Big Cot Quilt

It's not long now that our sweet little baby girl will be moving from her crib into a cot-bed.  I feel a bit sad in a way as at the moment her crib is situated in our bedroom where she sleeps with us but a full size cot won't fit so she'll have to go into her own room (which is literally next door to our room). But the time has nearly come and it's a small milestone in her life. She came home from hospital as a new-born and looked so tiny in her crib but she's growing well and is getting too big for it now, also as she develops she'll soon learn to sit up and then pull herself up and she won't be safe in the crib any more. So after Christmas we will make our way to Mothercare (my lovely work colleagues were generous with vouchers for there) and choose a new bed for our baby.

So in preparation I have made a new quilt for her new cot. I purchased the 4 fat-quarter bundle from Elephant in my Handbag called 'Vintage Baby'. I love, love this website. There are loads of lovely things to buy. I also ordered the pink velvet ric-rac (gorgeous) and blue ribbon from there. And then I set out to work.

I utilised what I had the best I could and cut squares, triangles and mini-squares and made a plain border at the top edged with the ric-rac and ribbon.

I bound the edge with the Tilda fabric I bought the other week (also used for the Sweet Sewing Basket) as there wasn't enough of the bundle for binding. I used Hobbs White Heirloom 100% Cotton Wadding (pre-washed) from The Cotton Patch with a plain cream backing. I quilted on the diagonal as I find it one of the easiest methods and I'm never really keen on the quilting stage.

The quilt is really too big for the crib and is tucked in at the sides and bottom.

I hope my baby will love her quilt and keep it to pass on to her children in the future (OMG GRANDCHILDREN!!!!!!!!!)
I have also made a crochet blanket for the forthcoming cot, just need to deal with these:

Have a lovely weekend, be back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Crochet Connections

I have been enjoying the social side of my hobby this week with a little trip out with my sister to the town where she lives as she wanted to show me a couple of shops she knew I'd like.  My sis has for a long time enjoyed crocheting and has made lots of lovely things for my children and her grandchildren, she also sometimes knits, cable knitting being something she favours. I collected her from work as she had half a days leave and off we went. We headed for the first shop which sells yarn and bits and pieces but oh no! the shop was shut, not opening Mondays, boo-hoo. It looked so so nice (I had a good nose through the window) It's called Manfield Crafts and I couldn't resist going back a few days later where I had a lovely time mooching about, enjoying the colours and textures of all the yarns and chatting with the friendly ladies (in fact I was a bit giddy with excitement at finding this gem of a shop and probably embarrassed myself with all my gabble!) I did have a bit of a spend and treated myself to some Rico Design Essentials Soft Merino that I will stash away for a little while until I decide what to make with it (I'm thinking bag, scarf or add to it over time and make a blanket).

 

I love displays of pretty coloured yarn like this!

My sister also took me over to Higham Ferrers where we had a lovely cup of tea and then a mooch around The Cranberry House where I picked up some Tilda fat quarters.

 

We then popped back to her house so she could show me the granny square blanket she'd just finished:

 

 

It looks really lovely, the muted browns and rusts mixed with cream work so well and look great in her bedroom.

I had a brilliant day with my sister, sharing our mutual interest and hopefully will do the same sometime soon.

In the meantime making wise I'm still plodding away at my rainbow ripple, trying to do one stripe a day, but it is very wide so that does take ages!

 

And the other big project I have on the go is my Mother-in-laws patchwork quilt, which is growing nicely but again is very big so lots of time is needed to complete it.

 

 

Lots on the go but it really does make me happy, happy, happy!

 

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Leyna-jayne's Play Quilt

Patchwork Quilt with Apple Appliqué

 This is a quilt top I started this time last year and only finished off a fortnight ago.  I started with the apple template and practised with the buttonhole stitch on my ancient Singer sewing machine as the edging to each motif.
The size of each patch was determined by the size of the apples and the red and green fabrics from my stash (and Tudor Rose in Oakley) were perfect colours for my project.

Drying in the fresh air after its first wash
 



Appliqué apple and hand stitched quilting

The quilt top was fairly quick to make and so I decided to hand quilt using embroidery thread on each patch. Thats where I got fed up and with a sore finger because I hadn't used a thimble I folded the quilt away and hid it in my sewing cupboard with all my other unfinished projects (there are many).
It stayed hidden for almost a year until I decided to tackle all the unfinished and took it out only to fall in love with the cheery colours and satisfying appliqué.  As my finger was well recovered and I had my baby girl to give it to it didn't take long to complete. I am filled was total pleasure when LJ stares at the patterns and colours and seems to really love her play-mat.
As for all the other unfinished - well, there's always tomorrow!

Hexagon Patchwork Cushion

Hexagon Patchwork Cushion and Knitted bébé Door-sign

Here's a photo of the rocking chair in LJ's room.  It was a bargain at £30 from Ebay and I love the shabby chic feel of it.  I re-covered the seat pad in Laura Ashley fabric and made the hand-stitched hexagon patchwork cushion cover in neutral colours as I didn't know if I was having a boy or girl.  The knitted bébé door-sign was one of the first baby things I made when I found out I was with-child again. It is from a beautiful book called Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight

Patchwork Union Flags

 This year you can't help seeing union flag designs all over.  The diamond jubilee and the Olympics have given us the excuse to wear red,white and blue to put out the bunting! I wanted to make a union flag and spent ages working out the dimensions to make sure it was as accurate as possible. I used a bundle of red,white and blue vintage feel cotton to make this one for our utility room.

I used the pattern again to make this spotty version for my sons classroom for the Jubilee party they held at his school, and of course the bunting made great decoration too. By the way, is it union flag or union jack?  I don't know for sure but I think when referring to the union jack it's got to be on a ship? Are pirates involved?

The Sewing Mistress Blog

Hello, welcome to my blog - an online diary and photo album about my hobby - making things! I love to sew, crochet, knit, patchwork and quilt, and to buy lots of pretty fabrics and trimmings just for the sake of it and add to my stash! I have a backlog of things I've made I'd like to share with you and I will add new things as I make them.
I hope you enjoy looking through all my makes - and you're inspired by them too!

Sam x