baby c's quilt

I think baby quilts are my very favorite thing to make.  Every stitch is a labor of love, as I think about the new baby that's going to be using it.  This one is for my dear friend V, whose daughter O, now two-and-a-half, was the recipient of my second-ever quilt.  Her new son, C, was born last week, and this is his quilt.

Many of the Japanese fabrics, both the blues (with frogs! and owls! and bunnies!) and the reds with the traditional Japanese patterns, are from Japan; I ordered them from Fabric Tales, and I was absolutely delighted with their customer service and selection.  I was a little wary of ordering fabric from so far away, but I was stunned at how quickly it arrived (and for a very reasonable shipping cost).

The backing fabric is from Birch Fabrics and the binding is a dot I had in my stash.

I love hand quilting because I can do it with my neglected husband, sitting companionably in front of a movie and cursing loudly when I jab my middle finger (always in the same place) with the needle.  I decided to quilt this in a contrasting white because the grey blocks (Kona coal) were a little blah when it was all pieced.

PS:  I promise my next project will not involve Kona coal (even though I still have about 3 yards of it in my stash).

wip wednesday

Two ongoing sewing projects, not so much "in progress" as "not quite yet started..."

Fabric, twill tape, and embellishments for my spring top for Made By Rae's   Spring Top Sewalong:

The fabric is Alexander Henry Bluebell cotton lawn, and I bought it at my favorite local fabric store, Gather Here.  I actually drafted the pattern for this top and made a muslin last weekend, then cut and did the major seams and facing last night, but it doesn't look pretty enough to photograph yet.  My lovely mom gave me the bottle of vintage beads and sequins in my Christmas stocking this year (yes, I am nearly 40 and still get a Christmas stocking.  I lead a charmed life).  I'm looking forward to finally using some of them.

Pile of fabrics for upcoming (boy) baby quilt (plus random schnitzels of thread).  Still pondering a pattern for this one -- plus blocks?  Whirligigs? 

Knitting WIP -- my long-in-progress Umaro throw from Jared Flood in Cascade Eco.  This is a wonderful pattern, and could theoretically be a quick knit (what with the big needles and bulky yarn), but not having a lot of designated time for knitting has stymied its progress.  It's been about 1/3 finished for months now.  (The pillow in the corner is made from a vintage embroidered coverlet, and is a little worse for wear.)

snip, stitch

When I saw these --particularly the embroidery hoop bag -- on Nova's amazing blog, I had to make one immediately.  (I actually discovered it through Pinterest, my new obsession and a major source of  inspiration--and procrastination-- these days.)   I took a wonderful embroidery class in March at Gather Here, and have started accumulating a lot of supplies, and I was tired of carrying my hoop around in a battered zip-lock bag.

I used the same fantastic tutorial Nova used for the zippered pouch, but I didn't line the bag, because I quilted it first so it already had enough layers.  I used a zig-zag stitch on the inside seam edges to keep them neat(ish).

For the needle book and the scissor pouch, I just kind of made it up as I went along.

No more zip-locks!

pillows

We needed some new pillows for our bedroom.

Planning these was a bit of a challenge, since I needed the tops (which I did like mini-quilts; pieced, batted, backed with muslin, and then quilted in the ditch) to come out to me just the right size.  Usually when I make a quilt, I can be a little casual about what the eventual size will be, which allows me to be more flexible in terms of design.  But these needed to end up the exact perfect size (the inserts are 20" and each case is exactly 19" square).  So, I had to do quite a bit of math and geometry to get them to work out.

The plus-block case came out pretty much the way I had envisioned and planned.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but the plus blocks vary slightly in size.  You can see them in my original sketch:

The tiny square in the upper right corner was an afterthought.  Once I had all the blocks done and laid out, it was obvious that the pillow needed something in that big empty corner.  So, I added a little block the same size as one of the sides of the smaller plusses.

As you can see, the HST pillow ended up quite differently from my original sketch.  I had envisioned a random design of HSTs mixed with plain blocks.  But when I finished making all the triangles and started playing with layouts, it was obvious that it just wasn't working, especially when I looked at it next to the completed plus block case.  It took me several days and a variety of different attempts to finally get it right.

I decided to do a simple envelope closure instead of fussing with a zipper (especially with the batting) since these are decorative and only the fronts will really ever show.


And, the best part -- about halfway through this project, on a random trip to IKEA, I happened upon a quilted bedspread and large shams that (almost) perfectly matched the Kona coal I used for the pillows perfectly.  Pure kismet.

 

a few projects from the past.

1. toddler backpack, 2. Kindle clothes., 3. dover castle shawl, 4. pincushion, 5. lovely leaf lace scarf, 6. Messenger bag, 7. small safran haruni, 8. doll towel, quilt, and slippers set, 9. rainer's triangle baby quilt

spring...

It's supposed to be spring, but this week we got some of this:

And it was cold.  Just so cold.  So I decided to make something springy to lift my spirits.  I have been hoarding this Nani Iro Fuccra double gauze designed by Naomi Ito.  It was almost too beautiful to imagine cutting into.  I decided to make something simple that would let the fabric shine.  I made it wide enough to use as a wrap when it's not doubled, backed it with a plain double gauze with a subtle dot, and added yellow pom-pom trim I had lying around.  I wanted to do the pom-poms all around, but I didn't have nearly enough.

I also decided to leave on the selvage at the end, just for fun.  I don't usually put tags on things I make, but I like this, because it's a little nod to the amazing talents of the fabric designer, who is responsible for 99% of the appeal of this simple little scarf.

It is very soft and the flowers and cheery yellow make me feel happy and springy.