Australian Homespun — October 2017

Remove the black felt road while

you do the next two steps.

10

Sew the garage pockets in

place along three sides, leaving

the top folded edge open. Reversing

at the start, sew two vertical lines

down each pocket to divide them into

three garages, distributing the fullness

evenly across all three garages.

11

Hand stitch the two halves of

the Velcro dots to the inside of

the pockets and the felt background

at the top centre of each garage. This

keeps the cars secure when the mat

is being carried.

Appliqué

12

Pin the road in position again

and work a line of long running

stitches down the centre of it using

two thicknesses of Snow White

(B5200) Perlé 5 cotton. (The outer

edges will be quilted in place later.)

13

Appliqué the smaller details

such as windows, doors, sails,

fruit etc to the larger shapes. Glue

or pin them in place and work running

stitch just inside the edges using

two strands of Black (310). Sew long

straight stitches to form the

windowpanes and work French

knots for the doorknobs.

14

When the details are

completed, position the

buildings, trees, grass, water and

petrol pumps on the background

where shown on the Pattern Sheet.

Appliqué them in place with running

stitch as before. The only exceptions

are the pedestrian crossings outside

the hospital, school and one of the

houses. Sew around these small

white rectangles with two strands

of Snow White (B5200). The lake

in the park has a couple of ‘waves’

in running stitch.

15

Use two strands of Black (310)

to sew the words ‘SCHOOL’

and ‘PETROL’ in running stitch on

the roofs of those buildings. Then

use the same thread to work loops

of chain stitch for the fi ller tubes

on the petrol bowsers.

Finishing

16

Lay the backing, right side

down, on the table and layer

the batting rectangle over it. Then

centre the appliquéd felt rectangle

on top, right side facing up, and pin

the layers together with safety pins.

17

Using black thread in the

machine and a regular stitch

length, quilt along both edges of the

road through all layers. Sew a line

of stitching about^1 ⁄ 4 in inside the

outer edge of the felt rectangle. Trim

the surplus backing and batting even

with the edge of the grey felt.

18

Join the three binding strips

end to end with diagonal

seams, trim them to^1 ⁄ 4 in and press

them open. Fold the strip in half,

wrong sides together and long edges

matching, and press. Sew the

binding to the edge of the mat on

the felt side, referring to the Binding

Diagrams on page 63 for details.

19

Before hand stitching the

binding to the back of the mat,

cut the herringbone tape into two

equal lengths and pin the ends to

the long sides of the backing at the

points you marked in Step 5. Stitch

across them a few times inside the

binding seam allowance.

20

Fold the elastic in half and

Steps 20-21 pin it to the back of one long

NICOLE STARK

Did you have handmade playthings when you

were a child? Yes, I was given porcelain dolls

and a knitted teddy bear. I was very lucky,

because I was given a lot of craft supplies

or taken to craft classes to create projects.

Who made them for you? My granny made

the porcelain dolls, and my mum knitted

the teddy for me.

Do you still have any of those handmade

toys? The dolls are still at my mum’s house.

The teddy is with me, and I plan to give it

to my son in due course.

Now that you have a new baby of your own,

are children’s projects a favourite for you?

Children’s projects have definitely overtaken

all other types. Although finding the spare

time to make all the wonderful things out

there is another thing altogether.

Have you been stitching since you were a child?

Yes, but I started doing simple felt projects

• I think my first project was stitching a felt
  turtle. I then learnt cross stitch and tried
  many other crafts from there.
  Do you remember your very first craft
  ‘triumph’? If so, what was it and did you
  keep it? I recall being very proud of a project
  I made with my granny. It was a paper tole
  flower fairy – my very first. Mum took it to
  get framed, and seeing it all framed made
  me feel pretty special.
  What is your least-favourite part of
  designing and making a project? I don’t
  really have a least-favourite part. I like
  designing and love creating the project.
  I guess if I had to pick something, it would
  be when you think you have something all
  worked out in theory, you spend all the time
  creating it and it doesn’t work out so well.
  What’s your favourite time of day to sew?
  Anytime my boy is napping during the day
  or once he has gone down for the night.
  Time is precious these days.
  Do you have any sewing gadget you never
  use? No.
  How long can you spend browsing in a
  patchwork store? Hours! Always have to
  have a good sticky beak at all the kits,
  fabrics and buttons and generally checking
  out what’s new on the shelves.
  What products can’t you resist buying in
  patchwork and haberdashery stores? abric F
  is definitely a weakness of mine. I can never
  pass up a cute kids’ print these days to add
  to the growing stash – the ‘one day I’ll make
  something out of it’ pile.

Gett ing to know ...

Homespun 71

HSP1810_p066-072_Drive Time PROJECT.indd 71HSP1810_p066-072_Drive Time PROJECT.indd 71 8/21/2017 9:34:26 AM8/21/2017 9:34:26 AM