Additional June Monkeys

In addition to making monkeys for chairty and making some for ladies who purchased them, I also made a few as gifts.  

This is Apple, she was a gift for a brand new little girl.  I got to go have a cuddle and a chat with her Mum - we went to school together.  Apple was a hit, especially with big brother who took her to bed the first night!  This was one of my last few ladybird socks, mixed with a red/white dot sock.  Her name came about because she's a candy apple red....and my friend's nickname is Apple.  It just seemed perfect.

Then I made Zach, later re-named Zeta, for a young lady who was in hospital for an operation.  We're friends with her aunt.  He has aqua/darker blue stripes with orange tips and plain aqua tail, arms, ears and nose.

Finally Primrose (I didn't know they only came in yellow....I just thought she looked like a Primrose when I'd finished her eyelashes!).  She made a very long trip to Massachussetts, USA for another brand new little person.  Hopefully they will grow up together, the best of friends.  Primrose is a lovely bright pink, her arms, tail and ears have mostly pink hearts on white, with a few purple hearts mixed in. 

Sock Monkey Marathon

Well, it seems that lately all I've been doing lately is making sock monkeys!!  In the past month-ish, I've made 13 sock monkeys and a sock puppy, plus finished off a couple for Mum. 

Clover - green stripe with yellow stripe arms, tail, ears and yellow nose.  He will be going to Sth Africa in September to his new home.
Dash - navy/blue stripes with blue/dot arms, tail, ears and navy nose.

Olivia - grey/multi-coloured owls with yellow striped arms, tail, ears and yellow nose.  Owl-ivia didn't spell very well, so Olivia became her name.

Snowy - blue/snowflakes with navy/blue striped arms, tail, ears and navy nose.  With snowflakes all over his body, how could he have any other name than Snowy?

Tango - orange with monkeys on each leg and orange/black striped arms, tail, ears and blue nose.  Named after his vibrant orange colour which reminded me of tangerines.

Martin - red/blue dots with blue/red striped arms, tail, ears and blue nose, plus he is wearing a navy bow tie.  He will be travelling to England to his new home with a little boy in August.

Violet - purple/white stripes with pale pinky/purple and owls arms, tail, ears and nose.  Travelling with Clover to Sth Africa to her new home.

Hope - pinky/purple with owls and purple/hearts arms, tail and ears, she also has a dark purple bow in her hair.  Hope was a gift for a lady starting treatment for cancer.

Zach - blue with zebra on each leg and blue/dark blue striped arms, tail, ears and orange nose, he also sports a navy bowtie.  The third monkey who will travel to Sth Africa in September along with Clover and Violet.

Posey - grey/daisy with yellow striped arms, tail, ears and a yellow nose.  Posey has a pink bow in her hair and will be travelling to England in August to her new home.

These two didn't get names here, they will be named by their new owners.  They travelled to Auckland and were the first of the recent bunch to leave for their new homes - they're currently hiding, waiting to come out at Christmas!  On the left we have a matching aqua/dark grey stripe, looking very spiffy with his orange bowtie.  On the right she is a delicate pale pink with very pale blue stripes and the same pale pink with white hearts on her arms and ears, her tail is a slightly off-white that matches her nose.  She has a pale bow in her hair too.

I still have a few more monkeys to make and have recently sewn up two more sock puppies that I want to make up soon.  In fact, there's an almost-complete monkey beside me waiting to be finished. 

First Free Motion Applique

My first attempt at free motion applique was a thank you gift for the lady who taught us at quilt retreat how to do this technique.  I knew she liked green, so that was my starting point - green with white dots for the 'wallpaper' background.  I then decided to add a window with curtains, a little cobweb peeking out on the righthand side.  I cut out each petal and played around with where I wanted them, plus two leaves, a stem and the flower pot.  As a little 'in joke' I added a yellow/blue plaid 'tablecloth' because we have a running joke between us - I like yellow and blue together, she doesn't!

Then, because it needed something else, I added a little bee and the word "Thanks" since that's why I was gifting it to her.  I have really enjoyed learning and now continuing to finesse it. 

Teacup Table Runner

This was a surprise gift for a lady in our little facebook quilting group.  It was also my first foray into a few new techniques.  The background of the table runner is the first time I've used "low-volume fabrics" - these tend to be paler, have less pattern within them and when seen from a distance appear to sort of blend in with each other so it is just a total background rather than made up of individual pieces.  After ironing each piece of fabric on to the heat-n-bond, I then went over each seam with a fancy stitch from my machine.

It was also my first time with a larger free motion applique which I'd designed myself - with help from Pinterest ideas.  I made all the templates for each cup, saucer and the bird, came up with the phrase and also did all the binding with no assistance! 

It took me several attempts to get the layout right for the teacups, in fact I still have a few teacups waiting for another project that I cut out for this one and then decided they weren't quite right. 

I was really pleased with how this one turned out and also that the recipient loved it too.