Baby Daisy's Pram Quilt

 Once I knew we were expecting our first grandchild in August last year I wanted to knit and learn crochet and quilt and sew and ..... oooo so many things & never enough time.

Dinosaur Taggy

It has been years since I made anything for a baby or child so I thought I'd start off by making a tag toy dinosaur for friend's baby to get me going.  

I knitted a blanket, I taught myself to crochet and I made a daisy granny square blanket (each new square was an improvement on the one before) as well as a cot quilt, a pram quilt and a floor mat. I also made a double sided blanket from flannel and minky.

Today I will share the pram quilt made for my granddaughter Daisy, who was born on 11th August.
My daughter chose the fabrics, pastel mix of blues, greens, yellows and pinks. As you can see, she chose floral prints (she takes after me....floral prints are my favourite!)

A couple of  Cath Kidston & Lecien fabrics in this selection. Can you see the cute Mabel Lucie Attwell Boo print on the end?

Fabric cut into 5" squares

I decided on simple squares trying the "quilt as you go" method. It was a little fiddly making sure the fabric pulled straight and that it did not get caught as I sewed the layers together.

First two rows sewn together with wadding and backing fabric

This shows the first two rows opened out

The third row placed right side down against bottomed of second row

Once all the rows had been quilted together I had to machine quilt in the ditch through all the layers from top to bottom down each row. I chose a minty fabric with white spots for the binding.

Adding the binding

Finished pram quilt

This size quilt is quite quick to make so I made three more for other new babies born in 2015! 

Zx

The creation of My Craft Room - Part 4 - Filling the shelves

About time I continued telling you about my craft room.

Once I had my cupboards and shelves I needed to fill them with boxes and baskets. I was so excited especially as it would remind me of all of the gorgeous things I had to "play" with!
I sorted things into categories e.g. Woollen fabrics, flannels, felt, christmas prints, stationery etc, etc. Keeping the same things together would make it easier to find (fingers crossed!). I was lucky I could squeeze most of the same thing in one box and generally similar items could be grouped together on nearby shelves or in the cupboards.

I didn't want to be able to see some things through the boxes as they would look messy, so I slipped some patterned paper down the front of these boxes. So that I would know what was in them I used some Cath Kidston sticky labels and a book of Crafty sticky labels (I knew they would come in handy one day!)

I had 4 drawers in the Ikea expedit shelving units to fill. I had to work out what I would need more often so I could just turn around and grab it easily.  I decided to used them for glues & sellotape, tools, rulers & scrap paper.

On some shelves I put my Mollie Makes magazines (I had about 2 years worth) and a few other craft magazines I buy occasionally like Making, Homemaker & Handmade. These magazines aren't cheap so I only buy them if there are several things or ideas in an issue that I could make or use.

Another couple of shelves were reserved for some of my craft books like a few Tilda ones and Cath Kidston Sew, Stitch, Patch,  & her latest "Sewing" (a Christmas present) to name a few. I love books like these and cannot imagine ever having an e-book version.

I have quite a few folders too full of patterns and ideas. The ones that had boring covers got covered in wrapping paper. I used sticky labels on these too. 

I painted some wooden Ikea magazine box files in shades pink, turquoise and aqua. I want to stencil or paint a rose on them but still haven't made my mind up yet what to do. I've had a go with paints on scrap paper but haven't quite found the look I'm after. I also want to finish off a painted chair and stool with the same motif so it's got to be just right. I'll have to give it more thought and do some more searching online for inspiration.

I have a couple of pots (melamine tumblers) that I have put paint brushes and a few pens & pencils in and I bought a cutlery drainer from Dunelm Mill in a gorgeous shade of pink which I use like a desk tidy. It will do until I see something better.

I will review my tins, jars and other containers I've used in a future post but for now here are some photos of my filled shelves and cupboard in my new craft room.

Zx

COUNTRY LIVING CHRISTMAS FAIR LONDON 2014

A couple of weeks ago I spent a fabulous (and tiring) few days in London with my daughter.

We had a very, very stressful start to our journey by finding there were no spaces left in the station car parks. The station is quite remote with only a few side roads around which either have double yellow lines or any parking spaces all taken up too. Panic started to kick in. Luckily, after asking a couple of ladies, we found a private car park which actually worked out a lot cheaper.

After dumping our bags in our hotel room & Oyster cards topped up, off to Covent Garden we went with Cath Kidston being our first port of call. To me its like being in a sweetie shop. I find it so overwhelming  seeing the products in the "flesh", So much to see, so much to choose from, so much I want! I had to be sensible & tell myself "I don't need another one". So... I came away with another mug, another shopping bag and some cup cake cases. I think I was quite restraint!

Cath Kidston purchases

We popped in a couple of others shops in Covent Garden including Sass & Belle where I found some cute fawn/deer gift tags & wrapping paper. I can't resist any retro/kitsch  Baby Sham/Bambi type fawn/deer things.

Sass & Belle purchases

After not falling for the flattery from a bicycle rickshaw guy..."this must be your older sister" said to my daughter (Yeah, who are you kidding? Do we look gullible?)..... who wanted to recommend somewhere for us to eat (we guessed he was going to suggest somewhere far enough away that we would need a ride) we ate at Belgo, a Belgian restaurant. 

Belgo Beer Menu - we had a Fruli Strawberry

Then, satisfactorily stuffed we headed towards Theatre Royale, Drury Lane to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

We had very good seats on the front row of the Royal Circle. It was a brilliant show. It was surprising it was not very busy. I can only guess it was because it is aimed at children & it was a school night.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Following day we went to the Country Living Christmas Fair in Islington. This is my fourth time to this show. Lots of fantastic stands, so much I like and want but don't need. I also have a habit of telling myself "I could make one of those"! (Here are some pictures of my favourite stands (I forgot to take my own pictures) 

http://www.silverdashery.com/home/4582244057

http://www.charlottemacey.co.uk

http://wuandwu.com

http://www.coolcrafting.co.uk

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/mysweetfairy

And here are some of the things I bought (I can't show everything as some are Christmas presents)

Bird Feeder

Christmas Decorations

We spent the following day in Oxford Street starting in Primark near Tottenham Court Road Tube Station. Because we bought so much there we took the bags back to our hotel to save walking around with them all day. We walked almost the whole length of Oxford Street so by 7pm we were shopped out, and starving. We found Pizza Express in St Christopher's Place (which is down one of the back streets near Selfridges).  It was good to sit down & eat pizza, washed down with a Peroni. Didn't take long to fall asleep that night!

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN OXFORD STREET 2014

On our final morning we took the tube to Victoria as I was keen to visit HEMA in the Victoria Place Shopping centre. If you haven't heard of HEMA its a dutch shop selling all sorts of goodies such as food, stationery & make-up at quite cheap prices (you can order online too). It's not a very big store & not everything was to my liking but I picked up some sweets, a couple of birthday cards & cute deer/fawn Christmas decoration. 

From HEMA

I had to be careful about what else I bought as I already had so much stuff to get back on the train I really couldn't manage much more.

& these were just mine!

It was lovely to get away with my daughter and have some girlie time together.

Zx