Baby Girl Quilt...Cat in the Hat

Baby Girl Quilt... Cat in the Hat

 I should be typing up a report for uni which is due next week, however  I'd much rather be doing this. (Well...I'd much rather be sewing!) So I have made a deal with myself, once I get this blog post done and out of my system. (Let's consider this my warm up for my report writing?) It is report time!!

This baby quilt is the size of a cot quilt. The quilt is a long overdue baby gift for a little baby girl. The little baby girl's, mum's nick name is Kat, so I am being very witty by giving them a Cat in the Hat quilt. Plus it's just too cute...how could I resist? I wish that I'd been able to source fabrics like this when my little guy was a bub!

In the background of the Cat in the Hat panel it features text from the famous Dr. Seuss book. I'm sure by the time baby girl is a teenager...both mum and dad will be able to recite the entire thing!

The quilt panel was purchased at a Spotlight store. The red fabric that I used to 'frame' the panel was also purchased from Spotlight (although it was originally intended to be a backing fabric for a different quilt project).  The blue binding (edging) fabric was originally purchased to be the 'framing' fabric on the quilt top. However when I laid the fabrics out next to each other it was just too much blue, especially considering that this was a quilt for a little baby girl.

 

The batik fabrics were purchased from a speciality fabric store. The batik fabric strips were approximately 20cms wide (which is usually a store's minimum cut for batiks).

 

The wadding was pre-cut cotton quilt wadding which is sold in bags at Spotlight. I love this stuff... it's always the size that it states it is on the bag. It's easy to quilt and it's warm. Perfection in a bag.

 

 

  

 

 

The backing consists of seven batik designs. I have sewed the quilt top first and then used the 'quilt as you go method' to both quilt and complete the backing at the same time. The stitching for the backing is not visible in the method. As always... I YouTube how to do this, as it's great to have a refresher on how it's done. To learn how to do this, check out 'quilt as you go' by the Missouri Star Quilt Company on their YouTube channel.

 

 

I have used blue variegated thread for where the stitches show on the quilt top. The binding was finished in slip stitch, with a light blue thread that matches the light blue geometric print that was used. This time I  purchased the threads needed at the same time as the fabric, which is very organised on my part. (This almost never happens!) I usually end up running out of thread and need to try and match the thread I've already used.

 

I actually finished the last two edges of the quilt while I was visiting with mum and bub last week.  It was either that or I would have them waiting at least another week on me to finish the quilt. I'm happy that the quilt is with its new owner, already being used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Hectic Electic Quilt up for sale

 

Single Hectic Eclectic

 

Unfortunately the blog post on this little quilt is long overdue. Mainly due to the wonders of technology and having to reprioritise everything else as a result.  My five (or six year old?) laptop decided it was cactus a few months back, right when I was about to write up  a 2500 word essay for uni. Good times. A week away from a deadline and I was greeted with the 'blue screen of death' from my laptop. I chewed through the internet usage on my Smartphone searching for a new laptop within my budget.  Two days of laptop shopping saw me being messed around by macho sales staff trying to sell me expensive junk that was more outdated than my deceased laptop which left me   running on my last wit due to the stress of the situation. It's all sorted now  and my photos were actually able to be saved by my tech savvy boyfriend, however I still have no idea how to access them. But they're safe....somewhere. So please excuse me not having my usual awesome photos for every stage.

This quilt was intended to be another double bed sized quilt made in the same style as the first quilt that I ever attempted. Cut up pieces of fabric have sat lonely in a shoe box for years while I moved house and misplaced the shoe box.

When I finally found the shoe box, I decided to make two single bed sized quilts instead of the double bed. It was my hope that they would be easier to finish and machine quilt on my sewing machine. As I really struggled with machine quilting the double bed quilt. My collarbones ached, my back hurt and I could only do an hour or two quilting before I had to make myself stop and go do something else.

This poor little quilt top has been quilted and has sat draped over the back of a chair in the lounge room for months. Waiting for me to slip stitch the binding while I sip a glass of wine and watch late night TV when I get the chance.  Unfortunately this quilt had to be set aside a few times while I madly tried to finish off the binding of a few baby quilts that I wanted to give as  gifts for  new arrivals.

I love the fabrics in this quilt. Some of these I bought specially for this quilt or for my quilting stash (back when I was new to quilting  reading in quilt magazines that having a fabric stash was the thing to do.)

This quilt is laid out in the 7 block by 7 block style.  The sister quilt to this one is currently just the top (who knows when I will actually get around to quilting that one!) The sister quilt is slightly smaller, so I've added a boarder on that one to make it up to a single bed size.

 

The backing for this quilt is a purple homespun and the binding is premade binding purchased from Spotlight (seriously I'm  loving the premade binding!!).

This item is listed for sale and can be found at www.madeit.com.au/Netto

 

Baby Boy Zigzag Batik Quilt

 

 

Baby Boy Batik Zigzag Quilt

As always there seems to be soooo much to do and not enough time to get it all done! I actually finished this lovely baby boy batik zigzag quilt well over a month ago, but with so much going on with uni and the rest of my crazy life I haven't had a chance to add it to my blog until now. I've been feeling guilty about not being more consistent with this blog. Even though I still try to sew every spare moment that  I have (and spend the rest of my time wishing that I had more time to sew!).

As you already know this was originally intended to be a Chevron quilt, but in my haste to get the first quilt done I misread the online instructions. Since this is the matching boy quilt to the girl quilt I did earlier...I've decided to make it the same way.

The fabrics used in this quilt top were an off white homespun (I really should have been a bit clever here and purchased enough of the one batch of white homespun when I started to make the first zigzag quilt, so as to save myself some time and money...oh well, live and learn!).

The batik fabrics I purchased from Sewers Delight in Browns Plains, as they have a new app called Collect where I can collect points and not have another bulky plastic card in my purse. So due to my bargain hunting instincts and the fact that they are close to me,  I thought that I'd check out their range of batiks and there was enough of a selection to keep me going for this quilt without having to track down more colours and designs. The backing is a navy homespun. There are some fabrics from this quilt that I have used in the baby girl batik quilt which was intentional.

I prewash all of my fabrics individually or in groups of very similar colours, I strongly suggest that everyone do the same. This stops you spending so much time on a project that may end up having a colour run later or shrinking and/or  stretching a little and pulling at stitches  making your finished work uneven.

I cut my fabric into 2.5 inch strips and sewed them together. I then cut them into 4.5 inch blocks. I laid out the blocks in a line on the kitchen table and decided which order to place the colours. Once I had a colour scheme I was happy with I sewed together my first row. I then laid out the other rows in the order that I wished to sew them. Once the rows were sewed up, it was just a matter of pressing the rows lightly with an iron and lining up the colours in the order required. At this stage the quilt top seems to come together very quickly.

I almost didn't put a boarder on this quilt. But then I would have had to trim it up a bit shorter on the sides than what I think 'looks right', so I used the batiks that I had left over to make a boarder.

As usual I used the 505 spray to baste the quilt. I left this to set for a few days (this is just something that I do, as I find that otherwise the machine needle gets gummed up).

This quilt has cotton batting, which I have purchased pre-cut and bagged for convenience. The binding is the same fabric as the purple batik that I used for the baby girl batik zigzag quilt.

When I machine quilted this quilt I used variegated thread and used a free motion sewing foot in my own random stippling style.

It seems that every time I finish one baby quilt I hear that another little bundle of joy is on its way. Baby quilts are so satisfying and fun to make, I'm sure I'll have more baby quilts to show you soon.

Batik zigzag baby girl quilt

 

 

Batik zigzag baby girl quilt

 

 

This bright little quilt measures 103cm x 138cms. That's roughly 41 x 54.5 inches.

The mummy of the baby that this quilt now belongs to told me that she lurves batiks... really, really loves them. So  I decided to make her a baby quilt with as many batiks as I could. I really like the way that this quilt has become a bright rainbow quilt.

This quilt features a total of 12 batik fabrics, including the binding. The beautiful purple batik fabric was a gift for my birthday (from the same mummy that I made this quilt for).
The white fabric is homespun and the backing fabric is a light green homespun fabric. The wadding in this quilt is pre bagged cot sized Bamboo Batting which I purchased from my local Spotlight store.

 

Before spraying down the quilt to baste it with 505 spray, I trimmed the batting to reduce wastage. One day I'm going to make a lot of fabulous things out of the scraps of batting I have strewn all over the place.

I had originally intended to make this a Chevron quilt, as I've never made one and they are very popular lately. So I started "googling" on my smart phone (probably while I was pushing a shopping trolley around the supermarket)  for easy Chevron quilt patterns and came across a great no triangles online tutorial at www.DreamPatch.com.au.
This is a fantastic tutorial, and I can't wait to make a Chevron quilt, when I read the instructions properly!

 I started out well cutting my fabric into 2.5 inch strips and sewing them together. I then cut them into 4.5 inch blocks while I watched a DVD and stayed up way past my bed time. (Sadly the reality of it is this seems to be the only time that I had use of the kitchen table, while it was cleared and clean.)

It was between Steps 5 and 6 that on the Dream Patch tutorial that I ran into trouble. I sewed the blocks together vertically. So all my rows formed large "L"s. Not strips of diagonal "L"s!! It wasn't until I had sewed almost the entire quilt top that I realised. So my first Chevron quilt has become a off centre zigzag quilt instead.

I've been assured that it still looks great, but I am still slightly annoyed at myself.
Oh well, I guess that next time I set out to make the Chevron quilt I'll pay more attention to what I'm doing and double check that I'm on the right path.

It turns out I'm going to make the exact same zigzag quilt for a baby boy (hopefully in time for next month's blog). The two babies who these zigzag quilts will belong to will be second cousins, so I plan to re use some  of the same fabrics while still making it a quilt suitable for a baby boy.

 

As always there's always so much to do and get done and not enough time to sew!

I still have quilts for sale at my madeit.com.au store "Netto" if you are after a quilt. I am hoping to add to my store again soon.

Elegant Floral Lap Quilt

Elegant Floral Lap Quilt

 

This quilt ended up being 52.5 inches x 52.5 inches, so it’s a lovely lap size quilt. I gave this to an old friend of mine at her baby shower. So she can use it for bub, or for herself.

The inner square of this quilt were pre-cut and sold as a pack which I obtained from Lincraft Toombul. There were no instructions so I laid the squares out to get a feel for how I wanted the quilt to look. Due to lack of space at the time I ended up laying out the quilt on my bed!

 

Again the edges of the squares were cut with the zigzagged edges. Still not a fan, as this can be very hard to line up and have everything look straight when sewing. However it saved me having to cut up fabric, which can feel like it’s taking forever when I’m itching to sew. So I’m learning to just go with it. Besides, when I saw the fabric squares I just HAD to buy them…they were too pretty!

 

 

I sewed the squares together in a strip first. While leaving the remaining quilt squares laid out in the pattern that I wanted to make. Then as I’d sewn each strip I replaced the strip to the unsewn pattern laid out on my bed, so as to make sure that I didn’t get any squares out of order.

As usual sewing for an hour or two can feel like five minutes, so I ended up having to pack away all of my sewn up strips. I didn’t want any to get out of order, so I’ve laid them carefully over a chair (this is so I could try to take up the project again when I had some more spare time).  And also as I HATE ironing!!! So it was my hope that I wouldn’t need to re-iron everything all over again when I did get a chance to get back to it. I pretty much only iron when I’m quilting to ensure everything ends up being straight, or if I happen to have some epic event that I need to attend.

After sewing the central squares together I decided that I wanted to make the quilt at least the size of a lap quilt. So I rummaged through some of my scrap fabrics to see if I had anything that would suit the style of the quilt and to make sure that I had enough fabric before heading off to buy some more. Luckily I had a lovely print which I had plenty of to add some classy edging borders to the quilt. The border edges are roughly 6.5 inches.

The backing is a mustard coloured geometric circle print, which I felt could tie in with the binding fabric. Originally I searched high and low for a green fabric for the binding. However I just couldn’t find anything that I really liked, that I felt would suit this quilt. The prints in them were either too big or too small, or just didn’t feel right.

I ended up using a brown printed fabric that I had actually gotten with another project in mind. So since I laid it next to the quilt top and the backing fabric and it seemed to be the only thing that I could find that tied it all together… I went with it.

 

I quilted the quilt by making straight lines on either side of the strips seams. Which was a little tricky, as due to the way the squares were cut; not everything lines up 100%. That said I think that I did a pretty good job. This was the first quilt that I quilted with straight lines, and it was difficult not to have puckers (even though I had used a binding spray and it was very well stuck together before I started quilting). For the quilting threads I’ve used an off white coloured thread for the top and a golden/mustard coloured thread for the backing so that it blends in.

Hopefully I’ll have time to blog about the other quilts I’m making next month, however I’m flat out trying to find the time to sew!

 

 

Baby Owl Quilt

 

Baby Owl Quilt





Here’s another baby quilt that I’ve made for a friend of mine who has had a bub, and there will be plenty more baby quilts to come…as more and more family and friends are having babies! I only hope that I can keep up! As I’m studying full time, have my own very hyper little guy to chase around and am looking for part time or casual work that suits my already hectic life.  As much as I’d love to sit and quilt all day, every day… I don’t have that opportunity. Maybe if I could get some more followers for this blog, or started making some money from this blog I could justify it?

 

The feature squares came all cut up and ready to go in the form of a Charm Pack called Ten Little Things by Moda.  I purchased these at the Craft and Stiches Expo I attended in March 2013. I used most of the squares in the charm pack.

I’m not a fan of the rickrack edges to the pre-cut squares. So other than the other pre-cut quilt that I’ve already purchased (and will hopefully feature soon as its own blog post) I won’t be purchasing anymore. It just becomes a little trickier to make sure that the seam allowance is even, and can throw out the look of the quilt.

This quilt measures 37in x 43.5in or 95cms x 111cms. I’ve used cotton wadding which was purchased pre-cut and bagged at Spotlight. Love that stuff!!

For the boarders on the quilt top I’ve used a dark navy blue homespun, which I wasn’t too sure of when I first laid out the squares. I actually thought that it might be too dark. But it seems to make the squares ‘pop’. So I didn’t end up changing it.

 

For the backing fabric I’ve used an aqua blue/green homespun fabric. Which now I wish I’d gotten more of, as it really is a lovely shade and my pictures just don’t do it justice!! For the edging or the binding I’ve used a dark navy and white polka dot print, which I had just enough left over from when I made my brother a Man sized French Braid quilt. The navy and polka dot print was the backing fabric on his quilt.  

 The threads that I used for this were the same variegated threads that I used for my own Hectic Eclectic Quilt. For the top of the quilt it was the various blues variegated thread and for the backing it was the blue, green and yellow variegated thread. I’m lucky that I had enough left over to quilt this quilt too! Quilting is all about recycling they say…so I’m glad that I can actually find the odd project here and there where I can reuse the same threads and fabrics. Also it saves me from having to run out and try to find something that will go with the quilt that I’m trying to make. Especially when I’ve already taken longer than I would like to make the quilt!

 

 

I’ve machine quilted this in the stripling style, and even though I’m pretty new to machine quilting I think that it turned out pretty good.  

My new scrappy cot quilt

My New Scrappy Cot Quilt

 

My poor crafty blog has suffered a bit the last year from lack of action. It wasn’t that I wasn’t constantly thinking of blogging or crafting…I was.  Let’s just call it ‘technical issues’ and leave it at that, or this could very well end up being yet another rant blog.

 

Anyways let me show you what I have been up to…

 

Once in a while I’ll spot such a beautiful quilt that I do something that I know I probably shouldn’t…I ditch all my other current UFOs (In this case it stands for Un Finished Objects) and start to make yet another quilt.

 

This time I feel totally justified in doing so, as this quilt was so much fun to make and it truly is striking! In fact I’m already thinking about making a double bed sized version of this quilt. This version is a cot size; it measures 96cm x 132 cm or 37.5 inches x 52 inches.
 

 

This beautiful cot quilt is inspired by ‘The Original Ticker Tape’ pgs. 138-141 from the book ‘Sunday Morning Quilts’ by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkinson.

 

With this quilt the ‘quilt sandwich’ is made first. I used my favourite quilting spray and basted my quilt. For the top of the quilt I used white homespun fabric.  The wadding is cotton, which was purchased pre-cut to cot size. While the backing fabric is vintage cotton Australian wildflowers print.

 I started working on the quilt top by laying out scraps of fabric to see how it looked, then when I was happy with the layout I pinned the scraps to the top of the quilt.  During this process I actually ended up causing myself a few nasty needle stick injuries from the pins. So I took the time to unpin them all and re pin them with safety pins instead. What I would recommend for anyone else that attempts this style of quilt in the future is to just use safety pins from the start.
 

 

The scraps are sewn on by rotating the quilt around the needle with the needle down in the work. So the scraps are designed to fray with wear, which will over time give the quilt a rustic look and feel.

 This is a great way to use up odd scraps of fabric. There’s an array of beautiful scraps that are from my previous projects, while most are left overs from other’s fabric stashes from when I first started to get interested in quilting and they were kind enough to send some unneeded fabrics my way.

 

The backing is a vintage Australian Floral Print, which has featured in my first Papillion Quilt. But being such lovely fabric I wanted to keep it uncut, so I’m excited to use it as the backing for this project.

 This quilt is up for sale on my madeit.com.au store which is called Netto. I’m hoping to complete some more quilts that I can add to my store over the next few months.

 

At this stage my store items are only available in Australia. However if you see something that you just lurve, let me know and I will investigate the postage and customs restrictions for your country to ensure that your quilt will reach you.

 I hope to show you another quilted project next month.