Tag Archives: quiltin’

Making a start

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babyquilt

Just a tiny peak at some of the fabric!

A good friend (despite her harsh voting about my blog :-) ) has asked me to make a quilt for her baby which is due in June.  I was thrilled to be asked and I bought the fabric very soon after.  On Saturday, I was meant to be attending a hand-quilting course at my local quilt shop but it was cancelled on the day.  Instead, I went shopping with ricardo, mooched about the house and then realised I could get cracking on the quilt.

sewing

Ugh – manicure needed!

I had chosen a simple design for a quilt from Amy Karol’s Bend the Rules Sewing book.  However, due to my irrepressible creativity (or rather, a slight misreading of the fabric requirements), I had to made things up a bit as far as the quilt top goes.  I have finished the quilt top and have ‘just’ the quilting and binding to go (by far the most work is still to do!).  It’s going to be a boy so I picked cute baby blues with a little cream to break things up.  The back is a fab fabric I found which is both boyish and perfect for the parents too.  I don’t want to post any pictures of the fabric as I don’t want to spoil the surprise but here is the design which I wrote out in my Maker’s Notebook.

design

What I love is that this quilt involved basic maths which would astound the recipient (well, the mother of the recipient, I suppose; Baby is probably not going to appreciate the maths quite yet).

Baby quilt

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I have tasked myself with a new project (even though my sampler quilt is still far from finished and those Christmas decorations are still sitting on my craft table).  My friend is having a baby in June and she has asked me to make her a baby quilt.  I have chosen the easy lap quilt pattern from Amy Karol’s book Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I have bought the fabric (pictures to follow soon) and I am desperate to get cutting even though I have another writing assignment due next Friday for my Open University course.

A lick of paint

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We have just got back from a lovely trip to Italy and now have to get cracking on our decorating so all my craft things are boxed away.  On the plus side, when my craft corner has been revamped, I will be able to craft away in a lovely newly painted environment but I have to wait until it is all done before making any more progress on my sampler quilt. I am excited for the changes to our spare bedroom (where my craft corner is located) which will have a Whisper of Mellow Sage on the walls and chocolate brown curtains and accessories. I even have fabric in my stash that will be perfect for new cushions!

I would like to quickly share a good Etsy find, though. I wanted some simple covers for my iPhone and iPod which were like the Apple iPod socks but better value and less corporate. I searched Etsy and found a wonderful seller Blythe King. She makes covers for iPod and iPhones (and laptops too) using vintage fabric she has saved up. I received my ones through and I am delighted with them. I am using this one for my iPhone:

And I am using this one for my iPod, although they are interchangeable so I can always swap them for a change:

Rail Fence

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I have been racing along with my sampler quilt and after not doing anything for  while, I have managed to do two blocks in two weeks.  The second block which was also taken out of Lynne Edwards’s book is the Rail Fence block.

Again, the quilting is by hand but this time, rather than copy the pattern in the book which was done by machine (and which I was not that keen on), I simply chose an asterisk shape with nice straight lines (thanks to my quilter’s masking tape).

I will try to remember to take some more photos to show the block-making process when I tackle the next block which is Maple Leaf.

Tumbling Blocks

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I have FINALLY started making my sampler quilt for our bedroom.  I visited the Festival of Quilts which was about this time last year and met Lynne Edwards, a fantastic quilt-maker.  I bought her book The Sampler Quilt Book which takes you through lots of different blocks, each one lets you learn new techniques. This is the first block which is called Tumbling Blocks:

 

 

I have decided to do all the quilting by hand which means they are not small and neat but they are all stitched with love. I followed the quilting which was done on the example shown in the books as it made sense and I did not see why I should do something different for the sake of it.

 

 

I think my attitude to quilting is quite different to other ‘quilters’. I love putting the quilt top together and I love hand quilting but I am not one for over-quilting.  I like it kept simple and rustic (another word for not very neat!).

 

 

I love the fabrics that I have picked out for the quilt. I have chosen beiges and creams to complement our newly painted bedroom.  We chose Crown Paint’s Toasted Almond which is a bit darker than the Magnolia we had inherited but is still lovely and neutral and warm.