Capri's Blanket

I have been working on this for a while but it is now time to put the back and binding on because the stitching is finished.

It is for my great niece Capri, cousin of Summer.

The blankets are like twins.

I'm not sure how practical the loose monkey arms and lion ears will be but time will tell.

I also received a delivery from the postman today.

The main reason I put in a order was for the Kaffe woven cotton on the bottom of the pile.

I tried to buy some in Melbourne but no one seemed to have it.

Unfortunately postage has gone up so much from the US, I decided I had to fill my allowable weight with more fabric so most of it was stuff that I needed. 

The coffee pots will make some oven gloves I hope.

The Parson Gray is to compliment the blocks I've already started for a new project.

I do like getting postal deliveries of fabric. It feels like my birthday. I could get addicted to it so maybe it is lucky US postage is increasing and local fabric prices are decreasing.

Placemats and New Fabric

My youngest son is overseas and every so often he goes to stay with some cousins. I thought I would like to send something over there as a sign of our appreciation for taking care of him. I asked what they might like and he suggested new placemats. Earthy colours to go on a timber table. I like these and I also don't like them. It is so hard to guess whether what you've made is okay when you have to give it to someone you have never met and never visited.

I'll think about it a while and then decide.

My other son, who met them last year, said they will like anything I make because I made it but I just want to get it right. Maybe I'll get him to take some photos of the kitchen and living rooms so I have a better idea.

In the meantime, with weather absolutely freezing outside, I started planning and stitching up some backing fabric.

Some lovely light voile to offset the heaviness of all the linen.

I think this is a Michael Miller fabric.  A very buzzy quilt.

Brown flowers for the x + quilt.

Another busy one.

And some snippets of fabric that I bought because it was on sale.

Most of it is by Parson Gray, Amy Butler's hubby.

Can you tell I'm on holidays?

A Bit of Shopping and a Bit of Stitching

It's sale time for fabric.

 $5 per metre for backing fabric is brilliant so I snapped these up 

as well as some Loulouthi Velveteen (half price) by Anna Maria Horner that I am going to use for the back of my new baby blanket for my newest great niece.

Coasters, Spiderwebs and Taggies

It has been a while since I posted anything. I've been in the land of writing reports and have barely opened my little laptop to see what is happening in the world of making. Reports are now done and the school term is almost over. I am enjoying my class this year. It is at about this time that I feel I really have an idea of who they are and where I want them to go. They have such funny personalities and each one has something to offer. 

I have been sewing and knitting and have actually put together quite a few items but most are not finished. I am planning to buy a huge quantity of wadding because I have 4 or 5 quilts waiting for a back. The staff room will be empty and I will use our lovely big tables to stretch and pin.

It's really cold in Melbourne (by Australian standards) and the weather is perfect for staying indoors and hand stitching in front of the TV. I discovered that I had forgotten to finish a quilt from way back. I had put the binding on but not quilted all the blocks. There are lots more blocks to go and I am enjoying the quiet therapy of stitching.

It was a friend's birthday in May so I cut into my beautiful new fabric that I bought at L'uccello and made a set of coasters with linen backs and a different featured stitch on each one. My friend loved them and was planning to use them as a centrepiece on her dinning table with skinny vases on each one. I liked that idea.

I really wanted to make a few more taggies and had the perfect excuse to do so when one of the teachers at school became a grandmother for the first time and my niece had her 4th child.

Her baby blanket is started but in the meantime I thought a taggie would help fill the waiting time.

 The last 2 weekends have been all about the spiderweb quilt. I am no longer so enchanted by it! Too much grey and too much of the same fabric have dulled my enthusiasm but I will finish it all the same.

5" pre cuts

A while ago I bought a little pack of pre cuts. I think the range of fabric is called Sweetwater Reunion.

At first I thought it would make a nice little baby quilt so I just put navy and white strips around each piece and got this.

It was firstly a little small and secondly a little too sane for me.

Next I tried this:

 After asking son no. 2 what he thought, he moved a few of the panels to make the red stripe fabric fall in waves.

I do like the way he thinks!

I am not sure though, how to join it up. 

Do I extend the uneven ends with the navy fabric and then border the whole thing? 

I guess I will have to add more striped fabric to the ends so the waves follow through the design edges.

Hmmm.

It just may have to lie on the floor for a while until I think about it some more.

I Can Get Obsessive at Times

Sometimes, I just can't stop at one.

After making the first little singlet, I made 5 more.

Lucky I did!

Last night, to add to my latest great niece, Summer, is our new baby great niece Capri.

We met her after she had only been in the world for 4 hours!

3 singlets for her and 2 more for Summer.

The photos were a bit rushed, a bit like her birth.

In the mean time.......

I finally completed a couple of baby quilts for an order from a friend.

She has them professionally quilted and they took ages to get back to me to add the binding.  Together we designed and cut and I sewed.

I think this one went to New Zealand on the weekend.

And this one is waiting on a name to be added to it.

The backing was made from a soft synthetic plush.

I really liked the squares and their black and white borders but I wasn't crazy about the orange borders. They are very bright and happy though.

Lucky babies and Mums to have such a lovely and generous friend and lucky me to have been involved in the process.

Just for Babies

I've been mucking around with things for baby gifts because I have seen so many great ideas in the markets. Firstly, because I have a new baby great niece I bought some tiny singlets to applique on.

Here is my first.

I'm not sure if the zig zag stitching will be kind to a baby's skin. Maybe the next will be the edged first and then just straight stitched on.

Cute fabric!

The second thing I wanted to have a go at was making a feely cloth for a toddler to play with and cuddle while out and about. I've seen them with crinkly fabric inside but I thought I would stick to basics first up.

One side has the cute socks fabric and the other is made from a soft cuddly fabric that I bought from Spotlight. I ironed some interfacing on to the back of it to help keep it from moving around. The ribbons are all different textures and tickle.