Liberty Love - Happy Birthday Aprons

On a recent trip to Pins & Needles on Manhattan's Upper East Side (explore the store with me here) I came face to face with this Cotton + Steele Melody Miller B&W Typewriter fabric.  

Liberty Lawn & Essex Linen FPP Feather

I love foundation paper piecing, but experience has taught me that not all foundation paper piecing patterns are equal, I'm very happy to shout from the rooftops, however, about all FPP patterns created by Juliet @The Tartankiwi.  

Juliet is an absolute Queen of FPP, her patterns are well thought out so there's the minimum number of pieces necessary for the sewist to piece the design as simply and easily as possible.  She is rigorous in her pattern testing too, testing and developing patterns thoroughly herself then she has several reliable testers trial the patterns and feedback before releasing them to the general public.

When Juliet sent me an image of her latest FPP Feather Border pattern I jumped at the chance to test it and here it is.

I've used Liberty Lawns for the feather and Robert Kaufman Yarn-Dyed Black Essex Linen for the background.  My favourite London shop for Liberty Lawns is Shaukat, they've more Liberty fabric than the Liberty store itself alongside other lawns and specialist fabrics - I've written a couple of posts about the fabric I've bought there here and here.  If you haven't been to the Liberty store then, of course, that should be top of your 'must do' list for any London trip - more pretty pics of the store here.

A couple of the lawns were left over from this reversible apron I made for my Mum a few years ago, you can read more about it here and though my Mum's looking very good for her years it's not actually her but my youngest, Flicky, modelling the apron ;D

Getting sidetracked now, all this talk of home and Liberty - let's have another look at that FPP Feather.

The FPP pattern includes two sizes of feather - 12" x 3" and 24" x 6" - I've made a 24" x 6" feather.  Juliet made the feather so she could border a block with four feathers, I've got other ideas, though.  Initially, I thought I'd extend the block to make a rectangular cushion but now I'm thinking a wall hanging so I'm going to sit on it for a while and see what ideas brew, you know the way they do.

You can see more tested versions of the FPP Feather Border here on Juliet's The Tartankiwi blog and her pattern's available now via her Etsy store and also her Payhip store.  

Disclaimer: I do not receive payment from Juliet @TheTartankiwi for testing her patterns, nor do I receive a commission on any patterns sold via her Etsy store or any other sales method.  This post is purely informational and of no direct benefit, monetary or otherwise, to me.

Please note the pattern does not include Juliet's Kea Alpine Parrot pattern as pictured but this FPP pattern is available separately.

Here's a look back at the patterns I've previously tested for Juliet.

Click any of the images below to go through to my post about testing that particular pattern:

  
 

Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)

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Everything Stops For Tea

Oh, the factories may be roaring with a boom-a-lacka, zoom-a-lacka, wee,

But there isn't any roar when the clock strikes four, everything stops for tea

Jack Buchanan, 1935

Time to share a few more project photos from last year that I've found still on the camera.  This time, it's kitchen accessories - oven gloves, tea cosies and trimmed towels - last Christmas was definitely the year of the tea cosy for my kids and Mum - we all loooove our tea.

Earlier that year I made these aprons for everyone and blogged about them here

Guests, Like Fish, Begin To Smell After Three Days

For Christmas I had the idea to make everyone a matching set of kitchen accessories - this is the set I made for my eldest son's partner, Ana.

It was the first set I made and there's lots of pics of the finished pieces.

Fabrics:

"paseo de los muertos", De Leon Design Group for Alexander Henry and Belle Epoch by Kaffe Fassett.

Oops, seems I forgot to take pics of Joe and Katie's sets, though I do have a couple of phone photos that I sent to my daughter, Flicky, to show her what I was making at the time.

The Alexander Henry fireman fabric always makes me giggle.

Fabrics:
"ready for action" Alexander Henry; 'Keep it Sassy! Olive Sandwiches for Moda; and 'Labrinyth - Charcoal', Ikebana by Dear Stella
Lotta Jansdotter glimma 'Marby'; Amy Butler Alchemy 'Queen Ann's Butterflies'; and Dear Stella 'Confetti Dot - Peony'

On the phone, I found this pic of trimmed towels,

and I was surprised to discover more on the main camera too.

There's an extra towel in the pile - it's one I made for my Mum to add to her accessory set that I've already shared with you - how come I remembered to share these here and forget about the others I'd made?!!!

I did find this pic of Mum I haven't shared before, it's a great one of her wearing her apron - love this, she's so happy.   

To wrap up with that 1935 song by Jack Buchanan, I found the original version on YouTube and here it is - how very, very British!

Disclaimer: 
This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

 

Wouldn't It Be Dreadful...?

“Wouldn't it be dreadful to live in a country where they didn't have tea?” 

― Noel Coward

Are you a tea drinker?  I sure am, English Brekkie or maybe Earl Grey brewed for 4 minutes if you please (yes I do use a timer) with a splash of milk, well not even a splash just show it the milk to tease it.  Sugar?  No way; I can tell if you've even used an empty sugar spoon to stir it.  The best cup of tea anyone's ever made for me - well that would be my Dad's, no-one made tea like him, what I'd give to share just one more pot with him.

So what's the point of this post?  I've found a pile of pics of Christmas gifts I made last year and never shared so here's the first: 

A Christmas 2013 parcel ready to send off to England for my Mum - she's a big tea drinker too.

Her parcel included an apron, oven glove, hand towel and tea cosy.

I don't have Flicky around to model for me anymore so the balcony door handle's as good as it gets - you can rely on a good breeze up on the 23rd floor to add movement to your pics, though I remember I was nervous I might lose everything over the glass balcony wall.  It was freezing too - don't let that winter sunshine fool you.

 

Close up shots of the embroidered pocket detail on the reversible apron.

Floral fabric: Autumn Medley Martha Negley for Rowan #MN44 Citrus;

Zig-Zag fabric: Dear Stella Piper Zig-Zag Orange #172;

Pink fabric: P&B Textiles: Bear Essentials 2 #570F;

Insul-Bright batting;

Aurifil 40/2 thread #2277 - Light Red Orange.

And a couple of pics of the tea cosy and oven glove.

I added a strip of matching Martha Negley fabric to a hand towel to complete the set.

Mum, as always, loves them though she's only using the tea cosy - she doesn't want to spoil the other items, they're just for show in her kitchen!!!

I'll be with you in less than three weeks Mum, put the kettle on and make a brew, can't wait to share a pot with you and have a real good natter x

Disclaimer: 
This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.