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

Fabric! Do I need more?

The answer is YES! I adore fabric! I have an addiction, I can't help myself! 

When looking online or at other people's blogs or Pinterest I am always coming across gorgeous fabric. I just have to have it! Well, I wish I could have it. If there is a link or the name of the fabric or the designer is mentioned I search to see where I can get it. 9 times out of 10 I've missed the bandwagon. It usually turns out to be an old post and the fabric is no longer available or it is not sold in the UK. Sometimes I'm sucessful. 

I can't find much of this available

Moda Bonnie & Camille Marmalade

I was looking the other week at inspiration for hexagon quilts as this is something I would like to make and one thing led to another. Some Lecien fabric called Flower Sugar caught my eye. 

Lecien Flower Sugar

I found some fat quarters on eBay but the selection wasn't huge. After scouring the Internet I found The Homemakery online fabric, wool, haberdashery and craft shop. There was a huge selection and to make it even better there were various fat quarter pack combinations of it. You can see the selection here. 

Oh, I was in heaven! There are lots of goodies on this website and the service was fab. 

Here are some of the bundles to choose from

It was hard to decide which I liked the best. In the end I chose a bundle of reds, pinks and turquoise with a couple of extra fat quarters. I was not disappointed when they arrived.

They will be added to my fabric stash in one of my storage boxes & placed where I can see them when I enter my craft room. One day I will use them, I promise!

Zx