Tula Pink and Tone Finnanger in the Guest Room

With three grandchildren under the age of 3 it was time to make the guest room seriously more fun.  Only the three year old is old enough for the bed; the others are still sleeping in the crib, which is also in this room.  I am a huge fan of the fuschia, aquas, lime green, orange, and other combinations that Tula Pink puts together. Not all of the fabric strips are Tula, but many are.  The quilt is simple strips of varying widths, sewn together, with a coordinating border and binding.

 

The quilting is simple straight lines, stitched approximately 1/2 inch apart.  I simply used the edge of my walking foot. I was able to make corrections in the ditch where the strips met, if needed, to keep the lines fairly straight.  I like the clean, contemporary look of it.  And, since I don't do a lot of quilting, straight line quilting is my fall back.

Of course, once the quilt was done, we needed some funky pillows! The bird design is Ethnic Birds from Hatched In Africa, one of my favorite sources for interesting embroidery designs. 

 And, the animals are African Jewels, also from Hatched in Africa.

 
And, of course, you need friends. Tilda and Monkey are both from the Tone Finanger books.  I've made Tilda a number of times for other people, but this is the first time I've made her for myself! And, the ballet skirt on Miss Monkey is netting from one of my daughter's ballet costumes from oh, way too many years ago! Fun fact to share with her little three year old!  We need some baby boy things, so I think a snake may have to be my next project. 

Slan

Tilda's Monkeys

"Tilda is a craft brand founded by Norwegian designer Tone Finnanger in 1999, best known for its "whimsical and naive characters in the form of animals and dolls ..." 

That is the description given for the characters and other decorative items designed by Tone Finnanger and I honestly couldn't improve on it, so I won't. She has written many books devoted to her designs and I've recently purchased several of them.  I've moved away from clothing just for a bit in order to do some gift giving to some to the little ones in my life.  

It was hard to choose where to begin with these little pieces of magic, but since I have always loved monkeys, I will start there.  I've done two monkeys, one for a great nephew, and one for a granddaughter (more about that later).  

First up...

This handsome young man is made of a beautiful wool silk that my mother purchased many years ago and that still resides in my stash.  His face is velvet and his ears are suede.  He has a nice warm wool scarf as well.  He is a bit thinner than he should be as I was initially confused by the limited directions.  I traced off the pattern and cut it out.  Actually you trace out the pattern on fabric and stitch on the lines you traced and then cut it out.  As I said, directions are a bit skimpy in my opinion.  But, he is charming.

It calls for the arms and legs to be sewn on, but I opted for grommets instead which I like.  However, please do hammer them in tightly as they will unsnap if you don't.

The second monkey is for little Eva.  Eva is our granddaughter, born in March, and one of the reasons I have not been blogging much.  I am completely smitten!  Photo of Eva will follow.  I did not use grommets for Eva because of her young age.  I also used fabric eyes and the fabric is from the wonderful Kafe Fassett!  And, the tutu is sewn from one of her mother's tutus when she took ballet lessons as a little girl!!

And, here is Miss Eva....

Slan