Last month Emily turned four last month and I made her a quilt. I bought the fabric for the quilt top around eight months ago and cut it around a month later then started sewing about a month after that! I actually changed my mind about three times over the fabrics and design of Emily's quilt and originally my husband and I picked these fabrics on line for a double quilt for us. But when it arrived and I started piecing it on the lounge room floor, Stefan realised he may have had a red wine too many when picking the fabrics as they were certainly feminine rather than neutral. So, a quilt for Emily was decided.
So my 'Part I' post for Juliette's quilt was written exactly six months ago...oops. I find it hard to resist the pull of starting a new project, so am not a very dedicated quilter. Juliette is not going cold though. She has a doona on her bed, but her quilt has been in my 'to do' pile for quite some time!
I ran into trouble when I realised I would run out of the main red and white floral fabric about half way through creating the quilt top (that's making it up as you go along for you!) The print is many years old and I was not even going to try to match it. So the top and bottom of the quilt have a panel of vintage cream, orange and brown floral. It doesn't really match, but I think once it is on the bed and quilted and bound - it will still work.
It has been a rainy day here in Melbourne. I resisted putting the TV on for the kids til about 2.00pm, but then as they settled in for a movie, I decided to quickly get to work pin basting Juliette's quilt while Emily slept. I just used regular pins - placing them in areas which I will mostly not sew over. I think I will machine quilt straight diagonal lines through the squares. Hopefully it will be on her bed within a week or two. It will be great to get it finished.
I have been having a ridiculous amount of fun over the past few weeks renovating a dollhouse. The playgroup I have been a part of for nearly three years (and co-run for two) was disbanding due to kinder commitments this year and the organisers of the space where we ran it actually requested that we disperse all the toys that belonged to the group as they were needing to re-organise their space. Most of them were donated to another group but we each got to keep a few toys. I was very lucky to claim an awesome wooden dollhouse. I received it a week or so before christmas and set to work painting, wallpapering, sewing, sanding, superglueing, fimo styling and rearranging. The girls wake each morning and peer inside the house to see what Mummy got up to the night before!
Today I made an eeni meeni quilt for the smallest member of the family that reside in said house. Little Joey. The quilt is not sewn on top but I wanted to have a go at making a little quilt just using cut pieces and vialene. I used scraps from Emily's Children at Play quilt.
I am very excited to share the completed dollhouse next week on my blog. Stefan thinks I have gone a bit mad and am turning into a strange miniature lady!
Linking up here today.
After some teething issues, Juliette is finally in her big girl bed. Which means I need to get cracking with her quilt. I started it a while back but it has been on the back burner for the last couple of months. I wanted to get back to the true roots of patchwork with this quilt by making something to keep my girl warm from scraps I already had. So far, I have only spent about $20 on the quilt. Most of the fabrics come from my stash with some generous donations from my sister Jules.
I wanted a soft, feminine quilt so have chosen pastel florals, solids and prints. I am not being fussy with placement (apart from alternating each square with the cherry and cream floral). The pieces are approx. 10cm squared. I have estimated that I will be sewing approximately 540 squares together! Sounds like a marathon but I have got an efficient little system of sewing worked out. I sew pairs one after another on the machine, then snip threads and join two pairs together to make quadruples. Then I piece the quadruples together to make strips.
I like that I can use special little favourite pieces and some pieces with a bit of history.
I am starting to wonder what I will do when I have no more quilts to make??
Yesterday I finished Emily's Children at Play cot quilt. Here she is looking very happy about the fact!
Emily is still in her cradle and I am planning on painting her cot before she 'moves in' so this quilt will sit folded in her room for a few more weeks.
I snapped away with the camera late yesterday afternoon, trying to photograph the quilt and Emily before the last minutes of sunlight faded...
Although this picture is a little out of focus and off centre, I am quite proud of it as I managed to take it with the camera on self timer perched on our hot water service whilst fending off a helpful toddler and nursing a colicy bub! I like the 1970's look about it - the perfect little bit of dappled sunlight at that particular moment.
Meanwhile, I have quite a few works in progress that are also keeping me busy. My scrappy quilt is still in pieces but will be finished in the next couple of weeks (months...), The Emily Button project, as well as a little knitted vest for Juliette...and I couldn't help it but have already started piecing together another quilt - this one for Juliette for her big bed. She has just turned two and is still in a cot which works for us at the moment as she can be quite cheeky at bed time.
How many works in progress do you have on the go? 
I have finally got around to putting pics of this little project I completed a while back. I gave the girls' cradle a new coat of paint and fitted it out with a little mattress, pillow and quilt.
I made the quilt from fabrics in my stash. I like the candy style colour scheme.
It's backed with some Sherbet Pips puppy dogs.
Meanwhile, I'm busily working on Emily's quilt - grabbing five minutes here and there, between spinning plates, trying to get it finished! I'm linking up here today.
Here is Emily's Children at Play quilt top finished! I loved putting it together and am now up to basting the layers and then machine quilting. It's good to maintain the momemtum with making a quilt, which I have done with this one. Most of my quilts get put away for weeks, sometimes months (and once years) at a time. I've realised with keeping on going with one, it actually doesn't take as long as you think to complete. I'll have this one ready before Emily is ready for it. She is still in her little cradle and using this quilt.
I am linking up here today.
I had a lovely couple of hours to myself today while Emily slept and Stefan took the girls to Bunnings. I promptly made myself a latte, buttered a freshly made date scone and pulled out my sewing machine. I got four of these squares finished to complete the twelve to make up Emily's quilt. I plan on joining the blocks with white sashing and blue pinwheel posts for the intersections. I have gained a bit of momentum with this quilt now and hope to have it finished in the next couple of weeks - everything moves pretty slowly at the moment with three little girls on the go!
The fabrics for this quilt are from the Children at Play range by Sarah Jane. I can't wait to see her new line which is due to be released in the next week or so. Her fabrics are so sweet.
I'm enjoying putting my feet up now after a nice mother's day - enjoying a Baileys and some Lindt chocolates thanks to my girls (Stefan had something to do with it too), and snuggling up next to this little sweetheart. Happy Mother's Day!
Emily - ten weeks today.
My gorgeous 'Children at Play' by Sarah Jane Studios arrived a couple of days ago, and although I am time poor at the moment, I stole an hour or so the night before last to put together the first patch for Emily's cot quilt. The patch layout is called 'King's Crown'. I am going to repeat this pattern for all 12 squares but using a few different fabrics from Sarah Jane's line. I bought my stash from here.
I just love her fabrics - the drawings are so sweet and really capture the essence of childhood.
I've been checking her blog regularly over the past couple of weeks as she has been hinting towards releasing a new line of fabric - I'm very eager to see...and may have to invest in some - Juliette's big girl quilt perhaps!
For more creativity, check out Our Creative Spaces at Kootoyoo.
Here are a few things that have been happening this week...
Cuteness in the vegie patch...
Great success in cooking my first ever batch of macarons!!
The last three squares for my evolving scrappy quilt completed...
One gorgeous cream cardi from my beautfiul Mum for our babe...
Five weeks to go!!
Baby projects left to start (and finish):
- 1 x chocolate brown mohair teddy bear (eagerly awaiting supplies in the mail)
- 1 x small nappy bag with change mat to keep in the car or pram
- 2 x appliqued bodysuits
- 2 x nurses outfits and a doctor's case for the girls to play with as a gift from me when they come to visit me and their new brother or sister in hospital! Isabella is getting right into performing 'check ups' on her little toys and I know she will love a little outfit, some colourful bandaids and some doctors tools to make the play complete!
I'm linking up today with Our Creative Spaces.
I picked up my scrappy quilt again a few days ago and decided to try to get moving with it. The squares have been sitting under my overlocker for the last six months keeping warm! I sorted out six more colour lots aiming to complete 16 squares in total to make a 4 x 4 square quilt.
Some sewing, ironing, cutting, sewing, ironing, cutting later, I finished three more squares. The brown one above and these two below...
So now I have 13 squares done and only three left to go!
This is definitely a children's quilt and I have put too much work into it to give it away, so I think it will be a floor quilt for the girls' bedroom. I'm planning on connecting the squares with white with coloured posts at the intersections. I think scrappy binding is the only thing that will suit - more work but it will hopefully be worth it in the end!!
The original idea for this quilt was from Aneela at Comfort Stitching - I wonder if she ever got hers finished?! I'm linking up today with Our creative spaces.
I am very pleased with how quickly and nicely this little quilt came together. I cut out the pieces a few months ago and had them stacked in my sewing box for when I had some spare time. I decided to use up scraps of all sorts of colours, alternating with soft white for our bub.
The back is a grey and white spot. I was planning on machine quilting this quilt but since my sister had borrowed my quilting foot, I decided not to wait and to do a tacking stitch with red embroidery thread - I love how it turned out!
The quilt is just a cradle/floor/pram quilt (80 x 80 cm) as I want to spend more time pouring over fabrics once baby is born and we know the sex!! I will most likely be using some of this fabric in the next quilt...
For girl...
For boy...
These fabrics are by Sarah Jane Studios - an awesome illustrator who has turned her hand to fabric design. Cute stuff!
I'm sharing today over at Kootoyoo.