Baby Blanket

I've picked up my knitting needles again over the last couple of weeks. Several UFOs have been neglected for far too long - I seem to be a serial non-finisher of knitting projects! I've been so tired of late that I have been preferring to sit down and knit in the evenings rather than concentrating on my sewing. This blanket was made for my friend's baby girl, Daisy. The pattern is by Debbie Bliss and is found in her book 'Simply Baby'. I love this pattern so much that it tends to be my stock baby blanket one! I used some yarn from my stash - Cotton Cashmere - which is beautiful, but sadly discontinued. This project had been on my needles since September so I feel a great sense of achievement in finally completing it - now on to the next WIP. I'm ashamed to say that in my Ravelry notebook I have more WIPs than completed ones!

Stash

Why is it that in January I have an overwhelming urge to clean, tidy and organise? Yesterday afternoon I went through my fabrics and arranged them neatly in boxes. I found so many bundles I had forgotten about including this lovely one! This one came, at some point, from the lovely Buttonberry and is a collection of Freespirit fabrics. I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but giving the absolutely freezing weather, there is nothing else but to have another Craft Day!

Snippets

I love all fabrics by 'American Jane'! The four patch blocks above are from her 'Snippets' made from a jelly roll. I fell in love with the bright colours, the ditzy prints and especially the fabulous 'doll clothes' print! I am hoping this will become a quilt for my daughter Sophia. The pattern I am using is from the 'Jelly Roll Inspirations' book by Pam and Nicky Lintott, and basically involves placing the four patch blocks on-point. I really hope it works as I love the pattern and the fabric so much!

Joe's Quilt

This is the quilt I made for my nephew Joseph for his 1st birthday last week. I haven't mailed it yet - I don't think his parents know I have a blog so it's all right!! It is my attempt at a sort of stacked coin quilt. The fabric is all from the 'Sail Away' range by Henry Glass. I bought the fabric for the stacked coins as a teeny tiny strip roll from Creative Fabrics at the Malvern show. The borders and sashing are made in a complimentary fabfic from the 'Sail Away' range. The quilting was an experiment in free-motion quilting for me - I am very new to it so it is nowhere near perfect, but I absolutely loved doing it!

Sienna's Quilt

My friend has just adopted a 2 year old little girl called Sienna. It gave me the perfect excuse to make a quilt! The fabric is all from the Tilda range which I bought as a quilt top kit. It was one of the many purchases I made when I went to the Quilt Festival in Malvern in October. The kit contained a selection of Tilda fabrics cut into squares allowing me to either follow the pattern or arrange them myself - I chose the latter. The quilt is bake by a lime green spotty fabric, also from the Tilda range. The quilting is again very basic - I quilted 1/4 inch from the seams in the vertical direction. I also quilted diagonally across the four patch blocks.

My first Christmas Quilt

One of the things I love about Christmas is getting out my collection of decorations. Many of the ornaments evoke specific memories of past Christmases or places where the decorations were bought. Since my daughter, Sophia, was born I've started accumulating Chistmassy books and films which come out every year. With this in mind I decided to make 'Christmas Quilt'. This was quite an undertaking for me as I only started quilting in September. The quilt is made from a jelly roll - the fabric being from Moda's 'Merry and Bright' range. I used the 'Pandora's Box' pattern from 'Jelly Roll Quilts'.

The quilting is very basic - I've quilted around the blocks 1/4" from the seam. Initially I started stippling over the quilt, which was admittedly ambitious for a first project! I spent a whole week undoing the experiment - mainly because the stippling was so small it would have taken me a month to cover the quilt top! I also learned that it is best to use the same colour thread on the top and bottom of the quilt when stippling. All valuable lessons learned! I love my Christmas quilt and hope it will come out year after year!

A new blog for me!

I have been blogging off-and-on with my friend Lisa of Baysideknitpickers since April of this year. Since my little girl started full time school in September I've rekindled my love of sewing and have started quilting amongst other things!! I basically wanted to branch out from the knitting blog and write about all aspects of my creative life! I hope this will become a place I can record projects and brainstorm! Wish me luck!