Cupcake Pincushion

I love it when people come to me with an idea of something they would like me to make.

A couple of weeks was asked if I had ever thought of making pincushions. Specifically they were after one that looked like a cupcake.

I love cupcakes!!!! :D ... well the edible ones, but I was very excited at the prospect of making one out of material.

Now, most cupcake pin cushion designs you see on the net have a base with a dome on top ... not a very exciting thing to make. I love the look of cupcakes with a swirl of piped icing sitting on top (Delicious!!) and so I based my design on that.

 

My boy Robbie - Soft Toy

Early last month I decided to step out of my comfort zone and make a soft toy, like an animal or a doll of some sort. I went out to my FB page followers and asked for suggestions as the last time I attempted this was back in high school when I tried my hand at making a dinosaur that ended up looking nothing like a dinosaur or any recognisable shape.

I got 3 responses ... from girlfriends. I was hoping to generate a little bit conversation from the 300 or so people who like my page that I don't actually know. And let me just say that I am over the moon that I have 300+ likes on my page - to me that is like a billion. I digress ...

A couple of days later I was having a conversation with a girlfriend and she mentioned that one of her favourite toys as a kid was one that had long limbs that her little hands could grab onto and carry around. That's when the joyous creative light bulb came on I could think of nothing better than to base my soft toy after my beloved dog Robbie. He is a recused greyhound who just happens to have long ears, a long nose, long legs and a long body!

So I sketched a little and one Saturday morning put the Robbie prototype together. Don't you think there they look awfully similar?? Maybe I'm just bias :)

 

 



 
Happy with the prototype, I began to put Robbie#1 together ...

 

So, my Robbie#1 is a one of a kind, soft toy dog. Hand made with cotton fabric, two way velvet, foil jersey, ribbon and polyester stuffing; he stands 45cm tall.

Just in case you didn't notice, Robbie is numbered ... which can only mean that there maybe more of him to come :)

Steph xo
PS. Soon after he was made, Robbie#1 was successfully adopted by a loving family from our Etsy store - https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/twooffour

Draw'n'Go

I like to design and create things from scratch. I know there are endless amounts of patterns out there that I can replicate, but there is just something really satisfying about getting an idea and seeing it evolve.

I was chatting with my 3rd sister and somehow the idea of the Draw'n'Go evolved. Nic mentioned that she would like some sort of travelling bag/case to put paper and pencils in for her boys to use when they go out. She wanted something that was easy to pack up when they are in a hurry ... maybe with some Velcro ... with bright and fun coloured fabric and a handle so they boys could carry it themselves. So I started drawing and this is what I came up with ...

Pretend that there is Velcro where the pins are. Open up the sides ...

The red flap is designed to keep paper, pencils, crayons etc. from falling out. Lift up the red flap ...

and tadaaaaaa!!
The centre pocket holds A5 paper and the two side pockets are big enough to fit pencils, crayons, muesli bars or even small toys.

I showed one of my girlfriends the Draw'n'Go and she loved it and instantly (literally) ordered one for each of her twin boys Alex and Lachlan.

Alex with his Draw'n'Go

 


Lachlan with his Draw'n'Go



 

Shortly after I received my 3rd order which came from our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Two.of.4. I was for a little boy named Liam.



The Draw'n'Go is made out of 100% cotton fabric, velcro and polyester wadding and are available to buy on our Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/twooffour.

I always enjoy making custom orders so feel free to contact us by leaving a comment here or message us on our Facebook page or Etsy Store. - Steph xo

Aprons, Aprons, Aprons

Continuing on from my successful attempt at the Heart Baby Cot Quilt I began sewing craft aprons for kids. Months prior Mez and I had prepared binding, ties, straps etc for a dozen aprons but just hadn't gotten around to piecing and sewing each apron together. 

Below is a small sample of the finished products.

Each craft apron is made from quality cotton or poplin (cotton polyester blend) fabric and a layer of PVC added to the apron front. They are suitable for children from 3-10 years. 

The apron front  measures 54cm x 44cm and are available to buy on our Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/twooffour.

Steph xo

Busy little bees ... Baby Heart Quilt

Wow, it has been a while since our last post!! Even though we have been pretty quiet on blogger we have been fairly busy. 

We have a new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Two.of.4 where we have been uploading photos of our creations and we are also on Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/twooffour.

In early March this year I got inspired to try my hand at making a quilt that had a mosaic feel to it. I had heaps of colourful pieces of left over fabric that I could use and I thought wouldn't it be great to make a quilt for a baby that was bright and colourful and had a big love heart on it. Little did i know what I was getting myself into.


I ended up cutting and sewing together 342 individual, 6cm x 6cm squares to create this brilliant idea of mine. Mind you, this was my second ever quilt I had ever attempted to make (my sister Mez  - the other half of Two of Four - was the brilliant creator of the previous quilts posted on here). So with very little experience I cut up all the colourful squares based on a colour coded plan I put together. Then I laid it all out on my kitchen table which took me about a day of mixing and matching to get all the colours right. 

I remember Mez mentioning that she used to number all the pieces of her quilts so if she needed to pack things up or if someone moved things she could easily put things back together. So out came 342 little stickers that I numbered by hand and one by one all the little squares got sewn together in perfect order.


 

Now, the first quilt I ever made I quilted together with straight horizontal and vertical lines about 20cm apart from each other... very basic, very safe. This time I decided to use my sewing machine to free motion quilt my own design/pattern into the quilt. 

Now, I'm not going to lie - I was very nervous about doing this considering how much effort had gone into sewing the front of the quilt together, I didn't want to ruin it. But sometimes you just need to give things a go and trust in your creativity! And, boy am I glad that I did because I was so happy with the way the pattern turned out. (see below)

In fact, I'm really pleased at how the finished product turned out ... all from an urge one morning to create something new. Not bad for a 2nd attempt at making a quilt hey?

New Commission - Baby Boy Quilt and Block

The commission was for a baby playmat about a metre square with a panel that has the baby's name and birthdate on it and a soft toy block with ribbon tags - everything else was up to me, i.e. colour, design, applique, layout, etc. And here's what I came up with:

The name panel was stitched by hand with embroidery floss...

...and the puppy dog, tow truck and robot panels use raw edge applique for securing the fabric and for detailing, along with trapunto for texture.

The robot might look familiar as the design is from Don't Look Now's Robot Riot quilt

 

As I had free reign on the design of the quilt I wanted to make the back a bit interesting so I slightly modified the layout of the Modern Pickle Relish design from Modern Quilt Relish to suit a small square quilt.

I quilted all over with a medium density meandering loop pattern in variegated blue rayon thread on the coloured blocks...

...and more densely with random stars on the white background fabrics of the feature applique blocks and the white border using a white rayon thread.

The soft toy block only had to have the ribbon tags for bubs to play, again anything else was up to me so I ran with it and appliqued shapes onto two sides of the block. The dinosaur has overlapping crinkly spiky spines for bubs to grab onto...

...while the kite is made of felt secured with satin stitch and its tail is made of ribbon bows, again to add texture to tempt little fingers.

I was absolutely staggered at how this quilt was received by not only my client but also the baby's parents and anyone else who has seen the quilt and block in person or even simply pictures of them. Thankyou so much Leah for not only asking me to make this quilt but also for having such absolute trust in me that you let me just run with any design ideas I had to produce this, a gift to treasure.

Amelia's Quilt Pillowcase

I almost forgot. I did make a pillowcase to match Amelia's quilt and I've since learnt that she loves it so much that it's turned into a traveller, ie if she hops into mummy's bed, pillow comes too. So cute.

I used raw edge applique for the heart and butterfly and hand stitched the antenae.