Strawberry Biscuit Blog Hop

Welcome to Day 3 of the Strawberry Biscuit Blog Hop! Oh my goodness.....I was so excited to be to take part in the Blog Hop alongside some amazingly talented designers and bloggers.   Today I get to share my little project made using Elea's gorgeous new collection Strawberry Biscuit.  As a huge fan of Elea's work (hands up if I'm the only one who wished that they had hoarded Milk, Sugar and Flower!) this new collection does not disappoint...... sweet kittens, roses, strawberries, poodles.... oh happy days!  So would you like to see what I made....... after another little peek at the fabric that is......

My inspiration for my project was Penny Rugs, you know the ones which are traditionally made from wool or felted wool from old clothing and blankets.  Typically they incorporate circles made from drawing around coins and some include images from everyday life such as cats, flowers, birds and shapes such as stars and hearts.  When I looked at Eleas gorgeous fabrics, the designs (kittens, flowers, birds)  just called out to me to be fussy cut and appliqued, so here's my take on a traditional Penny Rug........

I used my favourite interfacing method for my appliques and then hand stitched them to the background fabric, which is the Riley Blake Hot Pink Swiss Dot, it was a tough decision as to which colour to go for between the Hot Pink, Aqua or Red let me tell you, all of them looked fabulous!  To give you a sense of the scale, the centre circle measures 9" across, the hearts 3 1/2" across and the small circles 1 1/2" across.

To create that vintage feel, I went for some simple hand quilting around the outer edge and around the perimeter of each circle.

To celebrate the blog hop...cake was in order and to add a little flourish I made some Flutter Flags, it's been so long since I made any .....

They're so sweet, I think this one may permanently live in this vintage bobbin in my sewing room!

They are also super easy to make...... here's how:

1. Make a triangle template out of card, mine measured 2 1/2" wide by 2" high. Fold your fabric in half, press and then cut our your flag, you will have a diamond shape.

2. Smother the wrong side of the fabric with PVA glue.

3. Place a cake pop stick in to the centre of the diamond on top of the crease mark and carefully fold the fabric over the stick wrong sides together to create a triangular flag.  Working quickly, create the flutter, by pressing the flag over a pencil....... then leave to dry overnight.

Believe me, one Flutter Flag is never enough!

'Strawberry Biscuit' is now available in quilt shops worldwide and if you're in the UK at Pretty Fabrics and Trims 

The Strawberry Biscuit Blog Hop continues today with Megan of Quilt Story and tomorrow Minki of Minki's Work Table and Heidi of Fabric Mutt will be sharing their projects, so please do hop over to see what they made!

Thanks so much Elea for inviting me.

Oh and that cake......yes it was delicious and yes it's all gone...but you knew it would be didn't you!