Baby Quilt Part I

As promised, here is the first installment on the baby quilt I'm making for the much anticipated Martin Baby #2. As you can probably tell from the colours we've been told that the baby is going to be a girl, so I hope they're right! 

This is the top all pieced together and I'm really pleased with the result. I wanted to go for fresh, clean colours that weren't too baby-ish, and in terms of design the main principle was that it had to be simple since I'd never patchworked before, and not too contrived looking either. I got the design idea from etsy where there are literally hundreds of quilts for sale, and I just made it to fit the dimensions I wanted. Each of the large squares is 5 inches x 5 inches and the small yellow squares are 1 inch x 1 inch. The border is 4.5 inches wide I think. Anyway, all up the quilt is about 1m x 1.5m, so it'll be plenty big enough for a cot, and will still look good on a single bed.

I realised that cutting accurately was the key, so after watching several videos on You Tube on how to patchwork I went out and bought myself a patchwork ruler. What a brilliant invention! Bascially it's just a clear ruler with lots of different markings on it (I went for an imperial rather than metric one), but it allows you to cut lovely straight, square or angled lines. I already had the pizza-type cutter and the cutting board so I was all set then. Apart from the fabrics ...

I had the loveliest time going through my stash and picking out all those favourite fabrics that I've been collecting but waiting to use on that special project, and then I visited just about every patchwork shop in Christchurch looking for the right fabrics to coordinate with them. What fun! I was very restrained, but still managed to end up with lots of left-overs. I think this new baby will be wearing dresses that coordinate with her quilt for years until I've managed to use them all up! Anyway, for the backing fabric I decided on a Heather Bailey fabric called Church Flowers. The colours are beautiful and work perfectly with the top, plus because it's not plain hopefully it will mean any little imperfections when I come to the quilting will be hidden. For the binding I've decided on a stripe, also by Heather Bailey called Slim Dandy. Both fabrics are from her Nicey Jane collection.

I had thought all my decisions about this quilt were made, but that was until I went shopping for the inner. Who knew there were so many different options?! ... polyester (not recommended for babies under 12 months), cotton, cotton/bamboo, wool, the list goes on. I ended up going for cotton, simply because it's machine washable and I'm all for that! I'm going to use 2 layers though as I want a bit of weight in the quilt and since the batting it so wide I don't have to buy extra to allow for this. Now I just need to pin it all together (using the rather expensive but apparently invaluable quilters safety pins), quilt it, and sew on the binding. Time to do some more how-to videos watching on You Tube. Until next time ... 

Day 2: Pincushion

Yesterday for Day 1 of the Fabrication Twelve Days of Christmas I made a couple of cushions. Today, I thought I'd do a minature version made especially for pins. Yip, you guessed it, a pincushion. Why? Well, I found a great free pattern, you can have never have too many places to put your pins, and it was quick and easy. Oh, and they look really great too. Perfect!

So there are absolutely loads of places on the internet where you can get free patterns, and Heather Bailey's blog is one of them. If you don't know already, Heather is a fabric designer (her fabrics are printed under the Free Spirit label) and she also has her own patterns, paper range, and is generally one of those super-talented arty-farty types.

Anyway, to make the pincusion above I used Heather's Square Deal pincusion pattern and the very vintage feeling Floral Drop in Tarragon and Lodge Lattice in Goldenrod fabrics by Joel Dewberry. I just love the freshness of the greens and yellows in these fabrics.

Not only is a pincushion a great present for anyone already into sewing, but if you know someone who you think might just love sewing but hasn't gotten around to giving it a go yet, why not make them up a sewing kit for Christmas? Start with a pincushion like the one I've made, add some pins, a Fat Quarter Bundle, a tape measure, some scissors and you've got the perfect little gift.