WIP Wednesday #7

When you are out of the house for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, and have to cook dinner, feed and bathe kids and read stories before you can clean up and sew, making progress is slow.  Very slow! But I am glad that I have been pushing past that wall of tiredness and switching on the machine. There is something about piecing bits of fabric together that I find so relaxing.  I have to tune out the world and focus on cutting accurately, making seams meet, pressing carefully and I get to watch a block appear before my eyes.

 

Given that I have just gotten over a stomach virus and now considering staying home in bed tomorrow to get over the head cold that has been plaguing me all week (and harassing me with an asthma flare up that has made me just want to sleep), perhaps taking on another QAL was not such a good idea.  But if I think of it as medication to keep me sane… I am so happy to be joining in! So I am following the Moda Friendship Blog Hop and QAL and loving every minute!

I was inspired by the gorgeous “Simply Sweet” fabric range I have used on Madelyn’s latest dress (made this week – just needs buttons).  I told you I was excited about this one, because of the fabric selection, right?  Well now I have an excuse to play with these colours some more! 

 

I bought the fabric at an end of bolt sale, so had a minimum 1y cut.  So I grabbed 1.5y of each the green and the white prints.  This means I have plenty left to make Emily a little matching dolly dress (and sqee! Just as I was considering drafting my own dolly version, Tie Dye Diva released it in dolly size!).  Unfortunately this fabric is hard to find now, so I can’t make an entire quilt from this range, but I have plenty to use in a few of the blocks.  And an order of coordinating prints on the way (woops – that stash busting doesn’t look like it’s going so well!).  How could I resist some of this Pam Kitty Love?

Photo courtesy of: http://www.fatquartershop.com

I managed to finish my CP cushion top, and nearly went ahead and quilted it so it was ready to stitch into a cushion cover when I eventually get to a shop to buy a zip.  Fortunately, sensibility took hold and I tucked myself into bed before midnight hit, and turned me into a pumpkin.  This block is so easy and quick to make, which makes me confident enough to cut into my Pieces of Hope stack.  Joining them and matching up seams was a little tricky, but I got the hang of it, and I think on larger blocks I will be wondering what I was worried about.

 

And thanks to Vanessa from Punkin Patterns, for her design wall post, I now have one of my own!  Mine is only small; 500mm by 700mm and I had room to go bigger, but  I chose to use foam board rather than polystyrene (for the sake of the vet bills I didn't want, as my cat loves to eat the stuff!) This was the only size available when I went to Officeworks on the weekend.  I paid the extra dollar and got the self-adhesive foam board.  Fabulous!  All I had to do was peel back the backing paper, smooth on some flannelette, and tape it to the back.  Done! 

(okay so my desk is a little messier than Vanessa's....)

I deliberated on turning it into smaller design boards to help with cutting and laying out sampler blocks, but the design wall won out.  I may go back and get some more but at $11.50 a piece I wanted it to be the size I would most use.  DH doesn’t let me hang quilts on walls… but he said nothing about design boards!

Okay, time to link up with Freshly Pieced and hit the couch with some knitting...  No sewing tonight, I am exhausted!

WIP Wednesday #5

I am alost feeling a bit unworthy to link up to Wednesday's WIP linky at Freshly Pieced today.  I made the mistake of clicking on a couple of other linked posts before posting mine, and lets just say - I wish I could magically pull a quilt out of the air to keep up.  There's some gorgeous things turning up in blogland lately!

I really don't have a whole lot to show for the week, except a few more grey hairs and bags under my eyes after our son was turned away from after school care last Thursday.  They will hopefully sort it all out soon so I don't have to fight too hard, but in the meantime it has meant even more driving after work, and less energy to do anything crafty.  I haven't even felt like knitting!  Fingers crossed that we hear some good news from them soon.

I did finish a little test block for Kirsty, at Quiet Play.  She has just released her new paper pieced alphabet pattern and will be turning these test blocks into a disaster relief quilt.  I tested the capitals and loved every minute, but it was a little more fiddly and time consuming than I had first expected.  Definitely worth it though!

Then I got going with my February Lucky Star block.  It seemed so easy after those tiny 5" letters, and I was on a roll... until my calendar started beeping at me to tell me it was time to put the fabric down and call the US for an international conference call.  So close to finishing, it was so difficult for me to drag myself away and pick up that phone, but my concience kept me out of trouble.

I am not too sure if there is enough contrast in this block.  I wanted to make sure I used dark blue, aqua and grey in every block so they tied together nicely, but perhaps a bright yellow would have looked good in place of the blue to give it a bit more pop.  I think they will look great together though and the main colours do look rather soothing together.

 

My little yarny WIP has been sitting in the naughty corner a bit - not because of the knitting or pattern but because of the yarn.  You can't really see it here, but the gradient I was loving so much in the ball has given me some disappointment in the form of specs of the next colour in the colour bands, and then, while every other gradient has been rather gradual, the darker purple shifted over only a couple of stitches to make it look like I have done a poor job of combining two balls.  I will knit on though, and move onto bigger and better things. (Woops, did I really just order 6 skeins of gorgeous Mosaic Moon Superwash to make something in my size?!)

WIP Wednesday #4

That time again!  And I finally have a finished project.  I still haven't been able to give it to the new owner yet, but I doubt the new baby is reading my blog, so here it is.

 

My first finished quilt for the year - a simple charm square baby quilt that has been sitting as a quilt top in my stash for over two years...

 

I really wanted to give this an allover stipple, but I wasn't happy with my practice piece so as per usual, gave in to straight line quilting.  I definitely want to change that though.  I just love the freedom of free motion quilting, the swirly, happy calming shapes, the puffiness of a dense stipple.  So I am eagerly awaiting some lovely free motion quilting books, courtesy of my dear ole' Dad who sent me over some money for my birthday.  I had a fabulous time picking out books for me at the book depository.  Since receiving my kindle for Christmas a couple of years ago, I have hardly bought a real book for me.  Nothing beats a glossy quilt book for inspiration!

 

(Oh, and please excuse the sulking Lotta, she refused to let me photograph my quilt in peace and as soon as I would set it up, she'd be there, trying to get on it!)

The charms are Urban Indigo from Fig Tree Quilts. I love how well the backing goes with this quilt.  It's such a shame that I never finished these quilts in time to be of any use for their originally intended owners.  This quilt has a twin all quilted and folded in my stash, that just needs the ends stitched in (yeuck!).  I was so proud of my fabric find when I purchased the backing for these two quilts, that were destined for twins.  The boy quilt is a different pattern, but in similarly soft shades, of blue and green.  The backing for both quilts is the same fabric range, with lemon polka dots on apricot for the little girl quilt, and lemon dots on green for the boy quilt.  I had thought how sweet they would look all rolled up next to each other, yet their individuality would spill out as the quilts were unrolled.  Much like the twins have grown.

I did begin my February Lucky star block, but after I got 1/4 way through, I got sidetracked (this is becoming quite a habit!) and found an email with a pattern to test these gorgeous little letters.  I am testing for Kristy of Quiet Play, and am loving every second!  At least I was... I think I must push a little hard on my quilt ruler, as I have double jointed fingers and thumbs and it seems I have strained my thumb joint from all the triming that paper piecing brings.  I hope to find a solution soon, as I am totally loving this type of piecing! A little thumb resting tonight, and then 4 more letters to go and I can send my completed word block over to Kristy to stitch into her charity quilt for those who have suffered in the recent Tasmanian fires.
I think I am just in time for the party... Linking up here.

A tiny bit sidetracked

 

We have our internet back.  So I did some blog hopping, and got inspired.

 

 

 

I pulled out my scrap bag and rummaged through, to make a teeny 4" courthouse steps block from the template I found over here. However in my haste, I forgot to measure the template, and mine is only 4.25" unfinished...  so it will need a sliver of something to make it match the rest of the blocks.  Because of course, once I'd started playing with scraps, I couldn't stop there.  So now I am going back through the piece-along and making all of the other blocks.

 

 

This is block three from the Pocket Patchwork piece along.  I really shouldn't have used that solid pink - I don't think it is actually quilting fabric as it is a bit see through, and thinner than the rest.  Oh well, I have learned what happens when you work with different weight fabics.  It is very difficult to line up the seams when working with thin and thick.  Especially with such tiny pieces.  That's my wedding ring in the corner just to give you a better idea of size.  And I have skinny fingers.

 

 

 

I misread the instructions, and cut double the amount of squares I needed for block 3.  So I decided to turn the spares into this sweet little pinwheel block.  Now I am not a big fan of pins (call me controversial) and prefer to rely on seams nestling up together to make my seams match.  Pins seem to make matters worse for me as it makes things a bit lumpy.  Especially with tiny pieces.  However, it was a bit trickier with the seams pressed open.  I didn't want to risk the bulk of the seam allowances being too obvios on little blocks.  Didn't do too badly - although that dark pink solid gave me a little grief again.

 

 

And here they are all together.  When I woke up this morning the final blog post in the series was available, revealing that they were designed to be turned into a mini runner.  I don't have any idea what I would do with a 4" wide runner, so I think I will turn mine into a doll quilt, or iPad pouch.  I am still amazed at how far even the littlest scraps can go, and I think I NEED to make another one of those courthouse steps blocks!  Too cute.

 

 

WIP Wednesday #3

I have been very focused this week, working soley on Madelyn's big bed quilt.  Considering I can only find an hour a day to sew during the week, I am proud of myself for sticking with it, and reaching that 74 block target!  When I pulled it out of the cupboard a few weeks ago there were 20 blocks, already joined into rows to make a cot quilt. The prospect of making enough to turn it into a single bed quilt was daunting since I haven't done anything this big since Austin's big bed quilt (which now could do with updating!),

 

 

 

I had to unpick the previously joined rows, to spread some of the old fabrics around the quilt.  Some of the blocks were made from scraps, with 2-3 blocks having the same fabric, all concentrated in the bits I had already pieced together.  I thought I could get away with unpicking only a few to spread, but I didn't like my sequence of colours as I had the cream square followed by a white square and the reds and browns together.  I don't do random very well!  As it was I spent an hour or so agonising over the placement of the blocks.  I then had to lock the kids out of the lounge room since Sunday night, so that I could keep my blocks where I wanted them.

 

The photo above shows how I managed to not go crazy keeping my blocks in the right places and orientation while I sewed.  I bought these little sticky dots so that Madelyn's birthday party gurests could make ladybug hats.  They didn't have bl;ack, so I bought white, and gave the kids some textas to colour them whatever colour they liked - some even had rainbow spots!  I had stacks left, so left the box on the kids' craft table.  Then suddenly I had an epihany!  I wrote the row number and the block number (eg R3/2) on each dot, and knew that when I stitched the blocks together the letters all had to be in the same orientation.  It worked wonders!  Although I did still have to become good friends with the unpicker for the odd one that refused to line up with the seams on the adjacent block.

 

Not long to go now.  I was hoping to get the borders on tonight but I had to stop, blog and sleep!  All the blocks are joined though (thank goodness - it wasn't the kids, but Lewis, my English Mastiff that sprawled across the quilt and messed a few up).  Tomorrow,  I can stitch on the double border of the perfect "almost solid" shade to match the blocks.  Yep - that stash count went up again...  Border fabric will do that to you!

WIP Wednesday #2

Other than my two Lucky Star blocks, I don't think I have really done much this week (I knew this would happen when I started WIP Wednesday last week, but didn't think it would happen quite so soon!)  So this week, I have only a teeny bit to show you.

 

 

I have added a few more blocks to Madelyn's quilt block pile, and have done some layout planning and calculations to turn this Schnibbles pattern ("Four Corners") into a single bed size.

It turns out my 20 blocks need to grow into 74! Luckily they are fairly simple blocks, and I can easily do 4 at a time in less than half an hour if they are all cut out. I have been reluctant to cut and sew too many though as I have some new fabrics on the way to help me grow this quilt, and I want to make sure the new fabrics end up in more than just a couple of blocks. One of them was used by Emma How (LINK) when she pieced together and quilted Madelyn's baby quilt "Joy of Friendship", which goes beautifully with Maddy's feature wall and I thought it would make the quilt a bit more special to include some. The prints are quite a mash-up of styles, so hopefully this slightly larger print doesn't look a bit strange amongst the more delicate florals. If it does, I will simply use it on the back somewhere. I love this fabric too much not to use it. The quilt is a little faded, from lots of use and an equal amount of love!

 

We have also had a baby girl born into the extended family recently - a sweet little bundle born to hubby's cousin's wife, named Indiana Niamh.  I knew my WIP cupboard would come in handy, for in it lay two unfinished quilts, originally made for our friends' twins, now 2 years old!  The twins received hand knitted vests in colours to match their quilts but the quilts never made it to completion.  Our friends were blessed with a boy and a girl, so in the WIP cupboard was a baby quilt for either sex.  Had Indiana been a boy, all I would have to do would be to tie off some thread ends, and finish stitching the binding down (really - that's all that the boy quilt needs, yet it has sat in the cupboard untouched for so long!). The baby girl quilt is a simple Japanese coin style, with only the top made, so I have now pressed, and basted ready to quilt. I am trying to decide whether I am brave enough to FMQ or whether I stick to a simple no-fail straight line pattern.

 

I still have 150g of the apricot coloured Rowan Cashsoft that I used to make the vest for the little girl twin, so perhaps Indiana will get a little matching knitted dress as well.  I am thinking of doing another little Darwinia like I made for my gorgeous niece, Katherine.  I love this pattern - it always knits up looking adorable!

 

However, I must finish this quilt first - my stash count is starting to look a little scary with no "Out"s to speak of and more fabric on the way...

Lucky Stars BOM

It's my birthday, so I get to sew!  Which means I have completed both the practice block, and the January block for the Lucky Star Block of the Month.

 

 

I wasn't going to do the practice block as I didn't like the look of it in the pattern tutorial and flickr uploads.  However having done it in my fabric choices, I actually like it more than the January block!  I wasn't looking forward to matching the seams in that beach ball centre, but it wasn't too bad after all. 

 

 

Still trying to work out when is the best time to remove the papers - when the whole block is complete, or just the block segments, but I am glad I have switched to using proper paper.  I now have Carol Doaks sheets to work with after always having simply used printer paper before.

A challenge for 2013

2012 was over in a flash, so it is time to start thinking about what I want to acheive in 2013.  I know that life is hectic when I am busy juggling a full time job, a preschooler, and a school child who is a little bit high maintenance, so I am not going to be aiming too high this year, but I do want to keep making time for my crafty pursuits.  So my main goals for this year is to get some long term WIPs out of the cupboard and turn them into finished items I can actually use, or give away, and in doing so, I want to bring my stash level right down to what it used to be pre-kids.

 

 

I was never one to buy fabric just because I liked it, but had to have a project in mind when I bought it.  However with a little bit of influence from online quilty friends, and also recognising the need to have fabric on hand when I don't often get much chance to go shopping sans kids, has meant my stash has built to a level where I can easily find something to work with when inspiration grabs late at night when DH is at work and the kidlets are dozing.  Now that is a good thing... But, I am starting to find that a lot of my stash is not really my taste now, and getting increasingly harder to use.  So I need to clear some of it out and make some room in my cupboards, which should hopefully also allow my fabrics to be better organised and brought out of Madelyn's room into a new shelf in my sewing corner this year.

 

 

AJ is running a "Sew Your Stash Thin" challenge over at her blog this year, and I am right there!  The idea being that more fabric turns into completed projects than lands in storage.  Now I did think I was starting off well, as I have pulled out and made good progress on not 1, but 2 quilts (that have been half made for 2 years) already this year.
 

Madelyn's cot quilt, now needs to be a single bed quilt so I have had to more than double the blocks I had already joined into strips to make the quilt top. (now up to 40 blocks fromwhere it was when I pulled it out and photographed it!)  This has meant a couple of new fabrics needed to be purchased to extend what I had - glad it was a scrappy style, as it was easy to expand at this stage!  So that meant 5 FQ worth in and some more on the way (backing and border fabrics).  But that's okay, as long as it gets finished this year, and with hubby up in the shed building a new bed for her as I type, hopefully it won't be too far away.

 

 

 

In my search for Maddy's quilt, I also came across my Blogger's Blockapalooza Quilt from 2010. This was run as a BOM type quilt with a new block design released each few weeks from February.  I was doing well, with this destined to be MY first ever quilt - something to snuggle with on the lounge through the winter while I knit.  I had 10 out of 16 blocks completed,  and had managed to do them all in the week that they were released, but then I lost momentum... and completely stopped!  I didn't like how the blocks were coming out.  Too busy, and not really working together.  Each block on its own looked good, but a bit too crazy all together. 

I checked through Flickr and saw some stunning quilts being made with equally (if not more) busy blocks, so thought to myself I should just get it out and finish it, and who knows, it might grow on me.  It's a shame because I love the fabrics, I just think they would have worked much better used in a different pattern.  I have learned my lesson though.  I pushed myself to try something new - a mystery quilt - and now I am certain the planner and control freak in me doesn't like them! So I won't be doing that again.
 

Anyway, I have now finished all 16 blocks and in the hunt for borders and backings, I was sent to Tricia's Discount Fabrics in Melrose Park.  Now the quilt shops around me have dwindled from 3 closeby, to 1, which is only open for a couple of hours on a Saturday, when I am meant to be at swimnming with Austin.  And with a full work week there is no chance of getting there on a weekday. So to come across a quilt store open on a Sunday is like magic.  And then I walked in... I thought I died and went to heaven.  I described it to hubby as having more fabric than I had ever seen in a quilt store.  He responded "Even in America?" Okay, he got me there, I still have my very favourite store stuck in my memory from my Michigan work trips but Tricia's definitely comes close.  Unfortunately this shopping trip set me back a little with my stash count, but a large part of the purchase was backing for the Blockapalooza quilt, and the rest was fabric for a new BOM I have signed up for this year (more on that once I make my first block).  So as long as I use it all this year I am safe!

You can check my stash count in my side bar as the year progresses.  Not looking too good right now but will hopefully make a dramatic improvement very soon! 

EB DQS 2012

 Just a quick post to show you the little quilt I sent to Rachel for this year's doll quilt swap. Rachel said she liked grey and had a room with sunny yellow walls in which she'd like to hang her quilt, so I went to the quilt shop, rather stumped at what I could do with grey and yellow. She also didn't want anything whimsy, which is the kind of thing I have enjoyed doing in the past so I was really having quilter's block with this one! She liked modern quilts, or traditional with a modern twist. 

With some help from the shop owner, I picked out a pallette I was happy with after much deliberation (and lots of help from the shop owner's husband who managed to save the day after my son, who has ASD, decided to fling a whole jelly roll around the shop with glee - which I would have bought had he not picked such an ugly one - much to my embarrassment). I vowed never to take him into a quilt shop again, although that's a bit tricky considering I work full time so only have weekends to shop, and quilt shops are only open here on Saturday mornings, when hubby has golf and can't mind the kidlets. I had better plan better next time, to allow time for fabric to arrive from overseas (internet shopping is my very best friend!).

Anyway, once I had fabric, I got stuck on the design stage, so I scanned the internet for some paper pieced block ideas - going for the traditional look, with modern facric.  I enjoyed doing the piecing, even though it was time consuming and then went for a mixture of FMQ and straight line quilting.  The light grey border is quiltered in a loopy style to reflect the print, and I have just quilted in the ditch and echo quilted around the rest.  If you look closely enough, you will see the glint of silver thread in the echo stitching around the edge of the star.

Now my little man is turning 7 tomorrow, so I had better get back to madly embroidering some towels for his guests!

Since I don't have anything new to show...

I thought I should post a photo of the doll quilt I sent out just after Christmas, for last years EBDQS. The little doll modelling it is Madelyn's Baby Stella, who is wearing a little dress I made her using left over wool from a summer top I made for Madelyn.

Here is the top that I made, using the same wool, which I hand dyed to match a delicate pink flower headband I had picked up at a craft market.

The challenge is on

Today, the Essential Quilters group are participating in a 24h quilt challenge for ANZAC day. Seeing as it has been over a year since I have made anything bigger than a doll quilt, a whole quilt is a bit ambitious for me. So my challenge is a quilt top.

I am doing a Moda Bake Shop recipe, using stash only (excluding the backing and white background fabric that I bought specifically for the project). I started sewing at 6:30pm last night, and fitting in kids bedtime, some washing and an hour walking Lewis, this is where I am up to.





And here is Madelyn's scrappy collage.



Off to get back to the machine!

Something fishy around here...

I promised Austy these goldfish PJ's ages ago, and only just got around to making them. All of his summer PJ's were too small so we bought one pair to get us through until I could stitch some up for him. I decided on a slim fit tee from one of my Ottobre magazines as it was less likely to ride up, and DH loves the slim fit Peter Alexander one Austy got him for Father's Day with some PJ pants in 2007 for that very reason. I was getting sick of the bought ones shrinking up and stretching out wide, and Austy was having to pull his top down every night as he rolled over to settle into sleep. The shorts were a pattern I drafted myself, I wanted a mock fly and elastic waist with a loose leg and couldn't find all the features I wanted in any of the patterns in my pattern box. Excuse the dodgy photo - it was a little rushed in the morning before Austy ran into the shower. They are all crumpled from a good night's sleep!



The tee was really quick to make and the shorts would have been too if I didn't have to draft my own pattern for them first. So I went out and bought some red ribbing to make another pair when I get a chance.




And just in time for my birthday, this pretty little Pay It Forward gift arrived in the mail from Emma. So now I really had better get my act together and think some more about the three gifts I need to make and send out for three lucky blog readers. This is a little wall quilt, that I'm trying to convince DH to let me put on the wall in my sewing corner (which is in the lounge room). Until then it's sitting in the centre of our table. I do want to do a quilt wall one day, but I think it may have to wait until I get my own sewing room again...





And finally another nappy rolled off the sewing desk, a pink minky dot all-in-one. I lined it with super soft bamboo velour, so the bottom pic shows you a little bit of that lushness.

As much as I looooove my very baby fitteds that I made as they are great for containing those explosions that Madelyn seems to be so good at, there is something wonderful about patting a little minky bum under a pretty dress. So much so that I succumbed to a few nappy purchases lately, a couple of itti-bitty d'lish and a couple more magicalls. Devine.

I know I should be making them as I'm perfectly capeable but I just don't have the speed at the moment with limited sewing opportunities, and I just have a few disposables left in newborn size to get me through until I have enough nappies not to get caught with them all on the line. I don't want to have to buy the next size up, as the disposables are hopeless at holding in that yellow mess, and I'd rather show off my cloth nappies.

OMG! I just counted my completed 2008 list. Amidst working full time and studying part time I still managed to complete a project for every week of the year (although some of them were small projects and some weeks I did nothing). I think I have a bit to live up to this year! I need to finish some WIPs and stop buying fabric for things I plan to make and never get to...

So much to blog about

Sorry it has been a little while since I blogged in here but I promise you I have been busy!

Okay, so all I have managed to sew in the past three weeks has been a pair of scratch mits, and two fitted nappies, and the only knitting I have done is still unfinished.

But here's the reason.

Our beautiful little girl Madelyn Anneliese joined our little family on the 19th December 2008. You can read all about it here, and there are also some more photos to be found on that blog for those who want to see. With Madelyn, Christmas and a couple of birthdays, it has been rather hectic here of late but it's about time I blogged some wonderful crafty gifts we received over the past month.

Firstly there was the EB Sewing group Secret Santa swap, where someone mysterious (they just put SS on the card and envelope!) sent me a very generous package with something each for me, Madelyn and Austin. I got a stunning little pin cushion and a cute little needle book (I am always losing needles in my pin cushions so this is perfect for me) as well as a yummy bag of Darrell Lee Christmas chocolates. Maddy got a cute and soft little bird with a bell in it and a hand embroidered bib. Austy was delighted to open his gifts - some biscuit cutters, stickers and Father Christmas stamps which he set to work with straight away!

Then, while in hospital, Madelyn and I had a visit from the talented Emma, who brought two beautiful quilts for Madelyn. The first one was made by the EB Quilters, where each person sent Emma a block or two with cream & burgandy as the theme (to match the nursery) and Emma pieced them all together and quilted them. The result is eye-catching and it has a beautiful richness about it. Madelyn loves it too - the contrast and colour have her staring at it all the time. In hospital I draped it over the head end of her crib when I wanted to have the light on at night, so she didn't get it shining in her eyes. I had the quilt with the blocks facing her for her to look at, then I noticed the sparkles in the beautiful backing fabric that I hadn't seen before. I had admired the pink flowers against the burgandy when Emma gave it to me but loved it even more when I saw the sparkles!

The second quilt is a work of art - Emma's own design, in a perfectly pieced quilt where all the points are crisp and sharp, and it has wonderful texture with free motion quilting on all of the white background. Emma knows my favourite colour is aqua/turquoise and designed the quilt to suit with a gorgeous range of fabrics. The subtle shade of pink is just perfect as it's not too pink at all, just adding a touch of prettiness to the quilt. This is such a special quilt, and pictures just can't do it justice.

While we're on the topic of quilts, here is the monkey quilt I finished for Madelyn while in hospital. I spent the last week or two of my pregnancy putting the last quarter of it together, adding the borders (the two thin white borders are peek-a-boo borders) and quilting it. Then I got it ready to hand stitch the binding down in hospital, while being monitored for induction and then through that first night while we were waiting for labour to start. It doesn't have a name yet as I was waiting for Andrew to buy the new printer he promised ages ago when our inks ran out, and now we have the printer I'm all out of printable fabric for the label. So as soon as I'm brave enough to tackle a quilt shop trip with a 3yr old and 3w old in tow, I will come up with a name and do the label. And yep... the backing's on upside-down... woops. I was very tired in those last few days! Oh well.

And last but not least, I received this little dress for Madelyn from the wonderful Novy, who has more than spoilt us over the past 12m with not one but two aprons for our little boy, and now this pretty little dress for our little girl. I love using dresses on warmer days as they are so easy for nappy changes (and I get to show off the cloth nappies!) as well as being a bit of a novelty after having a boy first. Andrew loves them too I think, and was as impressed by Novy's sewing as I was.