Matilda

 

This is Matilda.  My second swap finished for the swap I am participating in.

She has been received by Sue from Girls Shed and Sue named her Matilda.  I think that name suits her well.

She has the cutest face!  I really enjoyed making her and she is a rather thrifty bear seeing how she is made out of an old chenille bedspread.  Makes her look rather 'shabby chic'.

Her jacket is made out of cheap woolen quilt batting.   Fabric for cuffs are recycled scraps from an old blouse I have been cutting up and the ric rac and lace are from an op shop.  So you could say she is quite the recycled bear!

A close up showing patchwork heart and jacket band.

A little story I will share is that on completion of jacket when I went to try it on the bear, I expected it to fit.  It didn't and I thought I had made my bear too fat.  I looked at the instructions and pattern pic again and found to my relief that the jacket wasn't meant to fit and just be caught at the chest with a few stitches!  Whew!

A close up of yo yo flowers.

See I have been busy sewing this bear so that hopefully explains my absenteeism from my blog over the last couple of weeks.

Pattern was from the magazine "Handmade"  Vol 24 No 6.  The designer is Anna Jarman. 

Well, I think that's it for today! 

Cheers

Lavender Sachets etc

A quick post today.

Sometimes I really feel the need to take a break from a project and make something else.  Usually a small, quick to finish project for instant gratification.   My  4 swap projects have turned out to be rather time consuming projects that I have never attempted before.  Being first time projects means, of course, I am learning a lot of new techniques. 

I really would like to show them to you but have to wait for the last two to be finished.  Nearly there.   I am still waiting for one swap partner to notify me that she has received her package.  Hopefully soon!

In the meantime there are these:

Lavender sachets filled with my very own lavender picked fresh off the bush early spring.  Drying time took longer than normal because we finally, after years of drought, got some rain!  Yay!  Our Murray River is starting to fill up again.

A couple more that still need to be finished!  Surprisingly I am not finding any suitable fabrics to compliment them in my scrap basket!  Something will turn up I am sure.

Free pattern and instructions can be found at Bustle and Sew.

Or you can buy this book.  The same pattern is in there.

I also made a little experiment.  Hopefully it works the way I want it too.  Its a little sachet to throw in the clothes dryer with your washing.  It is filled with scented bath crystals.  Hopefully they don't dissolve too quickly and ruin my washing.  SO I will be putting my hubbies clothes in first to try it out! lol