansel and Gretel the scary witch is firmly appliqued to the top).

 Here's the quilt with Hansel, Gretel and an owl inserted in their pockets.

I've made the trees in different shapes for this quilt, I wanted this one to sit well beside the first quilt but not be too similar. I used these lovely embroidered iron-on transfers of a fox, bird and owl which have been perfect for this project.
You can see the original Fairytale Quilt here and the next 2 here and here.
One of the trees still has a hidden door and look who is behind it...

...a Heather Ross gnome! I had some left over from the last Fairytale Quilt. All the other ones have had a ladybird behind the door so it was nice to have a change here.

Here is a close up of the 'owl tree'.
I bought enough Hansel and Gretel fabric to use for the back.

The binding is a Riley Blake 'sweetcakes' fabric with tiny white hearts on red. Here are the play figures that go with the quilt.

I really enjoy making these little wall hangings and sending them off in to the world. And I have even developed a workshop to teach the different techniques I use. I am still busy planning next term's classes but there will definitely be room for a Fairytale Quilt Workshop, so if anyone fancies making one of these themselves keep an eye out on our website or sign up for our newsletter here.

Surviving the Country Living Fair

Yes I've survived! As I mentioned in my last post, not only did I have a stand at the Scottish Country Living Fair last weekend, but I also had to do a demo in the Craft Theatre every day!

The CL Fair was held at the SECC in Glasgow from Thursday to Sunday and I was giving a half hour demonstration on this little felt robin above. You can find the tutorial for him here.

Part of the deal was that we had to supply all the materials required so that 35 - 40 people a day could make a robin along with me. So that meant making up a lot of kits! My very supportive husband, Jonathan, stepped in to the breach and made up 172 kits. Thank you so much Jonathan! This is our dining room table a week or so a go when he was in full 'outworkers' mode.

I have done a lot of teaching over the last 18 months but nothing like this - 35 plus students in a very public place, with a camera zoomed in on my hands and a microphone attached to my head - I have to say I was pretty terrified! The demo was at noon each day and Jonathan was there on the first day to get some photos. This is the crowd waiting patiently for me to start - yikes!

Here I am waiting for Alan, the AV guy, to come and hook me up to the mic. Can you see the Robin on the screen? I am probably quite close to disappearing behind that desk and running away at this stage!

 But somehow I managed to get started and get through it.

 Here are the students busy with their robins.

And here are a couple of ladies at the end, looking very happy with their new robin pals!

Yes, every day my lovely students managed to make a robin each. Though on the first day there were a couple of square robins! So on subsequent days I managed to emphasise the crucial 'square to triangle' phase more and that didn't happen again.
And after that initial shaky start (though apparently you couldn't tell that I was nervous!), I got better and better every day and by Sunday I was absolutely loving it!
I loved it so much I want to do it again and have volunteered myself for next year.
I got some great feedback and the demo was so popular that poor Matthew, my lovely Country Living assistant, was constantly being harangued by people who couldn't get a place!

At the end of the demo I showed them this cute little chicken fella and explained how to transform their robin for Easter.
And that's the only new craft project on offer here this week as I have not had a moment to spare for makes!
It was lovely to meet so many old and new friends at the Fair, especially Jo and her very talented daughter Emily, who was exhibiting her landscape photos at the fair. Jo even helped me out during one of the demos, thanks Jo!

Liberty Pants Panda Tutorial

Who wants to make a panda?!
Not just any old panda, but one of these pandas wearing really cool Liberty pants ?!

Remember Sunshine and Sweetie up there? I did promise you a couple of months back that I would do a tute and here it is!

Please assemble:

Black and white felt plus a tiny scrap of contrasting colour (for the heart)
Small amount of Liberty Tana lawn (or some of the new Lifestyle cotton when it comes out!)
Black thread and black perle cotton 8 (or floss)
Glue stick
Toy filling
8" piece of ribbon
The usual - scissors (small, sharp ones are best for fiddly cutting), needles and pins.

Now download the pattern PDF and print it.

Cut out your pattern pieces, pin to appropriate felt and fabric and cut out.

Place one of your white panda bodies on to the wrong side of your Liberty pants piece as above. Run your glue stick around the fabric.

Fold over and gently stick this to the panda's body, evenly gathering it around. Repeat this with your other felt body and pants pieces.

Pin your panda belt over the raw edge of Liberty fabric. It should be just below the half way point on the body, leaving more room for face than bottom.

Using black thread, sew small over stitches along top and bottom of belt to attach to body. Repeat with other panda body.

Pin the 2 panda bodies wrong sides together, matching belt on both sides. Slip the feet, hands and ears into the appropriate spaces between the bodies and pin. You may need to trim the straight side of the ears about a quarter of an inch to get correct 'ear appearance'. Fold ribbon in half and insert into seam as well.

Using perle cotton and starting at one side of the head, sew around body close to the edge (but not so close that you tear the felt) using neat running stitches made in 2 parts. In other words don't gather a few stitches on to your needle the way you would if you were hand quilting, send your needle down with stroke and up with the next. This is to ensure that the back stitches look as neat as the front.

 Stop sewing once you get beyond the last hand, leaving a gap for stuffing.

 Stuff gently with toy filling, taking care not to stretch the felt at the gap.

 When you are happy with panda's cuddliness sew up gap and fasten off.

 Draw on face using top photos as a guide (though try to give your panda a personality of his own!)

Back stitch around inner and outer eyes and around nose and mouth. Fill inner eyes and nose with satin stitch.

Lastly, stitch you panda's heart decoration on using tiny over stitches and matching thread.
Give your new friend a big smile because he's so cute!!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and found it useful. You are welcome to use this to make as many pandas as you like, but please be courteous and credit me and also link to this blog where possible. Thank you!

The pandas were part of a new class I developed to make handmade party favours. I talked about this here. The 'boys' favour was a felt robot. I gave this class on Sunday (hence the photos for this tute) and also managed to make this Rainbow Robot for an extra demo. I though you might like to see him too.
It was a very fun class, I could hardly call it work!!