Moses Basket Quilt

So one pillowcase has become the softest baby quilt

The applique petals came out perfectly. There are still a few yellow chalk marks where I quilted some straight lines but they'll come out with use.

Here is a close up of the quilting stitches I did round the petals. I try to use cotton abrode but I don't have very much. So when in doubt I simply use Gutterman button thread which they seem to sell everywhere and is really cheap. I find it really smooth and just the right thickness. Terrible I know, but it makes for a really cheap quilt! The binding was just a pack of yellow bias binding from John Lewis.

Basically a very quick, cheap, soft quilt! I was thinking I might try and draw up the pattern. I can't quite decide.

It fits perfectly in the moses basket.

And in the Babybay bedside cot.

I know you're not suposed to use blankets but they seem to sell them in Mamas&Papas so I guess they're just there to look nice really. See the start of the project here

Pillowcase Baby Quilt

So I decided to make a little moses basket quilt. I thought it would be a perfect scrap bag project as the quilt only needs to be 18"x22.5". I saw this Honey Bee block on Flickr and it gave me the idea to make a simple plain white, soft quilt with a few of the yellow petals appliqued in the corners. Rachel had made some lovely mini bunting with yellow bias binding and I was really struck by how nice the yellow was. I thought it would look great with some soft, squidgy brushed cotton.

Then I found a brushed cotton pillowcase in Tescos for £3.50. Suddenly the idea was born! So I dug everything else out of the cupboard just before we moved. I found some strips of old wadding and some yellow bits from the scrap bag to do some small applique with. I'm always chuffed when a project uses offcuts and scraps.

I cut the seams off the edges to give me front and back fabric panels. Then I used my wadding tape to tape lots of strips together to make one big panel of wadding.

Then I cut some petal shapes out of freezer paper and ironed then onto my scraps which I then cut out. I think I've been a bit mean with the seem but hey ho. So now I get to sit and tack them all before I apply them. Time to watch some mindless telly.

Hexagon progress

Well more progress was made today during sofa time. My mum knitted 13 matinee jackets when she was waiting to give birth. She's an amazing knitter, she doesn't even need to look at what she is doing. I knit like a snail and I can't fix a mistake. But sewing mini hexs is easy peasy!

I've scaled mine down to 1" Hexs. It just came out that way. It's coming together great. Some of the joins are a little hairy but I just tell myself how handmade it will look. I am not sure how big it will be. I might just keep on going until the Big Day!

I was really inspired to do this by seeing Ruth's work. Just the intricacy and the detail in the fabrics. I love the small prints. Ruth was kind enough to send me the pattern as I can't really do geometry, thanks Ruth! I have some templates somewhere and lots of books with it all in but, yes, they are all buried deep in boxes. The bane of moving house. I'll never find them again amongst the sea of boxes.

Hexagon mini update!

I am pretty impressed with how quickly this is taking shape and I think it is going to look great.

I might introduce some pinkier colours to see what those look like as this is really a tester. I'm so lucky. My mum just gave me this whole pack of hers just after I had bought one of my own! I spent so long deliberating over buying it as the fabric is so expensive and I really didn't know if I was going to take to it. Then suddenly I have two lots for the price of one! She's a very nice mumple!

I'm pleased that it's not using up too much fabric either. I am so precious about my lawn. It's just so expensive! I worried it would be too thin but actually it's perfect. The fabric is just such good quality. I thought it might be slippy and silky and catch on my fingers all the time but so far it's behaved really well and folds to the points easily.

I've been doing a basic whip stitch on my blocks. I know that there are other methods which are more invisible, but to my mind, this is handsewn and so should look so. I think it's just about using the right colour thread and making your stitches neat and even.

A while back, I embarked on EPP (English paper piecing) by making the huge rainbow hexagon quilt. It's not actually complete. It's waiting for me to decide on a back fabric and finish it off. I stopped when I ran out of the fabric I had bought from Strawberry Fayre as I realised I didn't really like how my colours were coming out in strips but I do think it taught be a huge amount about sewing hexs. My one tip is to make your stitches quite close as it gives the straightest, neatest seam. That's a pretty easy task when you're working with 1" hexs. It was much slower going on the bigger version. Oh and avoid different thicknesses of fabrics as it's a pain making them join! Hence my worries about using lawn and voile but so far so good. Anyway, more updates as I progress. I am already so pleased with it! Much more so than the monster above! I swear it looks better in real life though.

Sofa time

So with ten days before giving birth I find myself more and more restricted to the sofa. I could be binding my Swoon offcut quilt but I'd have to make the binding first. I could be sewing together my sawtooth star blocks but then I wouldn't be able to put my puffy feet up. So I suddenly decided to insert a totally new project!

My mum gave me some Liberty fabric as she saw I had bought a little pack of it from Sunflower fabrics for my postage stamp quilt and then later asked for the 'Liberty in the Cabin' kit by Ruth Eglinton from Sunflower fabrics, I am just having a Liberty moment it seems.

So I made some templates and cut some strips. Now I am ready to give it a go. It might be too tiny. It might be perfect! We'll see how tricky it turns out to be.

I decided to make the hexagons solid colours and the stars from the patterns. The patterns are lawn but the solid is voile so we'll see how that works out.

Next Project

So the current project is the Sawtooth Star quilt, but whilst that is on I am thinking about what happens next. Something small I think is the answer. Last Chilford I saw the lovely 'Me and Kitty Lytell' pattern at Sunflower Fabrics.

For some reason I bought some of the fabric but not the pattern so I have asked for it for my birthday. I am quite looking forward to the tininess of it and the traditional fabrics.

It is essentially the same pattern just smaller, but I really like making stars. I find it very fulfilling.

Mobile

Because I am in a family way, I am making things for the nursery. I am not really being very organised or colour coordinated about it. I saw a lovely mobile on Etsy, it was beautiful, but I am too poor to buy it and would take more fun from making it myself. I feel bad though as I have basically ripped off someone else's lovely idea! Terrible. But, in my defence I have made the top out of an embroidery hoop and I have put rain drops in mine which is different. Plus I have done mine in a much less professional manner. I really should have starched the drops so that they didn't curl.

But the colours and the elephants are basically the same. It's a little rough round the edges but it was dead quick to make, especially as I have been spending so much time on the sofa trying to ease my ridiculously puffy ankles.

Additional Space

So it soon became apparent that I have no big table now on which to do cutting, ironing, basting etc. I really miss the old kitchen work surface. It was so flat and perfect. So this has been constructed for me out of a bit of old work surface and the kitchen stools. It is a make do until I can once again, have a big table.

Washing the Swoon

I think it looks much better washed. I did it on the gentle cold wash first and dried it on the washing line. It didn't look that scrunched to be honest. Then I noticed it had got stained from brushing against a plant pot and in a fit of annoyance just plonked it on a standard cotton wash with a tumble dry. Well it came out perfect! All scrunchy just like this one. It was just too neat and smooth before. Now it looks lived in. I just need it to get all soft now.

Sawtooth working

So today I sat down and tried to work out how my blocks were going to go together. I decided to make 9 nine-blocks then put those together to make the central part of the quilt. Here is my basic working out. I was just trying to work out how many blocks of each pattern I had and how they would go together without two of the same ending up side by side. I think I've cracked it. Here's what it looks like if the colours are replaced by the actual patterns.

I took these pictures in a rush the night before we moved when I was packing them away so they're dark and blurry but I thought it might help me get an idea of how it will end up looking. I hope it comes out nice in the end. I can't really tell at the moment.

Setting Up

So last weekend we moved in and it was chaos. During the week there has just been no time. Any time we had was spent cleaning as the place was so dirty. Finally this weekend we have started rooting through boxes. I really want to make sure I had everything sewing related stored together and clearly marked so I could set up a little sewing area and lo and behold it finally came together. It's great having a drawer. Now I can keep scissors and machine feet in there. I am not sure if there is enough room at the back to feed a whole quilt through but this is all temporary really until we are properly unpacked and have worked out what's really going in every room. Eventually I would love a sewing room with shelves for all my stash, but we'll see. That's a long way off.



Can you see the blocks on the floor? The table has always been too low so I got the local wood shop to cut down an old offcut of kitchen work surface which has been knocking around for years. It worked perfectly. Now I can look to my right and look into the garden on a sunny day. Perfect. As of next Monday I have a big chunk of time off so I wanted to be all set up so I can get back to some projects which need finishing off. Hopefully I can saw the blocks of the sawtooth quilt together and maybe get back to the postage stamp quilt. ACE. Then I just need to work out backing and wadding for them both.

Swoon Finished!

The day before we moved I finally finished sewing on the binding for the Swoon. I still need to wash it to make it all scrunchy and nice but now we are in the new house I am suspicious of the old washing line marking it, so I might buy a new one in honour. More when it's washed!

Lazy Sunday

Today I plan to sit on the sofa watching mindless telly whilst I trim all these out. Jeez. I am hoping they aren't short on size. I have tried to sew them a little less than 1/4" inch and I cut them just over the line to make them slightly more generous. I am sick of having flying geese which are just short of the size they need to be. I am pretty sure it's that kind of thing that makes my stars wonky. If this fails then I might learn the oversize method but it seems to only make 1 goose at once whereas this method makes 4 in no time. Here's hoping!

 I probably shouldn't have made them all in advance like this but hey ho. These are my all time favourite fabrics. it's killing me to think I might botch this up!

Sofa time

So finally I have finished hand quilting the massive Swoon quilt. I just need to trim it and attach the borders. Pictures after that's done. We have an imminent house move so it might get put away for a while in the move. In the meantime I thought I shouldn't neglect the Swoon offcut quilt which also needs quilting. I did pretty big stitched just over 1/4" away on the Swoon and now I wanted to do something tinier and more intricate so I am a lot closer in to the seams now. I'd say 1/8".

I've got two quite bright red and green mercerised fine cotton threads going on here. Green for the centres of the white stars and the red for everything else. I am pretty pleased with how it is coming together and with how soft the backing is. It will be good to get it done. I finally feel like I am making headway through the quilt backup!

Fabric stash

Some new fabric arrived today! I realise that sometimes I want to restock a fabric but I have cut all the salve edge information off it and can't remember a thing about it. I think it's time I had some kind of catalogue. I do have a scrap book I stick samples in but I've started to think it would just be easier to go digital and take pictures of everything as it comes in. So here I go!

I have to make a cushion. I have never made one before. It has to fit in with a nice studio setting so I decided to buy this "Zig Zag" Fabric in Corn Yellow, Chevron Fabric from Moderncloth on Etsy. I also got some matching Yellow Chevron Twill Ribbon, 3/4 inch, Herringbone Ribbon just in case I needed to do ties. I have never made a cushion, it's not really my thing. All I know is that it has to be a manly cushion. I need to think about this. I might go to IKEA and buy some cheap innards. It needs to be quite thick so I might put two together.

This could all go horribly wrong, but the fabric is so cool!

Stash Splurge

It's terrible. The last thing I need is more fabric, but sometimes I just get carried away. I look in the fabric shops around me and I see nothing I like. Nothing I want, particularly when it comes to modern, bright fabrics. I am a huge fan of spot. I always have loads of spotty fabric. I've been slowly working through some of my favourites and I panicked. I wanted to make some mini bunting with spots but suddenly it was all too precious and in short supply. Suddenly I had to top up my stash and behold kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop has replenished me!

We have:
Stella Dot Orange on Pink Stella Dot
Stella Dot Pink on Orange Stella Dot
California Girl Sprout Sprouts Yardage
Santa's Workshop Blue Mini Dot - I got two blue dots but I think I prefer the other one
Crazy For Dots & Stripes II Pumpkin Orange Mini Dots on White
Crazy For Dots & Stripes II White Mini Dots on Pumpkin Orange
Crazy For Dots & Stripes II White Mini Dots on Sunflower Yellow
Crazy For Dots & Stripes II Yellow Mini Dots on White Yardage
McCall's Green Dots 
McCall's Light Blue Dots


I feel guilty
But much better about my stash!
So much for cutting back

Sawtooth test

So today I tried to work out all my measurements properly. I decided to use the four flying geese method (instructions here), but I kept getting my numbers mixed up, fractions really confuse me. In the end it was third time lucky.

I love this fabric. It was a shame I wasted so much of it getting it wrong. The geese didn't come out 100% perfect. I always wish I could work out how to make them a bit bigger so I can trim them down accurately. My block is slightly off but I guess it makes it more homemade and the 4 at once technique saves all the wastage I was getting.

First block done. I am not sure the size it right, maybe it should have been a bigger block after all. Oh well, I've started now. I'm going to start cutting all my fabric tomorrow starting with the white blocks so I can make sure I have enough of my lovely soft sheet left, such a bargain for a fiver.

Sawtooth Start

I always like the start of a new project. This one has been in the pipeline for years. I knew I wanted to make a proper Little House on the Prairie flowery quilt with pale florals and lots of white. I saw this quilt in an interiors magazine and I thought it would be perfect. I started saving bits of fabric for it a long long time a go. I think after the Swoon quilt, making something old fashioned is called for, so I got all the bits out today and had a look at them.

It's the first time I've laid them out next to each other and I can't really see them all working together, but then I imagine all the white separating them and I think it might just work. I can't really tell, but I have loved these fabrics over such a long time that I feel loathe to change my plan now.

Here are my favourites. all collected at different times or leftovers from other projects.

Some of them were expensive Japanese fabrics with textures running through them. They were all the rage at Birmingham a few years a go but I haven't seen any new ones since then.

So here is the basic layout based on the photo. I've tried to work it out to have exactly the same number of blocls. I had always wanted to do huge 16" blocks. Just big and simple sawtooth ones showing off the fabric. My mum warned me that often big blocks don't look that great and after looking at the Swoon and the offcut Swoon, I am beginning to see what she means. Don't get me wrong, i like the big Swoon blocks but they are immense. They're 25"; a lot bigger. But in general, I have now come round to the idea of making them smaller. I think I've settled on 10" blocks because if I make the exact number of blocks as the picture then I will have an 100" quilt ready for a kingsize. It might be too big though so I have the option to drop out some of the blocks and make it smaller. I'll see how I get on. Big quilts are a bit of a pain in my small space.


In an effort to be a bit organised, I have tried to work out how much material I will need. I only have fat quarters so I need it to work well in the given yardage. So I did a little diagram based on a 10" block. I worked out the sizes of the pieces:
A: 5 1/2" x 3
B: 3"
C: 5 1/2
D: 3"

Then I worked out I could get enough for 4 blocks out of a fat quarter. It's a bit of a squeeze on the width though, plus I need to factor in the half blocks round the edges so the planning continues. I might make up a sample block and check the measurements.