A new arrival

I got to go and meet a new baby this week.  She was born just over a week ago and is absolutely beautiful!  I made this quilt for a couple of months ago ready for her arrival and delivered it to her today; it really wasn't exciting enough for her to wake up for but luckily her equally gorgeous big sister is an expert at present opening and was happy to help out. 

I chose the red and white Scandinavian prints and the duck egg blue fabric before I knew what sex she was going to be, but when my friend told me she was having a girl, I picked the red and pink spotty fabric to use as both backing and binding. 

Once she had arrived, I embroidered her name and date of birth on the top and bottom borders of the quilt, using a pearle thread in an almost identical shade of duck egg blue,making it very subtle but very personal to her. I'd also made her two matching bibs, which seemed teeny when I made them but huge compared to the tiny newborn! x

I'd like to be a busy little bee.....

Things have been pretty productive around here for the last couple of weeks - about time too!  I finally got round to finishing the colour wheel I'd started at Easter and then not known what to do with.  In the end I quilted it with simple lines, bound it with plain black cotton and finished it off with some cute black and white polka dot ribbon.  I'm not sure how this photo has managed to make it look so wonky - I think it says a lot about my appalling photography!









I was really excited to be asked to make a cushion cover and some bunting for a friend's sister, using some gorgeous striped fabric that was left over from her new blind.  All I was told was that her room was going to have a beach theme, and I was given free reign with a design.  I had so much fun appliqueing three little beach huts, and found these teeny buttons in my stash for the door knobs.  The back has a simple envelope opening, with matching trim and some cute wooden buttons.

I've also been thinking about craft fair stock - I'll be having a table next month at a fair organised to raise money for The Laura McPhee Memorial Fund. 








I was making a bib as a gift for a lovely lady at work who's going off on maternity leave soon using some super soft towelling that I picked up a few weeks ago, and I decided to make a batch for stock.






Last weekend gave me chance to catch up on a couple of baby quilt tops which needed finishing up.  This boys zig zag top is now quilted and is now patiently awaiting binding and the pink top is waiting on more batting supplies.








And I found some more fabric to do some of my favourite sewing; some little dresses for the dress a girl around the world project.  This pink fabric is a really nice weight cotton which was a dream to sew, and I made three more from a quilt cover which was kindly given to me a while ago.  I'll post these off the the lovely Louise tomorrow.









In between all the sewing I signed up for the pin cushion swap that Rachel at House of Pinheiro and Charlotte at sew far sew good are organising.  There's still time to sign up - so pop along to their websites and read all about it!












And little Alfie.....He's been very busy; napping, being lavished with attention, going walkies - it's just so exhausting ;-) x

Happy New Year!  Yeah I know; far too late to be typing that, but I've been very slack and haven't posted anything since Christmas!

So winter seems to have finally found us, which means I've had chance to wear these!

Cute huh!  I got these gorgeous owl mittens for Christmas, and they're super snugly!

I haven't blogged because I've been really busy, both with boring worky stuff which I won't bore anyone with, and some much more exciting projects...

Firstly I was asked to make a gift for a newborn baby girl, and was given free reign to choose what to do.  I made these two bibs.  I used some of my favourite fabrics in these and backed them in a lovely soft pink fleece so that they're comfy to wear as well as absorbent. 

It was a very special birthday this week, and I wanted to make something cute to go with the present we'd bought her. I decided to try making my first ever clip purse, and personalised it with a little initial bead on it.

I've spent the rest of my 'sewing time' this year working on a couple of quilts. I ordered a jelly roll of Tula Pink's Prince Charming just before Christmas and it arrived on Christmas Eve - super fast! I already had an idea of how I waned the quilt to look; a simple design with blocks of pattern to really show of each the fantastic fabrics. Because they were so simple, the blocks came together quite quickly, and it wasn't too long before the whole quilt top was finished. I chose a soft taupe/beige cotton for the background, and backed in a simple cream cotton.  It's taken a lot of hours to quilt, mainly because I only and my basic machine and standard foot to use, but I think it was worth the effort.  Its in the washing machine as I type, with 3 colour catchers and a heap of good luck thoughts!  Here it was going in....

I've also been working on my Bust Yo Scraps quilt which has involved a lot of fabric sorting, cutting and flying geese....and which I've totally loved!  I promised myself I wouldn't buy any fabric for this quilt, which was harder than I thought to stick to!  The only plain fabric I had enough of for the main pieces was a slate grey/blue colour, and I really wasn't convinced it would look okay.  Despite trying to talk myself into buying some white or cream fabric, I stuck to my original 'no buying fabric' plan, and I must say that now its put together I actually quite like it!  I've nearly finished piecing the blocks together and I have a couple of options for backing fabric, but I think it'll be a while before I get chance to get it basted and quilted.

And what's Alfie been up to while I've been busy.....He found a nice pile of laundry to get comfy on!  Well, you may as well be nice and comfy while your supervising, eh!