Baby Quilt

I recently moved into a much larger rental and have so much more space to quilt. I have an entire loft space in which I can make a mess and never have to clean up when people are coming over. Now, I can just close the door.
I have been putting off making this quilt due to lack of space. My dear friend is having her first child. She originally said she was going to have a gender neutral baby room. After preliminary photos were sent to me, I realized her idea of gender neutral was different than mine. I am thinking primary colors, or yellows and teal or grey and orange. She went for a country chic look. I love it. I was able to use some of my favorite fabrics I have been hoarding for years. The white with tiny purple flowers is from the first set of fabrics I ever purchased at the ripe age of 13. The solid yellow is from vintage sheets I got from my grandfathers house when he passed, they are ohh sooo soft. The yellow with tiny flowers is my absolute favorite fabric in my entire collection. I have many items in my life made from this fabric; top, bag, pillow, jewelry roll. I still have 3 or 4 yards left even after making this quilt. I started with strips. The chambray is timeless, a true favorite of mine. I love denim or denim looking items. Gotta **~ LoVe~** the stories that fabrics hold.

Then I struggled with my initial design intentions. I wanted to do the plus pattern, unfortunately I cut all my green strips the wrong direction. So, when I laid it out, the direction of the birds on the lines drove me crazy and the pink popped too much. I realized it wouldn't easily be pieced together, even if I changed the direction of the plus.

I left my quilt laying out for a few days while I pondered over its fate. I totally scrapped the whole idea and when for something else. I HAVE to get it finished this weekend, the baby is due in a week so...hopefully I'll have a pic for you soon.

Instead of a finished shot of the quilt, I leave you with a beautiful image of Crater Lake, OR and Wizard Island in the middle, from last weekend. Vacations get in the way of my quilting often, maybe if I didn't live in such a beautiful state. Nawwhh.

Homemade Baby Stuff

I started on the collection of baby stuff I want to make for my friend. She is having a baby girl and wanted a fairly gender neutral baby room. She lives in Boston and the baby will be born in October. I am thinking she needs some warm items for her first winter. So I pulled out the flannel to go shopping for more flannel. I started to cut samples and realized that I had about 10 yards of this awesome zigzag flannel (I got it 75% off when the local Jo-ann's closed). I determined it was gender neutral enough with the blue flannel. I ran with it. I am pretty certain she will think I have lost my mind. Its okay she did a long time ago. I am rather broke for the summer so I figured I should use up what I have. So here we go...

This is about the 8th baby sensory ball I have made. I love them, they are super easy to make, wash up well and look expensive. My mom purchased the pattern for me years ago when everyone my age started popping their babes out. I have remade the template for the two pieces but, lost the directions. I always seem to be able to make one after thinking I wont remember how. This one is 2/3 sewn together. I will say I dont think Ive ever made an all flannel one, and I dont love it. It came out really bumpy on the seams. Still learning on the 8th try.

This one came from Pinterest land. I don't spend any time with infants, but the few times I do, I get spit up on. I saw a similar design and looked at the tutorial and adjusted it to what I had on hand. I know I have seen some sad looking burp cloths in stores. I wanted super thick and absorbent pad with a shoulder cut out. I had white wash cloths I got at wally world in a huge pack with colors for a few dollars for ever ago and made travel toothbrush holders. I needed to use those up. I sewed two together and liked the size and then cut batting the same size and two pieces of flannel with a 1 inch allowance. I stacked them in the following order: batting, washcloths with seam down, backing flannel face up, top flannel face down. Pin all side then lay a plate down in the center and cut a semicircle. Stich edge closed twice by using and 3/4 seam allowance and leave a 2" opening on your longest side. 

Before flipping right side out, I trimmed the corners and excessive batting and washcloth from edges and snipped the inner curve so it would flip smoothly. 

I made two and plan to finish them by topstitching and basic quilting. Love them and hope to make a "Daddy" set, because I found more wash cloths I had stashed away. Only if I can find Celtics, Patriots or Red Sox fabric in the Pacific Northwest.

Ohhh Babies

Not Me Folks but, I found out two people I know are having babies. My Step-sister and her hubby are having their second and our good friends are having their first. We are so happy for them all! Of course I am excited for rather selfish reasons, other then getting to hold sweet little babies in 7 months... I get to make super  awesome baby gifts! I love baby stuff. I worked in the baby section in a dept. store. It was awesome inspiration. I all ready have a few ideas floating in my head. Baby stuff is also super easy to make and always makes it that much more special. I have made a few items for my niece and nephew (who are almost 1 now!). I made a flannel quilt and baskets and these soft baby toys. How about a bag with a changing mat? More baby stuffed toys? How about a little outfit? Maybe these precious booties.

Baby quilt done!

So I was able to finish the rest of the quilt today. I had to attend court this morning from an incident that was a witness to. I thought that I was going to be there much longer than planned. I came home and cleaned the house, we are leaving this weekend for a wedding. I enjoy returning from a trip to a clean home. I settled on doing a very basic machine quilt on my co-workers. I feel certain that I will put much more detail in to the one for my cousin. 

I also printed out some handmade tags. I took me about 20 min on the computer. I have really enjoyed the new printer that I got. I printed it out on some really heavy cardstock. I was very happy with my work when it was completed. I sat down and did the math about $8.50 a piece and I feel better giving something handmade. My repurposed ribbon looks a bit sad in the picture, better in reality. I will get back to the fence rail/mountain quilt when I return from the wedding.

Baby Quilts

So i found a really great idea on how to cut down three yards of fabric to make three quit toppers for baby/crib blankets. You simply fold a yard lengthwise( as it was on the bolt)and then widthwise. Then orient the folded edges to the bottom left corner. Trim fabric size to 18x21 0r 18X20 as long as all three yards are cut the same. Then from the both raw edges measure in 9 inches then cut. When done three different fabrics it yields interchangeable pieces.

Well here is the quilt put together with batting and backing. I haven't pressed it or quilted it together. Wow! I am impressed how fast this has gone, So far! It was much more cost effective for me since I needed three blankets. I will post final quilt before I wrap it up for mom.

Fabric for Baby Quilts

My Sister came to visit while she was on Spring Break she wanted to go get some fabric for the inside of her purse. So, I took her down to Jo-Ann's. She did end up finding something she liked, but I also had to purchase fabric. We have a cousin that is having a baby boy soon, whom we don't know that well, but we were invited to the shower (in Califorina!?!!) (Have I mentioned I live in the beautiful state of North Carolina?) I had looked at baby flannel prints previously, unenthusiastic about any I had not made a purchase. I found these prints and a great idea of how to cut the yards down in order to make three blankets out of three yards, not including the backing (I have a co-worker having a boy also). I was very excited to find these. Prints for boys really are lacking in the fabric world they either are adolcent boy prints with writing or they just seem silly. I enjoy crafting, however I feel that 80% of the stuff out there to craft from is tacky! I am fairly traditional when it comes to picking fabrics, especially when it comes to baby stuff! I settled for the moon and stars and polk-a-dots. it was not my first pick. The solids were very cheap as well. I will post a finished picture soon since my co-worker's shower is on Friday! I enjoy fast quilting sometimes!
Oh yes! Here is 'Fat Girl' draped in ribbon. She is so patient to let my sister do this to her. She loves the attention though. Can't you tell. She adores my sister.