By Request

Our son and his wife moved into a new flat recently, and on their first visit back home they had a couple of requests for their mum and her sewing machine!

First up, could I make one of those key holder things that I had made before for their brother?

Well, of course I could!

I upcycled some denim from an old pair of jeans (possibly belonging to the same son!) and some scraps of fabric. I quilted this with an Aurifil thread from a pack that I won in the December Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day.

I did think that the thread was a bit thicker than normal, but the variegation, no 4669 if you are interested, was perfect against the denim. Only later did I discover that 12wt Aurifil thread, which this was, is recommended for hand-sewing, oops! It still worked a treat though :)

The second request was more substantial. Apparently a draught of North wind proportions blows through their back door, so a draught excluder was called for.

Given the need, a quick make was also on the cards, so cutting into my cast-off denims again I came up with this for them.

The last draught excluder I made for our youngest son, when he was living in a draughty flat North of the Border, had embroidered fire-breathing dragons to ward away the cold. This time I decided to invoke a summer beach scene to chase away those cold North winds.

The beach huts are free-machine appliqued to the denim along with a yellow felt sun and, because we are in the North East of Britain, a couple of clouds for realism :)

Thankfully they are delighted with both of the makes and the draught excluder is doing sterling service already keeping their toes warm.

Isn't it nice when family have such faith in your abilities to deliver just what they need? If only all requests were so easily met :)

(Edited to add: you can find a tutorial for the draught excluder here )

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Ho, Ho, Ho and on We Sew - February Link Up and Coffee Lovers Set

Paula and I are delighted to welcome you to the second of our monthly Ho,Ho,Ho and on We Sew Link Parties. With the Winter Olympics in full swing and the first snow of the winter here last week, it doesn't seem so strange to  be planning a Christmas project :)

Thanks to the lovely bloggers who linked up last month with Paula at Mud, Pies and Pins, and thanks especially to Kristy and Alyce who provided the great pattern giveaway for January, which was won by Karen

This month's giveaway is another wonderful prize donated by Helen of Bustle and Sew, if you win this prize you will have plenty of inspiration for this year's Christmas and Holiday gifts. Helen has very kindly donated a copy of her Handstitched Christmas eBook!

There are 15 great Christmas patterns for you to try in the eBook, and with patterns ranging from Carol singing mice to Reindeer Tote Bags, there is bound to be something to take your fancy :) You can find details of all the patterns in the ebook here

To be in with a chance of winning the eBook, all you need do is link up below a Christmas project that you have completed this month. A random winner will be picked from all of the entries linked by the end of the month.

If you are struggling to think of a project to make how about this Coffee Lovers gift set?

Coffee Lovers Gift Set

The set comprises of a Place Mat, Mug Cosy and Cafetiere/French Press/Coffee Plunger Cosy and would make a lovely gift for a Coffee-loving friend or relation. This one is destined for my Sister-in-Law!

To make the gift set you will need the following supplies;

1FQ Christmas fabric for the exterior of the Cosies and star of the placemat
0.5yard fabric for the backing of the placemat and lining of the Cosies. (You will have enough fabric to use for the binding and button loops if you wish)
1F8th of 2 contrast fabrics for the placemat front and binding
Scrap of ribbon (optional) for button closure
0.5yard Insul-Bright heat-resistant wadding/batting
3 red buttons

The Cafetiere/French Press/Coffee Plunger and Mug Cosies are made in the same way, the only difference is in the dimensions.

Creating the quilted fabric

Measure the width and height of your Mug and Cafetiere and cut pieces of your exterior fabric to match these dimensions plus 0.5" all round. Cut pieces of the wadding and exterior fabric to the original dimensions plus 1" all round. Layer up the pieces in the following order;

• Top          - Exterior Fabric
• Middle     - Heat-resistant wadding, shiny side down
• Bottom    - Backing Fabric

Pin baste the fabrics together and quilt.

 I quilted a FMQ holly design using Aurifil 50wt shade 2892, can you tell that I am having fun experimenting with the modified FMQ foot??

I found it helped to draw the motif out on a notepad beforehand and refer to it when I was stitching.

When you have quilted your fabric pieces, trim them to the dimensions of your Cafetiere and Mug. For information my pieces were trimmed to the following dimensions;

• Cafetiere - Height 6" Width 11"
• Mug        - Height 3.25" Width 9.25" 

Button Loops

I made two different button loop closures, a ribbon loop closure and a fabric loop closure. If I was making the set again I think that I would make both closures fabric loop closures as it seems sturdier. If you choose to make a ribbon loop closure you will just need a length of ribbon that is twice the gap between the edges of your cosy plus 0.5" and thin enough to fit between the handles of the mug or Cafetiere.

If you are making a fabric loop closure you will need a piece of fabric 1.5" wide and to the same measurement as the ribbon loop given above.

Fold the fabric strip in half lengthways wrong sides together and press, then open out the folded strip and fold the raw edges into the centre fold and press again. Fold the strip in half again lengthways giving you a fabric strip that now has one closed folded edge and one open folded edge. Topstitch along the length of the open folded edge.

Fold the topstitched strip in half widthways and with the raw edges side by side flatten the top fold to make a V-shaped fold. Stitch across the bottom of the V

You can see this more clearly in the photo above.

Binding 

Cut and piece together sufficient 2" binding strips to bind your Cafetiere and Mug Cosies. Fold the pieced strips in half lengthways and press.

Mark the halfway point of one short edge and pin the button loop or ribbon closure to the backing, matching the raw edges. Stitch the loop closure to the cosy using a scant 0.25" seam to ensure that the stitching will not show when the binding is attached.

With raw edges together pin and stitch the binding strip around the exterior edge of the cosy, mitring the corners as you go.

Fold the binding over to the back of the cosy and handstitch the binding, catching the button loop closure or ribbon closure as you go.

Attach a red button to the middle of the opposite short edge on the exterior.

Wrap your cosy around a Cafetiere and Mug and enjoy a long, hot mug of coffee!

To finish off your gift set though, how about a quilted placemat to match?

Piecing a block for the placemat

From your fabrics cut the following;

Christmas fabric

• 8 x 3 and 7/8" triangles
• 1 x 6.5" square

First contrast fabric

• 8 x 3 and 7/8" triangles

 Second contrast fabric

• 4 x 3.5" squares
• 2" x 54" binding strip

Join the Christmas fabric triangles to the First contrast fabric triangles and then join the resultant squares to another pair to make 4 pairs.

The Christmas fabric triangles will only be joined at the points to make the points of the star as shown above.

To two of the pairs join a second contrast fabric square at each end of the pair.


Join the remaining pairs to opposite sides of the 6.5" square, making sure that the star points are facing in the right direction to complete the star.

Quilting the placemat

Layer and baste the placemat pieces and quilt. I outline quilted the star shape just for a change :)

Binding 

Square up the block and then bind the placemat in the same way that you bound the cosies except without the incorporation of the button loops.

Admire your work then squirrel the set away for Christmas and congratulate yourself on ticking a gift off the list so early :)

If you are looking for some Christmas-themed fabric for your makes, the 50% off sale is still on at The Fat Quarter Christmas Cloth store, just saying :)

I plan to add a bag of Christmas Coffee and maybe some handmade truffles to this set when the time comes!

This is also one of my finishes for Q1 of the FAL!



So, now it is your turn. Link up your Christmas/Holiday/Gift projects to be in with a chance of winning this month's giveaway.

The Link Party will remain open until 23.59GMT on February 28th, so you still have lots of time to make and link up a project. As ever, grab the button from the sidebar and spread the word, the more projects linked up the more inspiration there will be! A comment here and there to your fellow linkers wouldn't go amiss either :)

An InLinkz Link-up

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