My first ever quilt completed!

Hi All,

I apologise for the length of this post - but please bear with me!

It's finally complete - my first ever quilting project!  I wanted to make a quilt for our cradle, that would match the beautiful one on our bed made by Papa Sam's very talented aunts.  Initially, that had meant planning to match the colours, using some basic squares or suchlike, but after going to the local quilting shop and feeling overwhelmed, I sent a message to the aforementioned aunts, begging for help.  Not only were they able to supply some amazing matching prints, but they also sent over a whole heap of pieces that were originally intended for our own quilt, but hadn't quite made the cut.

The beautiful array of fabrics that arrived

I spent a fair bit of time avoiding the fabric, scared stiff of wrecking it by even contemplating cutting it, but eventually took a deep breath, planned out what I wanted to do, and decided to make a small version of the quilt that they had made for us.  There were two quilt blocks from our quilt in amongst the hoard, so I used them as a pattern and made four of my own, based on the following design I knocked up in MS paint.

The first block went fairly well, and I learned a lot from it.  I also got a lot more proficient with my quick unpick than I've ever been in my life!  I will admit that I used the centres (the four squares in the middle) from the pile given to me by the aunts - they were huge sanity savers!

My first quilt block

The next four went a lot quicker, although after taking the following photograph, I went to bed exhausted, slept for the night, then spent the morning unpicking and re-stitching some of the messier parts.  This is the four blocks before and after stitching them together as the quilt top.

Once the four blocks were together, it was time to do a test and see just how much the quilt top looked like the original quilt - I promise you it's sitting on the bed there - it just takes a couple seconds to find it.

Then a test fit in the cradle

Once I'd sandwiched the pieces together with some leftover batting from the quillows my friend made for our other kids, and added a large square of an old white flannelette sheet as the backing, I started tying the pieces together, as per the original quilt.
 

Then made my first ever lot of continuous binding and machine stitched it on to the front of the quilt.

Hand-stitched a name tag and then hand-stitched the tag onto the back of the quilt, while hand-stitching on the back of the binding.

So, without further adieu, I present my completed, gorgeous, cradle quilt!

And that's how I spent the last four or five days...  Now on to the next project!  Thanks so much to those two lovely aunts for all your help and support!

Love to all,
Mama Fern

More baby blankets

Hi All,

Finally I've completed my planned crochet projects, and the most basic sewn items for our impending arrival (8 weeks to go!).  Which is a really good thing, as there's a beautiful box of quilting fabric now sitting on the table, begging for my attention.

Our little one will be sharing our room for the first little while, and I was keen to have bedding that matched the red, black and yellow of our own bed, at least just for the cot and cradle that will be taking up long-term residence in our room.  I have a tonne of other coloured bedding, but those will be used more for the moses basket, pram and porta-cots that we keep downstairs.

We also have a painting that looks like a melting red and black chessboard hanging in our room, which Papa Sam painted.  It inspired me to start making red and black crochet squares, eventually leading to me running out of wool and deciding that I really, really wanted to make a full red and black blanket chessboard, so would be REQUIRED to order more wool ;)  Having discovered and fallen in love with a particular wool (http://www.ashford.co.nz/newsite/yarns/2013-tekapo-8ply), the decision was easy, and I only had to wait a week or so...

Middle of the year Christmas time!!!!

Now suitably armed with plenty of wool, ribbon and sheets, it was time to start working!

First up were some old single sheets and a duvet cover, which I cut into cot sheets, then trimmed with a black and white gingham ribbon.  All 8 sheets I made will be kept as flat sheets.  I prefer to use fitted and flat as sets, but it was just easier to do it this way (sooner or later, I'm probably going to regret this decision, but ah well!)

Then, after the colossal job of stitching 64 identical red and black squares, I began the long job of stitching them all together.

Followed by edging the blanket

Then deciding it needed more edging, until I was happy with the finished result :)

And of course, the obligatory trial of  blanket and sheets together (I had to trial this in the cradle, as I still haven't got around to buying the cot mattress yet).  Really excited to see this once I have the cot set up properly.

Next up was my first ever go at a chevron blanket...  I started off with my chain stitches waaaaaaaaaaay too tight, ending up with a more skirt shaped blanket than a straight one, but I'm super happy with the result.

Halfway there

The completed blanket

All ready to go, just need to add baby!

Anyway, that's the last four weeks of my life, and looking forward to the events of the next 8 or so!

Love to all,
Mama Fern