More baby sewing .....

Have been busy again making more crib sized quilts and bibs in some fun bright colours. I used the same patterns as last time just because I think these fun bright fabrics need simplicity to stand out and do the talking themselves;-)

The baby boy version is made up of mostly spots, stripes and stars but has two novelty prints for added interest. The teddy bear fabric is leftover from items I made when my girls were babies so not too long ago
;-)

The other novelty print is this duck/rabbit print that is from my Aunts sewing days when her girls were small so it's genuine vintage fabric that I try to use sparingly:-)
 

I used this same cute vintage duck print as the focus fabric for a matching little bib.
 

And here's the baby girl quilt in lovely bright greens,yellows and pinks. I've had these fabrics put aside to make a girls quilt for what seems like ages. I often put groups of fabrics together for future projects but then never seem to get around to actually making anything so it feels good to have finally done something with these fabrics.

  A couple of my favourite feature fabrics in this quilt are these little yellow chicks and the green hen fabric which were both begging to be made into something sweet for a baby;-)

    I've kept the quilting simple too with just straight lines using a matching variegated thread then bound it with a solid pale pink.

    .....and a matching bib made with some leftover pieces from the quilt. Both these quilts and matching bibs are for sale here in my Etsy shop just in time for Christmas :-)

Thankful......

 

Three small things are making me smile and feel grateful this week. A good friend quickly dropped by on Friday with an extra bunch of Chrysanthemums to brighten our home. She had been given 3-4 bunches and had thought that we would appreciate one of them. 

 

I love having fresh flowers in my home but at this time of the year finding some to pick in the garden is hard. Chrysanthemums are so simple and pretty and last so well in a vase I think they will bring a smile to my face for quite a few days to come.

 

This little guy was given to my eldest daughter Amelia when she was born, from some Japanese friends of ours who occasionally read this blog. It is made from fabric from a vintage kimono I think and has always been on display in her bedroom as it was too special to play with. I noticed a couple of months ago that a couple of it's buttons that hold it's limbs on were quite loose. I took it up to my Sewing Attic for a quick repair but dropped one of the buttons and couldn't find it. I tried to buy a replacement button but didn't have much luck in getting one remotely like it's lovely original wooden buttons used. Happily the other week whilst moving furniture around from one floor to another I found the missing button! 

Now it is all fixed and in pride of place in our newly decorated entrance room downstairs. I take my hat off to all you bear makers out there as it was not easy re-sewing on those buttons. I had a long needle specially for this sort of sewing but it wasn't quite long enough sometimes. 

We are very blessed to in our street to have lovely generous and helpful neighbours. When we came home from a weekend away last Sunday afternoon my neighbour on one side who had kindly looked after our cats and hens came over with a large bowl of  delicious pumpkin soup for our dinner. This is the same neighbour who sewed new covers for my window seat squabs and who also bought over a dinner of home-made fish and chips one night as she knew I had been working hard all day painting and correctly thought I would not feel like cooking dinner.

It is a beautiful sunny but crisp day here today and while I would like to get out in my garden I will go up to my newly organised Sewing Attic and finish off another half started project.

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!!!!!

Whipped up these fabric Easter eggs yesterday afternoon. I found the tutorial on Retromama's blog last year and have been wanting to make them ever since.They were really quick and easy plus you can just use up some fabric scraps. I've matched some of my stripes from the cushion in my last post with other scraps including some vintage fabrics given to me by my Aunt who was a bit of a seamstress in her day. My favourite fabric and very appropriate for Easter is the yellow one in the front with the chickens on it.

Hope everyone is having a great Easter weekend where ever you are!!

Zigzag quilt top!

Drum roll please................ The top is complete and I'm pretty pleased with it . So is Caitlin ! I'm not sure whether to put a border around. I'm kinda liking it as it and I want to break out of doing borders for all my quilts. It's bright, sunny, cheery and fun. This quilt contains 3 vintage fabrics that I got from my Auntie. I would say they are from the early seventies or late sixties. Oh and at the top right hand corner you can see Caitlin's cats tail which is kind of appropriate.

Now I have two quilt tops to quilt which is a first for me as I usually don't start another quilt till I'm finished the quilt I'm working on completely.

Amelia's Quilt

This is my eldest daughters quilt which she got when she was 7. As you can see its full of bright sunshiny colours and whilst it doesn't have any fabrics from her clothes it does have a vintage fabric that my Aunt passed on to me. It's the yellow one with red apples near the bottom. Most of the other fabrics were in my stash except the border fabrics that were purchased. The backing is white calico that I hand dyed a lilac colour. I hand quilted this one with spirals and outlined the shapes. I like the look of hand quilting and find it a very calming thing to sit and do, plus its a great thing to do during winter. The quilt pattern is from the book Colourful Quilts for Kids by Kari Pearson.