Sale and wishes.

To celebrate the arrival of the new year, there will be a sale at my zest4colour shop from the 1st till the 15th of January.
With coupon code "welcome2012", you get a 10% discount on all items in the shop.

Let me wish you all a

bright

colourful

happy

healthy

and

sparkling

2012

Kristien



A finished baby quilt.

Here it is, the finished baby quilt I told you about in this post.
It took me far longer than I had expected to finish it.
And of course - just in case my family was reading this blog - I couldn't show you the final result before I presented the quilt to my niece.
About the finishing touches:
I found inspiration in this book:

I used the pattern of this little bird, I just reduced the size:

Here is my bird:

I machine embroidered all around the body and wing and hand -embroidered the eye, beak and legs.

As another detail, I took a bird image from "Wing study in pastille" from the Botanika collection from Paula Prass.

Here you can see this fabric collection.

I hand-embroidered around it and got this result:

The biggest work was the quilting.

I decided to use freehand quilting for the off-white cotton around the blocks. My Bernina machine was very happy to do all the stitching for me using the BSR foot. I just had to guide her? all the way. 
This quilting made the coloured blocks come forward.
Have a look:

This freehand quilting also gave a gorgeous pattern on the back.
Look:

I added a Zest4colour label

and finished  the quilt by hand-quilting the binding to the back of the quilt, this way:



I used a lovely DMC pearl cotton tapestry thread to do this.
Here are some final pictures:

I can humbly say that this quilt was a big success at our family gathering for Christmas.

I was a bit sad to have to let it go.

Have a lovely end-of-year weekend.
Kristien

Last minute gift ideas - 5

What do you give to people who have everything?
In case you are desperate for ideas for gifts for the coming festivities, treasury lists on etsy give you a wealth of choice.

A treasury for gifts with a golden edge.

Here is the link.

Enjoy.
Kristien

Last minute gift ideas - 4

What do you give to people who have everything?
In case you are desperate for ideas for gifts for the coming festivities, treasury lists on etsy give you a wealth of choice.

Exquisite gifts; some of them are sold, but you may find similar ones in the shops.
Here is the link.
Enjoy.
Kristien

Last minute gift ideas - 3

What do you give to people who have everything?
In case you are desperate for ideas for gifts for the coming festivities, treasury lists on etsy give you a wealth of choice.

A gorgeous treasury with pale blue gifts.
Here is the link.
Enjoy.
Kristien

Last minute gift ideas - 2

What do you give to people who have everything?
In case you are desperate for ideas for gifts for the coming festivities, treasury lists on etsy give you a wealth of choice.

This is a treasury for music lovers.
Here is the link.

Enjoy

Kristien

Last minute gift ideas - 1

What do you give to people who have everything?
In case you are desperate for ideas for gifts for the coming festivities, treasury lists on etsy give you a wealth of choice.

This is one of the Etsy treasury lists I made or like.
Here is the link.
Enjoy...
Kristien

My mannequin friend arrived!

Some weeks ago I told you about a vintage mannequin I had seen in a shopwindow in Switzerland. This was the post.
As this vintage girl was far too expensive, I started to look for a good replacement.
I finally found and ordered her at www.corsetlacedmannequins.co.uk
Lucy did an expert job. My new friend arrived carefully wrapped and packed.
Here she is:

Look at the gorgeous fabric; I love the stunning print.

The background is a grey-green (duckegg) colour, difficult to capture on film.

She will be around featuring my handmade purses, like this:





Have a nice weekend

Kristien

A small toilet bag.

This is a short in between post.
I made a small toilet bag for my sister.
She asked for an orange fabric.
Now orange can be a very dangerous colour; it is easily overpowering.

I found a lovely fabric , called Bekah from Kaffe Fassett. The orange is softened by the other colours.

Instead of the usual straight top I went for a more curved one .
I personalised the little bag by adding an embroidered monogram.
Here you can see my Bernina machine in action:

As a finishing touch, I added this beautiful zipper pull:

For the lining I used a daisies and dots screen print by piece o' cake in a soft orange.

Here are some final pictures:

Size: L: 22 cm, H: 14 cm, W at base: 7 cm. 

What do you think?

I hope my sister will be pleased with it.



These toilet bags are not yet available in my shop but can already be ordered and will be custome made for you. Just send me a mail at zest4colour@gmail.com with your choice of colour, size and preferred monogram.

Kristien

PS. Still working on the baby quilt.

A babyquilt in progress

One of my nieces gave birth to a baby boy. As a present, I am making a baby quilt, not only to use as a bedcover but one that can also be used as a playmat.
I found my inspiration in 2 books.
This is the first one:

I used this quilt as a guide:

I reduced the size.
The "making of" is very clearly explained.
Fabrics: for the quilt top I used Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I chose the softer, pastell prints.
For the background I took a plain off-white cotton.
For the quilt backing I used a lovely citrine cotton fabric from Free Spirits.
Here is a tiny preview:

The true colour is hard to capture on film. The backing is far brighter than you see in the above picture.

This is a better resemblance, but in real time it is more sparkling lemon green-yellow. I love this fabric.

In this book:

 I found my finishing touch: that little extra which makes the quilt special. I will tell and show you more about it once the quilt is completely finished.

In the mean time I made the quilt sandwich: quilt top - wadding - quilt backing, which is now ready to be quilted.

This is it for today.

Have a nice evening.

Kristien



New at Zest4colour!

I just added this gorgeous purse to my shop:

For the exterior I used a lovely pale blue fabric.

If you take a closer look at the next picture, you can see tiny silver sparkles.

For the lining I took a Kaffe Fassett cotton in a lovely pastell colour tone:

The simple silver nickel kisslock frame and chain give the purse a stylish, modern look.
A small strap and a rectangular buckle add a finishing touch.
Available here.
Enjoy
Kristien

Adjusting a clutch

I sold this lovely clutch to a friend:

 She asked me if I could add a chain.

I had designed this clutch to be used as a handheld evening bag.

Adding a chain was a bit tricky but in fact not difficult at all.

I took 2 tiny D-rings and made 2 small, fitting straps; they are only 9 mm wide:

How do you make these straps?

I cut a piece of fabric 6 cm lenght x 3.6 cm wide (4 times the width of the finished strap) and interfaced it for strength.

Fold in half along the length of the strap and then iron . Open and fold both sides inwards to the center crease line. Fold the the strap in half lengthways again and edge stitch along both edges.

You get this:

I undid some stitches at the side corners of the finished bag and sandwiched the strap folded over the D-ring in between the lining and exterior:

Then, I machine stitched along the top edge of the clutch, starting at one side where the flap is attached to the bag; securing the little strap and smoothly edge stitching along the forefront till I reached the other side. I sewed several securing stitches at both ends.

I attached the chain and...

Finished!



Have a wonderful, warm and sunny weekend.

Kristien

My great getaway bag - Part 4

Finally, the last part of my great getaway bag making: the final assembly.
The 2 major parts of the bag were ready to be joined together. 
First, I stitched the lining base to the exterior base. This is easy.
I turned my exterior bag inside out and placed the lining bag base and exterior base wrong sides (WS) together. I stitched along all 4 sides with a 5 mm seam allowance.
I folded the exterior bag back, outside in, over the lining. The lining is now inside. 
I stitched the lining and exterior top edge and a part of the side seams together, along the seam that was created by joining the zip top panel and the main body pieces. It can easily be machine stitched with a 5 mm seam seam allowance. Just keep away from the original stitching line.

Then, I stitched - by hand - the folded edge of the lining to the zip.

 

  

I attached the adjustable strap to the bag, following the guidelines on p.106-107.

Some final pictures:

Ready to go!

Kristien