A baby quilt in progress

If you've been keeping up with me on my Facebook page you'll know that last week I started another quilt.  I know, I know - I said I was going to give the quilting a miss for a while, but once we'd finished decorating the baby's room I couldn't resist making a quilt to match the bunting (more on that later).

I'm now desperately trying to get this quilt finished before the baby arrives at the end of the month.  Well, I do work best with a deadline!

I cut 10cm squares from a selection of fabrics in greys and pinks and arranged these in a random pattern, 11 squares by 15 squares.  I then machine-sewed the squares into rows, and then stitched the rows together to form a cot-sized quilt top.  No real skill or fancy patterns here!  All I need to do now is assemble and quilt it, then apply the binding.  I've got a lovely red fleece blanket to use as the underside of the quilt, so it will be lovely and cosy.  I'm really hoping to have this finished by early next week, all being well - but I always underestimate just how long the final stages of quilt making take!

My bunting was finished and was looking fabulous - until my husband hung it up for me and it was really too long for the space I wanted it to go.  So I need to do some unpicking and re-assembling to get the flags the right distance apart - the bunting is personalised with the baby's name, so I can't just drop some flags, unfortunately!  Hopefully I'll have this completed early next week too.

My To Do list seems to be never-ending - no matter how hard I try to tick things off, more gets added to the bottom!

Best wishes
Debbie

My pregnancy - 23 weeks

With less than 15 weeks to go until we meet our new arrival, I'm beginning to feel as though the reality of bringing home a baby might be just around the corner.  So my thoughts are turning to the To Do list - and, quite frankly, there's a LOT to do!  After Daisy died and we packed up all our baby things into storage, the baby's room became the spare room and from there it didn't take much time at all to become the junk room... and we're now at the point where there's barely space to squeeze in amongst all the "stuff" that has accumulated in there over the last 9 months.  We made a start on clearing the room at the weekend; a trip to the tip later and some items stashed up the loft, and we seem to be making some progress.  There's still plenty to be done though, clearing space and finding a proper home for everything, before we can make a start on re-decorating and furnishing the room.  All of this at a time when there seems to be so much happening with work, school, activities and so on, that there doesn't seem to be many hours in between to make much headway.  And all of this with just 14 weekends remaining, and I'm starting to feel just the tiniest bit of pressure!

I'd really like to have the baby's room ready before our baby arrives; although it will be some time before the baby will be sleeping in there, I'd like to have a proper room set out with all the baby's things organised and accessible.

When I finish at work I was thinking about starting a sewing project or two (I know, I know - I haven't finished the last one... or two, or three!) - I was going to make bunting to hang on the wall in floral fabrics with letters spelling out the baby's name, along with a matching cot quilt and a patchwork cushion cover for the chair in the corner.  Something pretty and pink, that I can spend time concentrating on in the run-up to the baby being born.  I've never tried making bunting before but a friend of mine gave me a pattern and I'm hoping it will be straightforward.  I'm not sure how to go about the lettering, though - I've seen iron-on felt letters online which might be an idea, unless you have any other suggestions?

In the meantime I seem to be adding more to the To Do list than we are completing - my husband is going to be very busy over the coming weeks, as my expanding bump is beginning to get in the way and I need to take it easy more and more!

Best Wishes
Debbie

Quilting Progress

I've been spending a bit of time at my sewing machine lately, working on a new quilt.  I got the quilt blocks finished and arranged, and spent an afternoon assembling them as carefully as I could.  My technique is far from perfect, but I'm getting better at lining up my blocks and making the squares sit as neatly as possible!

This little quilt will be for Lizzie once it is finished.  I love the girly colours in the fabrics - although they've not shown up as vibrantly in these photographs as I would have liked!

That's the quilt top almost finished - I'll be adding a border around the edges when I have determined what the finished size needs to be.  Next is to find some suitable fabric for the reverse of the quilt!

I've also spent a bit of time working on this quilt I started for Lizzie way back earlier on in the year.  At the time, I thought it would be a good idea to make a quilt that was single-bed size; it probably was a good idea, although I underestimated just how long it would take me to finish!  I am so nearly finished it - all that remains is to finish off the corners of the binding and complete some diagonal lines across the quilt - it seems to have taken me an age and I think it will be a while before I attempt a bed-size quilt again!

Assembling the quilt top is definitely the most inspiring part of a quilt project!

Thanks for reading!

Best Wishes
Debbie

Feeling creative again...

Lately I've been feeling like creating again. 

I pulled out my fabric box from the bottom of the wardrobe and unearthed my sewing machine from the clutter in our spare room.  I sorted out my threads and sewing accessories and I bought myself some lovely new fabrics online.  I went to the library and borrowed some quilting books to give me some fresh inspiration.

I'll use some of these pretty fabrics to make a cute little girl's quilt for Lizzie.

I love the daisies in this fabric.  I love to have reminders of Daisy in my life.

I had a go at creating my first quilting "block".  It's still a fairly basic technique, but for a beginner like me, it's perfect!

For me, sewing is a way of creating something personal and unique.  I find the process of creating the patterns, deciding on colours and combinations, and watching the piece come together very therapeutic.  I'm looking forward to seeing how my next quilt will turn out.

Best wishes
Debbie