How To Make An EASY Patchwork Memory Quilt

This is one of the easiest and most rewarding Modern Country Crafts you'll ever do: your very own patchwork memory quilt.

I say easy because the only sewing involved is straight lines.

It's rewarding because it involves the repurposing of all those little treasures that have been stashed away. Little scraps of well-loved baby bedding, those beautiful but impossibly teeny baby clothes plus any left over bits and pieces you'd like to use up to create a work of art that you'll marvel at for decades to come.

This is all you need to do:

Cut out lots and lots and lots of rectangles of non-stretchy fabric. The bigger they are, the less sewing you'll have to do and the faster it'll all come together. I like the higgledy-piggledy effect of lots of different widths of rectangle but what matters is that the height should be consistent. Mine are 12cms high.

Iron all your pieces. 

{Don't miss this step as it'll make a huge different to the quality of the finished piece.}

Lay two of the rectangles right sides together and pin up the left side 1cm in from the edge. Sew up this line.

Take the next rectangle and pin it to the right hand edge of your mini quilt 1cm in from the edge. Sew in place.

Keep going until you have a long strip of rectangles of the desired width. Make lots of rows in this way. Then pin two rows together 1cm in from the edge, Sew along this line. Keep sewing rows together until the quilt is the desired length.

Cut a large piece of fabric for the backing. This needs to be the size of the finished quilt plus 5cm in each direction. Lay the quilt and backing right sides together, pin 2.5 cm in from the edge and sew together, leaving one side unsewn. Turn it the right way and hand sew the last side. I also included a layer of thick wadding at this point which makes the whole quilt seem much more substantial.

Sew a variety of buttons onto the quilt, through all layers to hold it all in place and then dance for joy at what your clever hands have produced: a perfect and easy-peasy patchwork memory quilt, and ooh and aah over those sweet little memories ready for teary reminiscing at a moment's notice.

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Make your own deliciously bespoke pen pot!

On these bleak January days, it's lovely to have a plethora of crafty ideas to while away long afternoons indoors with or without children. Here's my idea for one such project - your very own gorgeously bespoke pen pot- that is quick, easy and adorably effective. 

All you need is:

A sturdy cardboard pot (step in Whittards Hot Chocolate!)

A strip of delicious wallpaper of your choosing

Spray adhesive

Scissors

For the wallpaper, I've used Laura Ashley Roses in Cassis. It's a lovely Modern Country update on one of my favourite Laura Ashley patterns. Soft, country roses have been given a fantastic modern twist with the introduction of grey. Yum!

{and, shhh!, it's now half-price in the sale!}

Here what you need to do...

Cut a strip of paper about half an inch taller than your pot....

...and with enough length for about an inch overlap, folding over the top edge by half an inch. This isn't strictly necessary but gives a lovely finish. .

Following instruction on the can, spray on your adhesive (leaving the top half-inch untouched, if possible) and carefully apply the paper to your pot, with the excess above the rim. Snip down into the paper to a smidgen above the rim of the pot..... 

...this allows you to neatly tuck down the paper without any ugly creases. Give it a quick spray of adhesive and press each tab inside your pot.

Cut another strip just shorter than the height of the inside of your pot, with enough room for a little overlap, remembering to fold over the top edge.

Spray it with glue and place on the inside of the pot.

Pat yourself on the back! 

You've created a completely unique Modern Country pen pot!

Doesn't this Laura Ashley Roses wallpaper make you hungry for a review of the best garden book in the world EVER? 

Coming right up!

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The Perfect Christmas Craft...?

Shiny, pretty and oh-so Modern Country...If you want to make this mind-bogglingly beautiful and yet stupendously easy Christmas craft (could there be a better combination at this busy time of year?), then come on over to the Relics of Witney blog...

...where you'll find a full step-by-step tutorial of how to make one of your very own, written by me!

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How To Completely Transform Old Picture Frames

 I have a thing about picture frames. I find them peculiarly difficult to resist when I see them lying, unloved, in thrift stores or charity shops. 

They're spectacularly easy to transform into show-stopping pieces with a little know-how.

Step this way, please....

One tatty old frame....

However, underneath the scritches and scratches and knocks and bumps, this has good bones. Solid wood. Chunky and sturdy. Definite transformation potential.

I turned to my trusty can of Autentico Nearly Black Chalk Paint for a speedy lick of lusciousness. No sanding, priming or preparation necessary. I've painted tonnes of little bits and pieces like this, plus the desk in the study and the tin is still pleasingly full-looking. A little goes a long, long way.

With this particular piece, I wanted the gently matte sheen that comes from Autentico's Clear Wax. This is so easy to apply.

Following the clear instructions, brush the wax sparingly onto the surface of the frame, wait for the fifteen minutes it takes to dry and then buff with a brush, or cloth.

And, ta-daaaaa, this easy-peasy, cheap as chips way to utterly transform a frame from past-it to pizzazz!

The British Isles Typography print is from Rose and Grey.

Isn't it gorgeous? 

I love the detail of all the different names...

take a close-up look....

Rose and Grey stock loads of must-have quirky finds and, as quoted by The Sunday Times, 'upbeat, colourful home wares with a whiff of salvage." Yum!

This British Isles Typography poster caught my eye in an instant.

I love the sheer slate colourway but it's also available in Duck Egg.

A craft project that's good for the Modern Country soul, and for your bank balance...everyone's a winner!

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Modern Country Table Setting Craft Project

I absolutely adore this little corner of our home. 

We bought the table as extra seating for the littlies when we have lots of people over. It looks so sweet tucked away to one side.

One day, not so long ago, I decided it needed a tablecloth...for its finer moments in life.

....enter Laura Ashley's gorgeous Heligan fabric. 

The edges were given a straightforward hem on my sewing machine. This was SUCH a simple project. If you see a couple of metres of a fabric you love then please snap it up and make one for yourself...even the most nervous of beginners could pull this off with considerable aplomb. 

No excuses now...particularly as this Heligan fabric is currently half price at Laura Ashley's website.

The fabric transformed it in a flash into Modern Country perfection, particularly with these beautiful flowers perched atop.

It takes a special kind of fabric to be able to take such a beautiful bouquet. The combination of the greige background, and simple white and greens of the hydrangea motif doesn't fight with the beauty of the real thing; it somehow enhances it.

Poppy heads, eucalyptus, roses, lilies, feverfew, nigella....

flowers fit for a king and queen!

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Garden Sieve Noticeboard Part 3: Reveal!!

Hello my poppett,

And a big welcome to the grand reveal of 

my Garden Sieve Noticeboard.

{Did you see the tutorial in Part 2?}

I love the whole vintage-y look of it,

perfected, if I may be so bold, 

by the Cabbages and Roses Toile de Poulet linen.

{Gotta love that gorgeous raspberry scrumptiousness.}

We're in the end stretch of all the coughs and snuffles in our house. Huzzah!

Oh yes. It's been a barrel of laughs round here.

A veritable ca-cough-phany

{That hilarious joke is brought to you by lover-boy himself...}

A cough-cough here...

And a cough-cough there.

Here a cough, there a cough...

{Please tell me you're getting the Old MacDonald Reference...? 

Or is it just me singing here on my own? 

Not a good sound with my currently raspy voice....}

So, what have I been up to these last few days? 

Well, funny you should ask...

I've been busily picking out my items for my 30 for 30.

Remember?

I have to choose 30 pieces 

and remix them over 30 days 

to produce 30 different outfits. 

I'm starting my 

30 for 30: Maternity: Modern Country Style series 

on Monday.

So this weekend, 

I shall be wearing all my other clothes, 

probably on top of one another, 

in my last bid for fabric-freedom.

Cos that's how I roll.

Probably quite literally in this case, with all my layers....

Think: Michelin Man...

but add coughing....

Nothing but top-class allure, in this house, my friends.

Nothing but allure.

I'm linking to my favourite parties in the sidebar!

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