frankie's blankie

Baby Frankie arrived late last year. He is a much loved little brother for Poppy.

Poppy was the first baby I made a quilt for and its still one of my favourites so I'm very happy to hear that baby Frankie is using it in turn. But everyone needs a little blankie action of their own, so when I knew we were going to finally catch up with Mr Frankie, who doesn't live nearby, I wanted to make him something special.

It is inspired by the summer wrap I made little Zoe back here.

Adapting it for a different season, summer in to autumn, I decided to make a two sided blanket, one side cotton and the other flannel. I wanted a lightweight throw that was easy to drag around, good for car seat or stroller, or big enough to make another layer in the cot. Something soft and cuddly.

I decided to border it with bias binding because I'm in love with patterned bias. Encouraged by my last successful foray into the dark arts of bias sewing I bought a bright stripy yellow fabric to marry the two prints, my Triangle Twist design fabric and a soft blue flannel with delicate dark blue pinspot. I like the way the colours and geometrics are a little more boyish.

Once you get your mind around the cutting and directioning of Bias binding its really not that difficult. I took some photos this time to remind myself of the process, in particular the folding that gives your strips their diagonal cut. I've reproduced it below in case it might help (and so I don't have to look it up again next time I try this!)

The sewing is tricksy but I figure practice makes perfect and I'm going to keep sewing it till I'm really confident.

There's nothing like starting a new body off with some handmade loving, and its a tradition I really love. Best of all I got the most beautiful photo the other day of Frankie, who is very cute, lying on his blankie so I know its going to be well loved :-)

It was nice to have an excuse to do some making, I've been feeling stretched at the moment, spare time has gone to endless painting of the new bits of house, helping our HSC student, putting the garden to rights and the other endless list of jobs we have around here to finish off our reno. I'm not complaining though I promise, we are loving the extra space and its great being part of the making of our house, in some small way!

p.s. When the good camera is better I'd like to rephotograph it and put up a tutorial so I have it on the blog, but for now here is how you get the fabric to cut on the bias:
trim the fabric square by lining up the selvages;
open it out into one piece; fold the top across to meet the bottom diagonally;
then fold in the other side along that fold, turning until it is all wound up in a rectangle;
cut the end off your 'package' of fabric and then cut your strips the correct width for your bias maker, mine was 1/2 inch double fold so I cut 15/16ths of an inch widths;
finally make sure you choose two pieces that are cut the same way (hint, they aren't all the same!) and then flip them and pin them like this, overlapping the pointy edges by the margin you are going to sew.

Zoe's wrap

Zoe is a beautiful new member of our extended family. Another baby! My Mr has lots of older brothers and sisters and there is a bit of a baby boom happening amongst their older kids, aren't we lucky!

Our nephew, her father and his wife have a great meeting story, with a very happy ending and a couple of months ago they welcomed little Zoe, their first child. Soon after she arrived they set off for four weeks on a Greek island with family (as you would) so its taken us a while to catch up.

As you know I usually make baby quilts for new arrivals, however I knew that Zoe had already been gifted a beautiful handmade quilt, so I thought long and hard about what I could make instead.

I decided on a light muslin wrap that would serve as shade protection and a light pram cover on hot summer days. Everyone needs a blankie!

Ambitiously I decided that it would be necessary to bind this wrap with handmade bias binding, which I have never made before, or sewn successfully! I did try sewing bought bias once before, for a baby wrap, and it was a big fail, and has intimidated me ever since.

The wrap I imagined had lovely patterned bias though. So armed with a million tutorials, a few youtube videos I finally went for it. And it worked, I'm happy. I can see I am going to be making a lot more bias in the future and practicing my bias sewing skills again.

Its a great way get a unique look to your handmade sewing, a great way to mix and match patterns or solids without having to search out the right colour or use that scratchy stiff bias binding you generally find in the shops.

And the fabric is a beautiful vintage paisley my Mr found for me on his op shopping travels. It's light as air and I love the morning sky blue background.

Astrid's quilt

So as you know by now, each time a new baby comes into the extended family I've been making them a small quilt. This quilt is for the newest darling to arrive, little Astrid, my niece's first baby. We met Astrid for the first time yesterday. She's beautiful, with the cutest blonde quiff and tiny, tiny little hands.

Also traditional is that it has some pieces of flowerpress fabric designs sewn into it, and this one has nine of my patterns in its squares. Can you pick them? (see below) 

I'm really a beginner quilter, this is only my fifth quilt, and all of those were small and simple square patched quilts. But each time I make another my skills and knowledge grow a little more. Here are some of my past efforts, Poppy's quilt, Sid's quilt, Penny's quilt.

This time I got ambitious and changed direction after cutting out all squares. I decided to cut them in half and combine them in two piece blocks, alternating directions between the print and solid blocks. It meant I got to include more patterns and a second solid - a mushroom grey.

It also meant I had to retrim all the pieced squares which had become rectangles, but that went pretty quickly and probably helped keep everything straight. Next time I will decide my design before I start cutting!

For the back of the quilt I found the lightest fawn coloured and patterned flannel at Spotlight, I love flannel backed quilts for softness. I bound it with this fresh lime green spot. Its quite a unique colour combination but I think it works, its a spring quilt and it looks like one!

Quilting is done with simple horizontal lines which match in with the design.

I've said this before, but its worth saying, a simple baby quilt takes a little time but is a simple sewing project, and one that is very forgiving. If you want to have a go at making one yourself my baby quilt tutorial is over here. It shows every step needed to make a simple quilt.

I also have a binding tutorial in the works, because I found I am often dreading this step in the process, and have to look through the directions again. I took some photos this time to remind myself.

If anyone wants some of the Flowerpress fabrics in the quilt, a few of them are available in my Etsy shop. A few are digital and others screenprinted but they all play well together. I'm planning on making up some mixed packs so people can use a mix of my designs like I have here.

The dark blue stars are mine, the coloured spots, the blue blockprinted leaves, the white on linen filigree, the clouds, both blue screenprinted flowers, the blue doily on linen and the green leaf pattern on blue fabric.

chartreuse

This week is brought to you by chartreuse and her sister saffron. These favourite colours are obviously dear to my heart because when I chose yarn colours for my granny hottie along with Kate they were the first ones in the pile.

It might have something to do with this Posie embroidery sampler which is my official car craft. I think you've seen it before, it comes out for road trips but is neglected a bit in between. I'm quite proud of that 'O' which I finished last. I think my embroidery skills have definitely improved as I've been sewing it.

My crochet skills and confidence have grown with the hottie too and I was brave enough to chance a scalloped edge to the top opening (quite easy actually with the help of Ms Google). It is my first finished crochet project (that bullseye blanket is a longterm wip I might just pick up again after my enjoyment of the hottie, a bit shamemaking when I look at the date on that post!).

The other green in my life this week is this stash of bottle green Chrysanthemum tea towels in cotton I found while cleaning my work space. I spent some time the other day packaging them up and they are in the newly refreshed shop with all the other stuff I found in the clean up. Good for the present cupboard these ones and only $10 this week.

The other yellow is this little pot which is the only one of my ceramics makes I'm using. The others are still too precious to actually handle! Is that a bit dumb do you think? It makes me very happy anyway this little yellow bowl. I feel pretty clever and crafty everytime it holds actual stuff. I think that pretty much sums up my love of crafting - I get such a kick out of making practical objects that become part of my day, or someone else's.

That other yellow is the radar map which shows our weather week, mad rain for days, which we need, but thank god for those spots of sun that come in between that make it bearable.

My other wip this week is a new baby quilt. New baby (so cute!) came early though so must get back to that very soon! Would help if I didn't cut all the blocks in half on a whim and start making the pattern up as I went along!

Happy week everyone. I am teaching a stamp carving and printing class on Saturday at SewMakeCreate. I think its too late to get into this one but I'll be doing more this year. Just ring Melissa if you want to come play. Its lots of fun!

p.s. I love this blog I came across this week, lovely photos which will make you smile.

baby quilt for Sid

We welcomed another baby to our extended family late last year. Precious little Sidney.

We've been dying to see him since he came, but sadly circumstances and distance have conspired against us!

Finally the other day his family were going to be camping an hour and a half's drive from us. By coincidence we were all going to be together with a free afternoon after the school presentation day on Friday, so we decided to take a roadtrip.

Little Sid rewarded us with beautiful baby smiles. Is there anything quite so precious as those infectious smiles a small baby gives so generously! Sid is as adorable as in his photos and twice as cuddly.

Around here another baby means another baby quilt. A new traditon I started for a new generation of babies. First came Poppy's quilt and then Penny's.

I was really pleased to finally pass on Sid's baby quilt. I like to think we are heading into quilt season now anyway!

I actually started this quilt top a while ago, playing around with all my different fabrics. I'm proud to say there are quite a few featured - 22 out of 35 squares in fact! There's my RickRack design in red and aqua, my marbles print in different colours and scales and my Bricks prints in large and small. Also here is my neglected but favourite Triangle Twist pattern which I keep meaning to print in different scales and colours.

I love how they look together! My bricks design has proven so popular since I introduced it and its always nice to sew with it myself.

As usual the binding put me off. I forget how easy it is and procrastinate until I'm forced to do it. I actually cheated and used self binding for the last two and if you don't know what that means check out my Baby Quilt tutorial. For this go round I found this video tutorial invaluable and used a 2.5 inch binding. I then followed this video for hand sewing it down.

Quilts aren't actually that difficult. Its just a fair bit of straight sewing and a bit of confidence! If you aren't a quilter (and I still don't consider myself a real quilter after four quilts!) and want to make a really simple gift like this check out my simple baby quilt tutorial. It has lots of photos and I've tried to include all the information a beginner would need to tackle a small quilt like this. And actually I always find the best way to learn is to start.

In a funny coincidence, on Friday just before I finally gifted this quilt to dear little Sid we had a call to tell us that another new baby is coming later this year! A lovely nudge to start planning the next quilt!

Bloom cheater quilt fabrics

A million years ago now I designed a Cheater print for a Spoonflower competition. I was delighted when the resulting Bloom Cheater Quilt design made the top ten. Since then though it has sat in my Spoonflower design library, getting no no attention from me, but prompting quite regular emails asking me to release it for sale.

I love the idea of a cheater print, for the less quiltily inclined of us. This one was made with great care and I had such fun designing each of the repeats which go into it. A couple of these I have printed - Chicken Spots and Bloom, both of which are favourites in my stash. Such clean crisp girl patterns that aren't too pink, for me the colour palette is another success of this design.

Anyway, at last, after a few tweaks to the repeat, I am proud to say the Bloom Cheater panels are (finally) for sale in my Spoonflower shop. The repeat is designed to sit perfectly across the generous 42 inch width of the cotton quilting fabrics. A yard would make a lovely baby size quilt. I love the Kona cotton for its weight and quality, but the basic cotton is a nice fabric too. Match it with some yardage of the coordinating prints and you have a quick and easy baby project.

There are some other of my prints available in the shop too so why not visit.

penny's quilt

Aaaah, thank you Easter, I needed that break. How lovely to have four whole days of sleeping in, planting seeds, playing with screen making, wrapping presents, baking sweets, sharing easter eggs, watching a daytime movie, playing tennis, having tea, slow cooking. Credit to Autumn too for pitching in with the weather, I'm loving these cool nights and warm days, the beautiful autumn light slanting across the garden and making inside cosy without having to shut the doors and windows in the evenings.

Today it is my darling boys' birthday (two for one!) and they are turning 12! OMG! Its slightly bittersweet, as all their birthdays are. If I could put bricks on their heads now and keep them as my babies forever, well... I would be very tempted!

They opened one present each this morning but have to wait all day for the rest. Then we have a sleepover tent party on Friday for seven boys. Phew, they will be bouncy! We are going to take them out for pizza and then come home for homemade icecream sundaes.

On the crafty front, I sneaked a little project in last month, which I want to share before I forget. Its another little baby quilt/playmat, using my baby quilt tutorial with larger squares. Its for little baby Penny who was born last month.

One of my favourite features is the checkerboard backing which I pieced together because I didn't have a large enough piece to back the whole quilt. It gives the back some interest. Like Poppy's quilt I used the self binding method and sewed it by machine, so quick and easy. Best of all not only did all fabrics and batting come from the stash, but there are a few of my flowerpress designs in there too. Makes it feel even more personal.

Miss Penny is the little sister to two big brothers, so I enjoyed making it a little girly colourwise, though not too pink. If you haven't tried a quilt before, check out the tutorial. I actually referred to it myself this time, to remind me of the steps :-)

my creative space - field

As promised some photos of my new textile print Field. I really love it printed and can't wait to sew with it. The artwork for this screen was done in a rush for my exposure workshop and I want to tweak it before I list it in the shop but it will be there soon.

What colours to print though? Here's an early design doodle with some colour ideas. I like them all, but what do you think? Opinions welcome.

Other creative things happening around here - a custom version of my Ruby Slippers in someone else's colours, orange and pink, you guessed it its the Curly Pops edition! To celebrate Cam's big adventure. I printed this one for Cam but I might just do a small edition for the shop some time.

I've also started cutting squares for a baby quilt for a new girl round here, who arrived a couple of weeks ago. I realised when I was posting them that the colours are similar to my field colours. I really do love aqua blue with pink, yellow, white and limey green as you can see. There is something very clean and soft about that combination. The nice thing is I think my field print would slip into that quilt quite happily. Which makes me very happy :-)

Its nice to be posting for My Creative Space this week. I have so many ideas bubbling that its good to have something to show for some of them!

(By the way, I logged into my Google Reader today only to read they are discontinuing it in July. Wah! I found this article on CNet which speaks of alternatives but I need someone clever to come along and tell me which I should choose. Any ideas? Do you use another service?)