Baby girl quilt

I've just posted this little beauty off to a friend in Australia who had a baby girl the other week. I find working on girly quilts so much easier than sewing boys ones. I have one more quilt I'm working on (very slowly... who knew a toddler and baby would take up so much time?!) then I think I'll have a break from baby quilts and see if I can get stuck into a few cushion covers. I'm terrified of putting zips in but need to get some practice in.

Anyway, photos of the latest quilt below.

Baby Boy Owl Quilt

Another baby quilt blog! My good friend Helen had a wee baby boy (Ewan) two weeks ago and as the tradition goes I gave him a baby quilt as a gift. He was three weeks early (her first was seven weeks early so there is no mucking around to be done!) so he caught me off guard a little as I'd been planning on finishing the quilt when I was on maternity break (which is now... and yes, it's awesome). However, my first attempt was for a baby girl... thinking Helen was going to pop out a pink one! When I heard it was a boy I had to dive into my fabric stash and come up with something worthy of a strapping wee laddie. 

My owl fabric and matching patterns came to the rescue. I'd been saving this material for about a year, thinking it would make a good duvet cover or the likes. Turns out it makes a cracking baby quilt too... just when you need one!

I personally think the back is the highlight... I love those stripes!

Next baby will be MINE in two weeks - eek!!! (And no, no baby quilt yet. I'm going to see if it's a blue or a pink one first). 

Stripes!

40th birthday quilt

We've just returned from a lovely weekend down in Durham celebrating my sister's 40th birthday. It was a wonderful chance for our 2 year old to catch up with his cousins and run amok. I also had the chance to give a lovely quilt to my sister as a special gift. My first attempt at cutting up a layer cake and trying a tutorial I saw on YouTube.

I had so much fun with this quilt and will definitely attempt one for myself!

Criss Cross Baby Quilt

I've made another baby quilt for a friend who had a baby boy last week. She knew that she was having a boy so I scoped out blue colours and non-pink squares... which was actually really hard! I had to make this one quickly but discovered quilting criss cross was really quick. I loved quilting this way and look forward to trying it again. Plenty of baby quilts to make this year so no doubt I'll get lots of practice!

And an updated picture of Logan enjoying his Vegemite sandwiches:

Nom nom nom...

Wedding quilt

We're just back from the glorious New Zealand... a whole month of travelling the North Island introducing our wee boy to his extended family and my friends. We were lucky enough to have my parents join us on the journey too, spending much loved grandparent time with the wee man.

One of the reasons we travelled to the other side of the world (other than see my family) was to go to a wedding. My hubby's brother decided that he'd like to collect himself a Kiwi wife too so the wedding was in the gorgeous Martinborough, where the bride grew up. It was a lovely wedding (once the weather sorted itself out) and we all had a wonderful time. The wee man wore his very first kilt!

Our wedding gift to the happy couple was a handmade quilt by me! I'd spent months working on this one... my first quilt which is larger than a baby quilt and NOT made from a charm pack. I LOVED working on this and miss it already, but know it's gone to a good home.

Below are photos I took before making my goodbyes to the wedding quilt. (It's amazing how attached you get to your crafts!)

Finishing the binding the night before the wedding!

Finished product, with the reception in the background

A quilt for the bottom of their bed, or to put over their laps in old age ;-)

Ta dah!

Goodbye Baby Quilt #3

Today I say goodbye to my third baby quilt I made as a friend had a wee girl last week. I love the fact I'm now at a stage where I can give gifts I've made and not be ashamed of them!

I took some photos of the finished item. Goodbye Animal Quilt... you're off to a good home!

Baby quilt #3 - nearly done

In a post a few months ago I was having a 'fabric dilemma'. I was a little stuck on this project because I didn't really like the fabric combination all together (it was a Moda charm pack and my first attempt at 'Disappearing Nines') and kept putting the project off.

After much scratching of the head I decided what the vibrant patterns needed was to be broken up with plain white material, to make it a little easier on the eye. So, my third baby quilt is nearly done (need to sew the binding and I'm going to attempt to machine bind it this time, seeing as my hand sewing is crap!)

Feast your eyes on the recovered project below:

The front

Thank goodness for the white!

Oooh... look at the fancy stripe!

Wish me luck on the binding (arghhhh)

My sewing night classes are brilliant and I'm learning loads. I did my first ever 'darts' last week (pretty badly, but still!) I'll take some photos this week when it starts looking more like a dress. 

I LOVE SEWING!

Rosie love

I finally met my new niece this weekend! We plodded down to London on the train Friday morning and spent the weekend in the company of my sister, my nephew Toby (3) and wee Rosie (2 months). Ab-so-lutely gorgeous kids!

I managed to get some photos of Rosie posing on the quilt I made her. She was a very willing model!

Material dilemma

I thought about doing a new project and learning how to make cushion covers (my sister has put in her first request) but I found myself sucked into the world of quilting again! I quickly threw this together (doing my first 'Disappearing Nine' patchwork) thinking it would make a nice baby quilt for future gifts. However, after looking at it for a few hours I'm not sure I like all the material in it.
I need some ideas on how to make it look 'less retro' and more cute.

Failing that... a tutorial on how to make one of those plastic bag holders for the kitchen!

Not as cute as I'd like!

Lollipop Quilt - Done!

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I've done it! I've finally finished my second quilt - following this brilliant tutorial made up by this clever lady. Feast your eyes on the Lollipop quilt:

My second ever quilt. I'm chuffed with the results. 

Just don't look at the binding too close.

Moda "Lollipop" quilt (well, the bottom half anyway)

Logan gets his first peep at his new quilt

Checking Mummy's stitching up close

After all my hard work, he thinks it's fun to jump on

Baby Rosie enjoying her new quilt

The hours of hand-sewing are totally worth it after my sister sent this photo of my gorgeous new niece enjoying her quilt!

"This is the best quilt I've ever laid on..."

Welcome Rosie Leigh! I'm glad you like my present xxx

Nearly finished my first quilt

Hooray - I finally managed to find the camera and take some decent photos of my first ever quilt! I've done one side of the binding but am not very good at 'invisible stitches'. If anyone has a good link that could help me get to grips on this stitch I'd appreciate it. 

The binding is a bit dodgy... there must be an easier way

 I also took some piccies of the Lollipop quilt I've started.

Lollipops!

Binding Tutorial

Binding with Mitered Corners 1, a photo by WendysKnitch on Flickr.

I've been saved! After reading loads of online tutorials on how to do binding on quilts this one actually makes (visual) sense to me.
I attempted a mock run-though last night with pins on the baby quilt and now have enough confidence to take the next step to sew the binding together this weekend.

I've also begun my second quilt using fabric from the Moda 'Lollipop' charm packs. I'm in love with quilting!

Girl or Boy?

Hmm. It seems I have a dilemma. It appears the quilt I'm hand sewing - aka "My Very First Quilt" - is a wee bit girly. Especially if my sister pops out a baby boy. I showed my Mum (via Skype) yesterday and she mentioned how pink it was. I've only sewn the top part of the quilt so the next part is to research how to put the backing material and wadding on and make it look pretty.

Girl or boy?

The thought of doing binding gives me the heebyjeebies. I'll see if I can cheat somehow! Would you give this as a gift to a baby boy or not?

TCx

**EDIT: I've just discovered this fantastic tutorial from one of my favourite bloggers on how to bind a quilt.  Seriously, what did we do before the internet?

Terrified!

I've done it. I've taken the plunge and begun my first quilt. And I'm terrified!

My sister is due her second baby soon so I thought I'd give the wee bairn a little quilt to throw up on. I have a charm pack from Moda's "It's a Hoot" range and have laid the quilt like this:

Quilt of terror!

Last night was spent marking and pinning the rows together. The next step is to start sewing I guess!

Terr-i-fied!