I went thrifting with my sister this weekend and came home with some pretty good finds.

When I dumped out the button jar I got to sort things out I found this sweet little sailboat ...


and this tiny oval.


I found a package of three suiting fabrics that just have to be made into owls. They might make contributions to some fall cushion covers for the living room this year too.


Two large wooden embroidery hoops might get used for embroidery but are more likely to end up displaying some of my favourite fabrics. In favour of the embroidery, I found a long rectangular dress (all the dresses at the flea market were this style) of pure linen to add to my fabric stash.


I also snagged (but didn't photograph) a couple of bags of stuffing and some pillow cases. I think there is a lot of fabric washing in my near future.

Things just don't seem complete at the moment without a cute puppy picture, so here is Abby snoozing on the couch.

 

Curved seams intimidate me. Not because I haven't sewn plenty of them - they show up frequently in garment sewing (especially Jane Austen dresses) - but because I've never really been sure I was doing them correctly. They just feel like the sort of thing where there must be a trick that makes them easy to do but no one ever taught me. I love the look of curves in quilting too and I've never felt confident enough to actually try it out. Sometimes all you need is a little push (and some naked couch cushions).

When I saw this tutorial on The Purl Bee I just had to give it a try. Molly's instructions for sewing curved seams are fantastic. It's like the difference between a pattern saying "Sew in zipper as shown," with a few cryptic diagrams, and my mother carefully walking me through the process of getting the right foot on the machine and explaining that if you baste the seam first the edges over the zipper will always match up perfectly. Molly explains how to pin the pieces together properly and shows how much stretching you can do (something I've never been sure about) to encourage your pieces to match up nicely and lay flat when you're done.

I followed her instructions - using lots of pins and sewing nice and slowly - and I got a perfectly flat pieced curve on my first try. It was so satisfying that I just kept going until I had enough quadrants to make two pillow covers. When I was all done I had two nice looking cushions decorating our family room couch.


Now I really want to make a quilt top this way. I think I'll use one solid and a whole bunch of co-ordinating prints.

Oh ... and this spat of sewing was prompted by my need to make a cover for the duvet Abby sleeps on. It's basically a big pillow case with an overlap on the back (like the backs of the pillow covers) so she can't pull it off. The duvet inside is folded in four. If she likes it this way I'm planning to get some nice home dec weight fabric that will be able to stand up to her digging for longer.

Though I kind of like how her bed matches my cushions perfectly.

 

Abby's squeaky ball - a very popular toy - good for both stationary squeaking and quick games of fetch. Zeke, walking away from the water dish, was just a little more interesting this time.