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‘Home Sweet Home Sewing’ Book Tour

November 3, 2020 By Lauren at Molly and Mama 4 Comments

Welcome to the book tour for Helen Philipps’ new book ‘Home Sweet Home Sewing’*. Helen has produced a beautiful array of crafty books throughout her career, but this is the first with Tuva Publishing (who also published my own book*).

I was so honoured when Helen invited me to join the book tour and also grateful to the publishers for sending me an advance copy.

*If you make a book purchase using this affiliate link, I will earn a small commission that doesn’t change your purchase price, but helps me to continue to bring you free content. Thanks for your support!

How pretty is the book cover? As it states in the title, Home Sweet Home Sewing contains a selection of 17 different inspiring projects including quilts and pillows, but also lots of quick and easy, small projects too. I especially love the Honey Hives Quilt (p38) and the Needle Book and Scissor Keep on page 28.

All levels of sewists will find that the patterns are straightforward and easy to follow, with excellent illustrations for each step in the construction process. I love books like this!

Having a bit of an addiction for English Paper Piecing, I really loved the simplicity of the Hexagon Flower Coasters on page 34 so I created my own pretty set (above). Tying them with a delicate ribbon was a lovely finishing touch.

To get started, I decided to use some pre-basted hexagons I had previously made with a beautiful and varied array of Liberty lawn prints. Helen gives a basic overview of the glue basting process for English paper piecing in her book and I also have a more detailed English Paper Piecing Tutorial if you’re interested in learning more. How sweet are these hexies below?

Once all the paper shapes were basted in fabric, it was time to arrange them into flower shapes and hand stitch them together. I used Aurifil 80 weight thread for this process. It’s a very fine but strong cotton thread and the neutral colour helps the stitches really blend in.

In the instructions, Helen suggests using fusible wadding stitched to the back of the hexagon flowers but as the Liberty lawn is such a fine fabric, I decided to pin the flowers to wool felt and use that as a backing instead. Each coaster has a different shade of felt under it. You can just see the pale blue peeking out here.

This pretty pink coaster is backed with cream felt. I love the mix of prints!

Pale pink felt sits behind this vibrant hexie flower.

And pale green worked perfectly with the green tones here.

En masse, the colours are bold and fun! They’ll bring a cheery finish to any table setting! They’re pictured here with the first Summer rose from my favourite variety in my garden. So pretty!

To see more about the book, please visit the ‘Home Sweet Home Sewing’* listing on Amazon or search for it at your favourite book retailer. To see Helen’s other projects, I’d recommend following her on Instagram. Her photography styling is so beautiful and inspiring.

Please also visit the other makers sharing their projects from the book. Here’s the Instagram schedule;

Thanks for joining me for the tour. If it’s your first time visiting Molly and Mama, I’d love for you to hang around some more and see what’s on offer. Besides a beautifully stocked Pattern Shop, I also share lots of Free Tutorials. I hope you find something that inspires you!

Enjoy, Lauren x

Molly and Mama Sewing Patterns

Filed Under: Pattern and Book Reviews Tagged With: Hexagon coasters, hexagons, Home Sweet Home Sewing, home sweet home sewing book

Comments

  1. Diane Osbourne says

    November 3, 2020 at 9:12 pm

    Ooh.. I love how you’ve made the hexi coasters Lauren. This may be yet another book on my list!! 😊

    Reply
    • Lauren at Molly and Mama says

      November 5, 2020 at 12:26 pm

      Thank you Diane. They were a fun and easy project to put together!

      Reply
  2. Alexine says

    November 20, 2020 at 11:08 am

    Hello! Your hexies are really neat, and the felt bottoms are a smart touch. Nice color coordination. At first I lingered over the small floral patterns, which always draw me in, but then my eyes landed on the blue and white coaster, and I like it so much. I am pleased to make an acquaintance with your creative blog. Alexine

    Reply
    • Lauren at Molly and Mama says

      November 23, 2020 at 10:16 am

      Thank you for your lovely feedback Alexine. It’s great to have you here!

      Reply

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Lauren Wright
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🐰💕 This free felt Easter tutorial is a hit e 🐰💕 This free felt Easter tutorial is a hit every year! These simple to sew bunnies are the perfect beginner project. Find the tutorial and all the details on the blog (link in bio). There’s also a direct link in my stories today. 

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Both kits come with the preprinted linen so all you need to do is embroider the design with your favourite floss and add a wool felt crown. If you leave me a comment when you purchase, I’ll even throw in some felt for you 😍. Australian postage only sorry. Express post upgrades are available too! 

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🎀❤️ There’s a new post on the blog, shari 🎀❤️ There’s a new post on the blog, sharing a brand new design made with the Strawberry Honey fabric range from @burlapandblossompatterns for @rileyblakedesigns. It was lots of fun learning more about my new @janomeaustralia machine too. I see lots more appliqué projects in my future! 

Check the blog link in my bio or head to mollyandmama.com.au to see more photos of this bow quilt. Sign up to the newsletter to be notified when the pattern releases too ❤️. 

#mollyandmama #bowquilt #bowapplique #rawedgeapplique #appliquequilt #bowappliquequilt #burlapandblossompatterns #rileyblakedesigns #iloverileyblake #janome #janomeaustralia #memorycraft9450qcp  #janomememorycraft9450 #strawberryhoneyfabric #fatquarterbundle #fabricpull #fabriccollection
🎀🧡 I’ve been playing with the appliqué fu 🎀🧡 I’ve been playing with the appliqué function on my new @janomeaustralia Memory Craft 9450 QCP. There’s been lots of learning and trying different stitch types and lengths, but I’ve settled on my favourite settings now 😁. 

🍓🐝 This Strawberry Honey fabric collection from @burlapandblossompatterns for @rileyblakedesigns is perfect for this sweet bow quilt. I can’t wait to show you more! 😍

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🐰🥕 It’s not too late to start your Easter 🐰🥕 It’s not too late to start your Easter sewing! These Bitty Bunnies are teeny tiny and make a super cute chocolate-free treat! I use mine as tree decorations. Sweet, right? And @myfeltlady has felt kits!!! Find the pattern in my store (link in bio) or ask for it at your favourite shop. This project is always so popular at this time of year 😍 

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🐰💗 The Easter Dilly Bag is perfect for hidin 🐰💗 The Easter Dilly Bag is perfect for hiding tiny treats in those sweet front pockets, or holding all the Easter eggs inside the drawstring pouch. Such a sweet accessory for egg hunts and gift giving! Have you made one of these cute pouches? 

Be sure to use the hashtag #EasterDillyBag so that I can check out your gorgeous sewing! You can find a link to my pattern shop in my profile, or ask for the printed pattern at your favourite Quilting Store. @creative_abundance can help with wholesale shop orders. 

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I loved sewing up these cute projects last year us I loved sewing up these cute projects last year using the Boho Blooms collection from @nancyarcherillustration, designed for @studio_e_fabrics. The drawstring pouch uses my Easter Dilly Bag pattern! You can read about it on the blog (head to the blog via the link in my bio and use the search tab to look for Boho Blooms). 

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