Babies and trees

One of my first quilting fabric buys in 2007 was a selection of precuts and yardage from Tula Pink‘s Full Moon Fancy line. I made my very first quilt with it, for my goddaughter’s 1st birthday gift. Please excuse the horrible photo, taken in the dark Finnish winter many moons ago.

The rest of the fabric I’ve pretty much just been sitting on ever since. The line sold out, and I’ve been scared to use up what little I have left. This past summer I finally decided to make another baby quilt out of the blue-green fabrics left over from the girly quilt. I mostly used charm squares and cut some more out of yardage and white Essex cotton-linen blend.

I quilted a simple diamond grid and added a scrappy binding, made up by leftover prints of a jelly roll.

There was just enough yardage of the blue tree trunk print to get a continuous backing out of it.

Photographing out on location isn’t my strong suit but now it’s nice to think back on this sunny by windy day last summer. This quilt was a christening gift for a baby boy in my family.

Babies and bicycles

Continuing with baby quilts finished in the last year, here is a wonky log cabin quilt. I combined my precious few Heather Ross prints in a yellow-and-pink quilt that wouldn’t be too bland. I used two solids from Amy Butler, both alternating with the prints and for the sashing.

I machine quilted the 3×3 block design with random horizontal and vertical lines, free hand. Some double quilt lines add interest.

The backing is one of my favorite baby prints, Alexander Henry’s 2D Zoo. The quilt top was exactly the width of the backing fabric, eliminating any need for piecing the back.

With the addition of the solid pink, had just enough fabric scraps left over for a scrappy binding after piecing the top.

This quilt was a gift to a pretty baby girl in Barcelona. Encantada d’haver-te conegut, Ona!

Babies and elephants

I’ve made several baby quilts in the past year, all of which have been duly photographed but never blogged. I thought I would remedy this finally. Here’s the first one – a girly quilt made up by blocks of random width strips sewn together.

The lovely animal prints on the quilt top are by Laurie Wisbrun and were bought from her Etsy shop a few years ago. You can see her fabric in action in this Flickr group. I quilted the fabric in simple straight lines and added a solid binding to contrast all the busy animal prints.

The timing of this post is actually fortunate because the recipient of this quilt – the daughter of a long-time friend – will be moving to my neck of the woods next week with her family. Welcome home!

Pencil me in, color me in

My goddaughter turned four this spring, and I made her a pencil roll. I’ve made one before using the same pattern. Now, with the help of a rotary cutter, I cut the time it took to make this in half.

This case has 12 colors, plenty for a four-year-old still learning color names.

I especially like the measuring tape ribbon, bought years ago from Superbuzzy.

Thanks to my goddaughter’s mom for the pretty pictures.

Padded

I recently made a laptop sleeve for my new MacBook. It figures that I have no pictures of it yet despite using it all the time. However, I do have pictures of the iPad case I made for someone else using the same pattern – because they took the pictures. So, here goes.

The pattern is from Elisabeth from Oh, Fransson!. It is based on the actual measurements of your device, so I could adjust it from the laptop down to the iPad. The hardest part was getting the lovely birch trees on Lara Cameron’s fabric to match up on the different layers. I included a pocket on the backside with room for a charger and earphones, according to the recipient’s wishes. It closes with velcro, just like the main compartment. The lining is a lovely greying blue woodgrain print from Lush.

Spring sling

Spring is here, finally. To celebrate, I sewed a new bag. The pattern is Birdie sling by Amy Butler.

The fabrics are all from the same Lotus colorway I’d stashed away years ago. I love the deep inside pockets.

This is actually my second sling, I never got around to blogging the first one. Here they are side by side. As you may notice, the first sling is true to the name (Drawing room fabric by Anna Maria Horner).

The first sling has been a trusty companion on many trips, from cities to beaches. Time will tell where the second one will go. Today it came with me as I voted in parliamentary elections.

Birthdays

My mom turned 60 this fall, though no one would believe it. I knit her a scarf from the silky wool fingering weight I’ve been dyeing with assorted natural dyes. 3 mm needles work just as fine as 2.5 mm, and it goes a lot faster! More than 25 different colors in this one.

My nephew celebrated his first birthday in January. He received a car play mat, fashioned after instructions from Fiskars. I also included two wooden toy cars: a red race car and a blue tractor, his favorite. There’s an apple orchard, a car wash, a gas station and a pond in the four scenes. Most fabrics are some type of wool felts.  The printed fabric on side pockets is from Liberty of London scrap bin.

Here’s big sis helping him fill the tank for another round!

Happy, sugary holidays!

From left to right: cashew nut brittle, rum marshmallows, chocolate-covered fudge, christmas crack, peppermint marshmallows, and maple-cinnamon nuts.

Paint chip galore

I moved out of the city in the summer and got an extra room: a glazed balcony almost the size of my bedroom. I wanted to have a low table to hold flower pots, slushy drinks, books, and the occasional dinner plate. I had a coffee table from Ikea that I’d since replaced but held onto, and I figured it might do the job.

But the table was white, and bruised, and in desperate need of color. Which color? I couldn’t decide, so…I stole almost all the paint sample chips at the local hardware store and went to town, inspired by some awesome creations.

A few layers of mod podge later I had this to show for my hacking:

The color range the chips came from features a descriptive name for each shade, written on top of the chip. My table includes, among others: cupcakes, llamas and sunrises. It has held up nicely, and the balcony was my favorite place during the hot summer, and still is – amidst all the snow – as an occasional hangout after the sauna. Just long enough for me to sit down on the bench and lay my apres sauna drink on the table!

The nephew, he has a name

Yesterday we celebrated the christening of my nephew. I’d started his present back in September which turned out to be a wise move. I set to quilt animal outlines, picking the critters at random. But my fingers and hand quilting do not seem to mix: I managed to do about 2-4 shapes at a time before my skin broke.

In the end I’ve got calluses to show for a 41×41 inch square quilt! It’s exactly one width of the fabric, no piecing work involved here. I did not count the shapes quilted, they must be in triple digits though.

I really like how the animal outlines look on the Miller Ta Dot backing print. The binding is a 3/4 inch wide Perla cotton. I was with my foxy friend at the local fabric store, cursing myself for forgetting to bring a sample of the front print when she happily announced that this solid teal would match. Of course she knew, having used the same fabric for a baby quilt. Isn’t it great to hang out with people who can instantly match any fabric it seems?

I’m glad I did this by hand but it might be a one-time thing, just as his special day. I might use hand quilting as a feature in a mostly machine quilted piece though. Much appreciation for those who do quilting by hand!

Oh, and the name? Suits him. :)