I'm in the throes of sewing all sorts of things with nothing getting finished! ...... I badly needed the satisfaction of a finish and what better way to achieve this than by making a twinchie for a friend.
This is a little 2" square picture for my friend who works far too hard at her stressful job.
She has a dear cat called "Blue" who is a delightful companion to come home to ......... and a lovely husband too by all accounts!
I made a bit of a hash of doing a photo method for the making, but here goes:
This is my original rough sketch.
I traced the parts for fabric applique onto Steam a Seam 2, in reverse. This is where it starts to go wrong because I forgot all about the steps in front of the door.
I cut the patterns out roughly, removed the backing paper and hand pressed them onto the correct colour fabric. Still haven't remembered the steps!
This is the ready made twinchie I used - front and back. You can find out how to make a batch of twinchies in this older post of mine.
After removing the other backing from the Steam a Seam 2, I've laid the porch, door ..... and (at last) the steps in position on the twinchie. These can be moved around until you're happy with the arrangement and then ironed for a permanent fix. I used a Micron pen to draw some lines on the door and porch front.
I sewed some of the embroidery before adding the flower tub and the cat.I used just simple embroidery stitches - whipped running stitch, blanket stitch, lazy daisy, straight stitch and french knots.
Here's another look at the finish.
I really don't know why I don't sew more twinchies - such fun.
Happy Stitching
Anita x
There were quite a few Twinchie blanks left over after Flowerpatch Quilters Christmas Twinchie Party and there they sat on my side table looking at me and demanding to be stitched ...... not that I needed much encouragement - I love sewing Twinchies.
I decided that I'd like to do a set of themed Twinchies to display as a group and here they are - Twinchie Art Class.
I was inspired by hearing about Derwent Inktense pencils (I had some for Christmas) from some fellow quilters from UKQU, so what better subject than the paintings of famous artists.
These were made using the Inktense pencils and stitching
These were made with applique and stitching
This one is simply threads oversewn with a grid of invisible thread stitches
and even the background represents yet another artist
I hope that you can recognise some of the artists or my idea could be a complete failure ...... :) - they look pretty cute anyway and were great fun to do.
I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday
Happy sewing - Anita x
Each December at Flowerpatch Quilters we have a bit of a Christmas party with nibbles, refreshments and ......... sewing, of course. This year we sewed "Twinchies" which are simply 2" squares of loveliness.
These are some of the cute results after an evening of sewing, chatting, laughing, eating and drinking. As you might anticipate many are still WIPs.
Firstly a Christmas selection
Hearts for the romantics
and lovely others.
So what do you do with a Twinchie?
- Sew or stick to a blank card for an instant birthday / thank you card.
- Sew on to a garment or bag
- Display as a group on a background fabric or in a frame - especially nice if they are themed.
- Make them into a tiny book.
- Tuck into presents or cards for friends and family as a little bit of loving extra. As I popped one or two into presents my man said "I hope you haven't made me a Twinchie!!" - Oops, maybe that wasn't such a good idea!
Before the evening I made up lots of Twinchie blanks for those who wanted to get straight on with embellishing without having to neaten the edges with blanket stitch or similar first. I think they look cute even before embellishing! :) ... and it made me want to get stitching immediately.
I thought you might be interested to read how I made these up because although it seems like a simple task I did chew up the edges of quite a few before I settled on this method.
To make 9 Twinchie blanks
Cut two squares of different coloured fabric 7" square and a piece of thin wadding the same size (I used curtain interlining).
Mark the lighter fabric (I used a Frixion pen which disappears after ironing) with squares of a smidging over 2". Start by drawing two outer lines a little way in from the edges of the fabric and at right angles.
Sew along each side of the middle lines with a short length, narrow width, zigzag stitch. Normally I would use a lighter thread on top and a darker thread in my bobbin. This top thread is a little too dark but I want you to be able to see the stitches.
Sew around the edge inside the marked line with the same zigzag stitch.
Cut along the marked lines and iron to remove the pen marks on the edges.
Below are the four twinchies that I made before our meeting
and two that I've sewn since. Launceston Castle was made as a gift for a friend who is off to live in the warmth of Spain.
Earlier this month it was the annual Tree Festival in St Marys in Launceston. Flowerpatch Quilters make decorations to hang on our tree and this year Dawn designed sweet quirky mice with long noses, and also bells.
The church looked beautiful.
Still on a Christmas theme (and as this may be my last post before the 25th) I found Rudolf wandering in our garden recently.
He looked so cold, poor "dear", that I brought him indoors to keep him warm until Christmas Eve.
I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday, although I think my Twinchies finish at even smaller than Amanda Jean's lovely tea-pouches! :)
Happy Christmas - Anita x
PS The next Flowerpatch meeting is on Thursday 11th January when we will be sewing the blocks together for our Rainbow Quilt - this year's charity quilt.
