warm and cozy : )

A friend of mine is having her first baby, Yay! Got to love babies! and making stuff for them! They didnt find out the gender but she has suspicions it is a boy : P. And from her symptoms, based on my own  experience, I would guess she is having a boy too : ).  Im posting the gift I made for baby here to have a record of the project and to share the method which I personally have never seen made before, so to  me I was being original : D even as basic as it is.

What I did? I made a toddler size blanket and matching crib size (not sufficateable size) pillow with flannel and fleece.  I have never seen nor felt a blanket made out of these together But it is So soft and warm, but lightweight. I need to make one for my little girl (yes, we are havin another girl in January, Yay!).  A really great warmth factor for her November baby. Mommy and Daddy went with a bold green and dark brown in the 'nursery' so those colors were what I went for and I used the most gender neutral print I could find : )

So the process was simple. Cut the fabric,  sew the applique in place, right sides together sew the perimeter with enough left open to turn it out, opening was hand sewed (after pillow was stuffed), then I sewed on the outside (blanket only) two inches from the edge a simple stich border to prevent bunching later.  Lining up the blanket to sew the outside perimeter proved trickier than I anticipated, so beware!
The fleece has it's tendencies to stretch oddly.

And here it is, I love it, and I hope they do too! I know with mine the softer the blanket the cuddlier mommy and baby are!

Harrison's quilt

5 1/2 weeks to go till the due date! I've got the countdown to every few days is another half week : D. Or we could say he is due in a month and a week, or his due date is in 38 days! Any way I look at it He is coming soon!!!!! I am ready to be not pregnant anymore! I'm anxious to welcome the little guy and start this new major change ! I'm also anxious to have energy and get back in shape : P.

Well, like in my previous blog about the quilt for my daughter mentioned, now things I make will be in duplicate often so I thought I'd share how his came out.

for hers and tutorial: http://shift2theheart.blogspot.com/2010/02/katies-quilt.html

It was hard finding masculine fabric but I think it came together well, and it is actually more muted in color than the picture shows. I wanted to make it around the galactic print but didn't have success finding boyish coordinating prints and I didn't want solid colors.

I'd like to mention that I like being economical, and while baby quilts are cute I wanted to make them blankets they could use for a while. I'm pretty proud of the look of this one, but though I don't think it looks girly I am still afraid it is :P ..... I have noticed many boy bedding sets made in damask prints so I'm hoping these prints are acceptable for a little man : ) lol

Katie's quilt

This is my first quilt! made for my lovely daughter, katie! I think quilting is one of those amazing art forms that takes a bunch of pieces and creates something useful as well as meaningful. I figure it's a skill that could really help in saving from wasting down the line, I already don't like throwing away scraps and now i have a reason to hold on to them. :)

As a beginner I needed a simple plan. I knew I wanted six inch squares in printed fabrics, so I drew my plan on some graph paper. I figured three inch bordering, or 'sashing', would look good and add to size. I planned the dimension of this blanket to be 39" x 48" with 1/2" seams to allow for ironing. To make this blanket I cut:

20 7"x7" squares ( I used 6 different prints for this)
24 7"x4" rectangles (in the sashing)
5 49"x4" rectangular strips (in the sashing)
1 49"x40" rectangle for the backing fabric (I used fleece but you may want to use a piece of interfacing as well, especially if you're using a thinner fabric)

After I cut my squares I laid them all out to make sure I had them facing the directions I wanted and that they were in the right order by verticle rows. ( I apologize if this seems like I'm going into too much detail past common sense, but as I mentioned above this is my first quilt and I figure it couldn't hurt) Next, I sewed the verticle rows (shown horizontally : P) and ironed. Then, the long sashing was sewn in between the sewn rows, and ironed.

Since I didn't make a border I just sewed the quilt top to the back panel, right sides together and left about 9" open, on a long side, to turn it out. I clipped the corners so they would be neater. After the turning it right side out, I hand sewed the opening.

To secure the front and back and give it a 'quilted' look I top stitched a simple diamond pattern using clear thread. I used a regular sewing machine for this. As I've never made a quilt or taken a class for it, I dont know what real quilters do to achieve their top stitching. I used a piece of cardstock alligned with my squares on a diagnal to guide my stitches straight.

The quilt came together so fast and easily anyone can do it if they can cut and do some simple sewing. I do understand why people use charm packs to quilt though.... I spent a few hours picking coordinating fabric. : ) BUT it's personal for it and I will be making another very soon for my little guy who is due in two months. Now when I make something it will be in variable duplicate having two lovelies! Twice the joy! : ) And btw, my daughter loves her new blanket!!! What's nice is it is big enough for her to use for years to come too...... i'm thinking a new project is in line for the scraps left from this!

fabric story books or a storybook quilt

http://www.hancocks-paducah.com/SubCategory--Quilting-Treasures-Fabrics--m-44

These were just too cute I had to share! I would love to make these for Katie. :) even just making a soft book rather than their suggestion of a quilt would be so great for the little ones. My daughter absolutely loves story time but only more recently she has stopped chewing on them(she's 19 months right now). The chewing did not agree with my husband but I couldn't take the books away; her little inquisitve mind loved andstill loves exploring the pictures and learning from them.

I think from this I've become inspired to scan and reprint on fabric the pages of her favorite books to make a quilt. These are so sweet though and the vintageness is so loveable. The Little Golden Books ones above are the first two in a series so more can be expected to come.

I haven't done fabric printing myself yet but intend to in the near future. I believe it may be as easy as using a 100% cotton ironed onto freezer paper to prevent bleeding and printing it like normal paper. But before doing this I'd research it myself. I have done fabric painting on fabric that has had freezer paper (shiny side down) ironed to it and the fabric paint does not bleed at all. (stencils and stamps!)