WIP: Summer by the Sea lap quilt

Phew. Back in London after a week long trip to my parents' place and my nose is quite firmly back to the grindstone already. 

I had a great trip and, despite rather painful eye surgery, TQQ and I successfully ticked off a lot of my sewing to do list, including:

• 3 repaired work dresses
• 2 adjusted blouses
• Tiny's baby quilt finished
• Tiny's big girl quilt almost finished (just the the  borders left to quilt, the binding to attach and currently working on the quilt label)...

... and one new quilt top started. Here it is:

Salt air Summer by the Sea quilt top (work in progress)

I love this fabric line from Moda / Cosmo Cricket but, unfortunately, discovered it rather too late. I stocked up on any bits and pieces I could get my hands on but have been having trouble deciding what exactly to make with my precious stash.

In the end, I decided on a lap quilt for myself. Thanks to the pre-cut jelly roll strips this came together really quickly. 

Step 1:
Sew together strips in sections of 5 each

Step 2
Cut to 2.5" wide strips

 

Step 3
Plan and assemble quilt top

It's currently only about 100 x 80cm (approx. 38" x 31") so I'm going to add a couple of borders. I have quite a lot of the blue sections left so I'm planning a 2" white border followed by 2" blue squares, and then a final 2" white border. That should increase the finished size to about 130 x 110 cm. I'm currently debating whether to make the white borders a bit wider - maybe 4". What do you think?

Quilting love,
me xx

Finally finished: Tiny's quilt(s)

So, remember how I was working on this quilt for a special little lady who was due to arrive on May 23rd? Well, she decided that she couldn't wait any longer and came 3 weeks early!

I saw her briefly in hospital but am going over for a proper visit this coming Sunday. Her quilt isn't quite finished (if you remember, it got a little out of hand), but I've made her a proper baby quilt instead, which I finally finished last night.

Finally finished: Tiny's baby quilt
Miserable weather - need to get a photo in better light

Started: May 2016
Finished: May 2016
Size: 110 x 110 cm (approx. 42 x 42")
Quilt top: Patty Sloniger Les Amis in coral, white sashing from RayStitch in Islington
Backing: Old duvet cover from my grandmother's house
Binding: Patty Sloniger "Les Amis" Star Pods in coral with scrappy top section made from off-cuts of all Les Amis coral fabrics
Batting: Cotton
Quilting: Machine quilted in offset squares (YLI machine quilting thread 40/3 in white), with randomly placed, hand-quilted hearts (YLI glazed cotton hand quilting thread in white)
Label: Sublime stitching "Kurt Halsey / Best Friends" embroidery pattern

The design couldn't really get much simpler - one big piece of fabric with some sashing. It's possibly the fastest quilt I've ever made; I managed to cut, piece, baste, and quilt it in a single afternoon (because what are you going to do while your sister is in labour - sit at home and quilt for your new niece, that's what!)

I hand-stitched the binding on the train on my way to see the little lady in hospital and then decided to spend a little more time making her a pretty quilt label. I'm really pleased with how this turned out (and really hoping her black hair isn't replaced by, say, blonde like her Mummy's, when it falls out)

Sublime stitching quilt label

I embroidered straight onto the finished quilt, which was a massive faff! I really struggled to bury my knots in the quilt sandwich and was really worried that it would all come undone. I've washed it twice now though and everything seems to be fine. The markings have almost all come out as well - a couple more washes and some baby vomit ought to do the trick.

I then decided that it was a bit too boring and decided to hand quilt some random hearts into the squares. There are about 12 of them in total.

Hand quilting: getting more consistent

My hand quilting is getting better - I can comfortably load 6 or 7 stitches and they're becoming more consistent in length. Now if only the back were as pretty as the front is.

Finally, here's a photo of the scrappy binding I made - it's actually the coral star pods fabric from the same fabric line as the quilt top on three sides of the quilt. The fourth edge has an insert of these scrappy offcuts I ended up with from the original quilt. While I really like this style (I trialled it on the Charity Auction baby quilt), I think it'll look better if I make my binding a bit wider. I think I'll try 3" or 3.5" double fold binding next time. What do you think?

Scrappy binding insert <3

Quilting love,
me x

Finally finished: Forest Friends Charity Baby Quilt

I've finally finished the first of the Forest Friends quilts. This little baby quilt will be donated to my company charity auction in aid of mind, the mental health charity and the British Red Cross.

I'm hoping that with all the recent new babies in the office it will raise lots of money for these two great causes.

Forest Friends @ the Tower

 
As it turns out, a week's worth of tube journeys is enough to bind a 42" x 42" (107 X 107cm) baby quilt. I couldn't resist a quick photo of the finished product when I hopped off the tube at the Tower today.

I used some of the thread from the sewing box I inherited from my grandmother to handstitch the binding. It's basically invisible, which pleases me greatly. I bought these really great needles in this handy-dandy case, probably about 10 years ago. At the time I wasn't really thinking about stitching on the go in particular but I can really recommend them - so useful!

Supplies for binding on the tube
John James needle "pebble" and vintage MEZ thread

When it came to binding I noticed that I'd screwed up while I was basting and the backing fabric wasn't quite centred, leaving a gap on one of the edges. I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier. At first I thought I could just about get the edge into the binding but in the end I bit the bullet and hand-stitched a extra 2" of backing fabric the the edge. So annoying!

All fixed: backing fabric issues

Here's another photo of the finished product - will probably use this one for the charity auction.

FINISHED! Forest Friends charity baby quilt

I'm currently debating what to do about a quilt label. I could go all out and make an embroidered one (I particularly like the idea of using this gorgeous sublime stitching owl pattern), but I'm not sure if I can be bothered. On the other hand, it might encourage people to bid more if I offer to embroider the baby's name on it. What do you think?

Onwards to more forest friends - next up: finishing up Tiny's quilt.

Lots of sewing love,
me x

Forest Friends Take II

I've had a really productive couple of days at The Quilting Queen's house, resulting in

• 3 pairs of trousers taken up
• 2 shirts shortened for TQQ (she's a little lady at 5ft tall)
• 1 office dress fixed (new straps)
• 1 finished quilt top for Tiny, pin-basted and ready to quilt
• 2 finished baby quilt tops (~110 x 110cm)
• 1 handmade silk blouse almost finished (just need to hand stitch the cuffs and add buttons)
• and various little bits and bobs finished from TQQ's box of ongoing projects

Phew! Quite pleased with our progress. Had hoped to get some of the quilting done on TQQ's gorgeous sewing machine but, let's be honest, that was a bit over-ambitious given all the friends I wanted to see and other things I waned to do.

Here's Tiny's quilt - pin basted and ready for quilting. The binding is ready to sew on as soon as the quilt is finished.

Tiny's quilt - Forest Friends v1.0
Ready for quilting

Here are the baby quilts. One of these will go to the office charity auction in aid of Mind and the British Red Cross and the other is for the next little baby that appears in my circle of friends (there seem to be a lot of those lately and I'm always behind in making gifts). I'm adding a scrappy binding to these, which is almost finished. I need to go through my box of scraps back in London to make up the full length that I need. Interestingly, TQQ and I have very styles when it comes to fabric choice so it's quite hard to find anything that works in her stash.

Forest Friends Take II
Finished quilt tops

I'm not sure which I like better - the scrappy quilt or the crosses. What do you think?

Much love,
me xx

Finished quilt top: Forest Friends baby quilt

After my grand plans to finish off this quilt back in February, I  ended up on a pretty ... intense ... project at work for six weeks. Forest Friends languished in my living room for the duration. I've currently got a couple of days off and am spending most of them sewing with the Quilting Queen. I had my first go on her gorgeous new all-singing-all-dancing Bernina today. It's a whole new world of shiny computerised high-tech sewing. 

Anyway, we finished the quilt top today, found a suitable old duvet cover of my grandmother's to re-purpose as backing fabric and pin-basted it all up for quilting tomorrow. It's big enough for a single bed so Tiny can still use it when she gets a big girl bed in a couple of years. In the meantime it's good for playing on when it's folded in half. Here is the finished quilt top in all its glory:

Forest Friends finished quilt top
(also check out TQQ's gorgeous log cabin in the background)

I've also started work on the next project, which I'm planning on finishing before I head off to Paris on Tuesday afternoon. Given my plans to see various friends while I'm in town and looking at the list of other sewing project I brought with me this may be slightly over-ambitious...

Forest Friends - Take II

I'll just see how far I get by the time I have to leave on Tuesday. Now to decide how to quilt Forest Friends v1.0. Very excited about using the cool quilting attachment on TQQ's new sewing machine tomorrow!

Much love,
me xx

WIP Wednesday: Forest Friends baby quilt - borders

I actually managed to do some quilting DURING THE WEEK (!!!) and the borders for the baby quilt are coming along nicely.

Forest Friends baby quilt - 1st & 2nd border

The plan is to add a 1" white border, a 1" border of the fox print and then a 2nd wide white border before binding with the coral fabric.

Excitingly, the fox print arrived in the post from BobbieLou fabrics today and the lovely lady at RayStitch in Islington was so kind as to post me the white fabric after I stupidly left in on the counter in her shop after paying last week. So scatterbrained!

Gifts in the mail today :)

I'm hoping to finish the borders this week and piece the backing over the weekend. 

Love,
me xx 

P.S. Linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

WIP: Forest Friends baby quilt

The Quilting Queen came over to visit last weekend and we had a wonderful time. Despite a jam packed weekend including a musical, afternoon tea, and an extended shopping spree, we did, of course, manage to do some quilting.

We're working on something snuggly for a little girl that will be arriving very soon.

Forest Friends - finished quilt top

The Quilting Queen and I had a great time playing with the layout. As usual she spent rather a lot of time fixing my mistakes although I like to tell myself that I'm getting better.

The Quilting Queen having fun

I've also got some secret plans for these bits. I'm linking up to the exciting projects at WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

I have exciting plans for these offcuts

Just waiting for the backing fabric to arrive from Miss Ginger and then I can get started with the quilting. This may actually get done in time for the little lady to arrive (this may well be a first)!

Love,

me xoxo