'Baby' quilt for the 19 month old

I finished this a month or two ago; baby boy even then couldn't really be considered a baby, but he will be in the cot a little while longer.




I'm really happy now with the tumbler blocks, although I think I spent more time cutting them out than anything else which was pretty miserable.  I took Mum's advice and starched all the fabrics before cutting to help keep shape, as I was a little apprehensive doing my first piecing involving something other than squares or rectangles.

Fabrics are my usual mix but in a slightly less multicoloured palette- I wanted a clean boyish-looking quilt in brights and navy.  There are quilting cottons including several from the previous kids' quilts, and the Spots and Stripes poplin from Spotlight.  I keep using Spots and Stripes because it is cheap (often on sale), lovely as a binding, and has not faded in my other kids' quilts (unlike some far more posh fabrics).






Quilted by machine 1/4" from all seams.




Backing was from East Coast Fabrics at Lawnton; navy stripe (Spotlight Spots and Stripes) for binding.




This is typical of my life at the moment- I am back at home, trying to do lots at once but there is always at least one little someone plus a big baby bump getting in the way.  Happy chaos!

This week, and more quilt shots...

We have all been a little sick, the kids have watched too much TV, but I finally got up to date with my baby thank you notes, so one less thing to feel guilty about!   There is of course some ongoing guilt about my fabric stash, which grew after going to the Craft & Quilt Fair last weekend and Bargain Box Fabrics this week - I keep buying fabric for little girl clothes, it seems, and not even for the clothes she needs.  Hoping to have some actually made up soon!

For now, here is the full shot of Strawberry's quilt on the line (on a very sunny day)...




It is actually different (if only in fabric choices) from Mr F's, I think I just need to find something other than the clothesline for showing my quilts in full!

Backing and binding...



Backing again from Spotlight, with Kaffe Fassett spot for the binding.  Like Mr F's, this quilt features essentially all colours (for the kids to point out), but with more pinks and girlie prints.

I am quite happy with the quilt overall, and it will look great opposite Mr F's in the soon to be shared big kid's room, but I am certainly still learning a lot with my quilt-making.  Looking forward to the next quilt which will be for baby boy's cot- poor little thing has had nothing made for him yet!

Done!

Finished last night.  Full shots to come (when I get a fine day).  Can't wait to move Strawberry into her big bed to use it!

Lately I...

... have been quite preoccupied with preparing for what I hope will be my last exams ever, which will all be over in about a month.




... am having fun cutting out a quilt for Strawberry, to (sort of ) match this one I made for Mr F, as they will be sharing a room later this year after the arrival of baby number 3!





... am admiring this beautiful family home (that I first spotted here on the lovely homelove blog)  in Inside Out, as well as my growing belly.




... am quite excited over this mermaid doll kit by Louise Elliot, handed down from a friend of Mum's- such cute design and great loud colours!



... feel determined to get back into making lots of things soon!

On my clothesline...

So, I didn't get it done for Christmas, but here is Mr F's quilt done for New Year.  I couldn't wait for it to dry before posting some pictures!

I am really happy with it, despite it being far from perfect.  This is my third quilt ever, and the largest by far.  (The first was a doll quilt kit I made as a girl, and then I've done a very basic cot quilt in squares for Strawberry.)

It's single bed size, 10 x 16 of my quartered nine patch blocks (each measures 5.5 inches once pieced), which makes it a kind of long, narrow single bed quilt- fine as my son still has a safety rail on his bed.

Fabrics are the Minny Muu charm squares, and a heap of other stuff including old scraps, 'good quilting fabrics' from proper quilt shops, and inexpensive quilting and dress fabrics from Spotlight.




Backing and binding are both from Spotlight- the binding stripe is from the non-quilting range.  I love that every colour is there for my son to point out, and it's not a traditional 'boy' quilt- I left the pink charm squares in, although the prints are not really that girlie.




After quickly giving up on the idea of free motion quilting, I machine quilted straight lines in a windowpane pattern, cutting my blocks into quarters-  easy!  And a bit more interesting than stitching in the ditch, I thought.




So, there it is.  Can't wait to have my little man use it.  I left it on his bed last night to find when he woke up and he ran out of his room this morning having wrapped himself in it!

Hope you have a fantastic New Year- may 2010 bring health, happiness and all the creativity you wish for!

This week I...

... was stupid enough to think I might master free motion quilting in one night,





... had fun choosing these goodies from Threads and More and Gardams ,





... failed to get a good picture of Mr F in the shorts I made him,





... have been ignoring my Christmas baking plans, despite this being left on the bench by my husband,





... have been lamenting my choice of a very confusing Burda pattern for baby's PJs,



... still have had a really happy week!

Projects Past

I've had a busy week catching up with lots of friends with kids. And cleaning- because I have actually had people at my house and didn't want them to be completely disgusted by my standard of living.

I've been plugging away at Mr F's quilt at night, and realising that I probably can't make all the squares meet up perfectly.  This really does bother me!  I have to keep telling myself, I'm not making it to be judged, it's just for a two year old who won't care.

The quilt will be my main project for a while it seems, so I'm going to have to post some of my past stuff.

I'm actually missing knitting at the moment.  Living in Queensland is it is just too hot to knit in the warmer months.  Which is most of the year.  It's particularly sad as knitting is probably the craft I enjoy most (big call, I know).  It's just so portable and something I can do at times during the day around the kids.  And baby things are really quick to make up.  Like this little set, done in April/ May...



The knitting of the cardigan pieces took me two days, just knitting when I had the chance during the day, and not staying up late at night. When I had a new baby who hardly slept during the day. It was just so satisfying to get something done!  Sewing in the middle of the night just does not seem as therapeutic.

The lovely baby quilt is by my Mum, featuring several fabrics used for dresses and skirts for me over the years. Actually, her squares seem to meet up very well!

For the Boy

It is definitely much more fun to sew for a little girl than a little boy- prettier fabrics and way cuter (and often easier) patterns available.  I decided however that I could manage some basic shorts for my son.  As Mr F is getting to the toilet training stage, elastic waists are suddenly highly desirable.








These are another pattern from Ottobre 3/2008.  Yes, that's the same fabric as baby girl's shorts from last post.  No, I don't plan to dress them in their matching shorts at the same time!  But, free fabric from Grandma making two pairs of shorts?  I won't complain.  Easy pattern made more special with topstitching.   This was the trickiest part as I had never used topstitching thread before and I followed advice not to backstitch but hand tie all ends underneath.  Which was a bit fiddly, but gave a nice result I think.  


Mr F himself isn't yet interested in fashion (apart from his plastic fireman's hat which he currently likes to wear even while sleeping).  He does however have a bit of interest in quilts, in that he likes to lie on our couch with a very old one draped over him and pretend he's in bed.  So, next project is a quilt for him, that he can have on the couch or use on his single bed.  The goal is to get it done for Christmas.  I had some charm squares in kiddie prints (Minny Muu by Lecien ) to use up, and I've just added basic prints and solids in bright colours, so now I have 360 squares to be sewn up.  





So far, I'm doing 9 patch blocks which I think I might then cut into quarters- Mum tells me there is a 'proper name' for this technique but neither of us can recall it.  I am definitely excited about doing this quilt in quite a random fashion, and just getting into it.  I just want it to be a cute quilt for my little boy, where he can point out colours, and teddy bears, and mice with cheese.  


Oh, and the soft dolly kit (by the red thread) is to be made up for baby girl for Christmas, bought from this cute girlie shop in lovely Bulimba.