A quilt for Leila

Last night I received the wonderful news that my friend has given birth to a little girl. It reminded me that I still need to finish the quilt for the baby and that I hadn't shared the quilt that I made for her elder daughter using prints from the Underwater collection by Elizabeth Olwen for Cloud 9 Fabrics.

After lots of uhming and ahing over which pattern to use I ended up choosing a modified version of Elizabeth Hartman's New Wave pattern. The quilt top came together quite quickly once I had cut the pieces. I'd recommend using an acrylic wedge template if you have one - I made a template from template plastic (as per the instructions) and kept accidentally trimming my template and having to make another one.

To keep the quilt nice and soft I opted for minimal quilting and just added some free-motion back and forward lines along the white sashing strips.

I finished the quilt with some navy blue binding (I think dark colours are a better choice for toddler quilts) and then took it to the park for a few quick photos in the sandpit.

I love how it turned out and am tempted to make myself a larger version - once I have obtained a proper acrylic template!

Kat

SBT50 June challenge

It's already the middle of the month, which means it is time for the mid-month reveal for the Scrapbooking Top 50 Australia challenge. This month we are challenging you to scrap some non-perfect photos:

For my Design Team example I made a layout about our trip to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum last year. I'd been putting off scrapping the photos from this event because they were far from perfect; out of focus, taken from weird angles and had a yellowish tinge. However, I really wanted to document our visit, and these were the only photos I had.

I ended up using a sheet of patterned paper that was cream based (which helped to make the photos appear brighter) and printed the photos smaller. I also included a memorabilia pocket (to hold the brochure) and a large block of journalling to take the focus away from the not-so-perfect photos.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and am glad to have captured this memory. I hope you'll be inspired to play along with these challenge and scrap some real, not perfect, photos.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 4/06/2017 and June One Monthly Goal

For this week's Sunday stash I'm sharing some flannels that I picked up from my local Spotlight store.

While it's not a very interesting haul, its a cause for celebration because it's the first time since having twins that I got dressed, left the house and made it to a fabric store.

I'm also linking up to the June One Monthly Goal with Elm Street Quilts as my goal for this month is to use these flannel prints to make some fitted bassinet sheets. Something about newborn babies makes me want to make ALL the things :)

Kat

May Beehive block

I realised that I forgot to share the block that I made for our May Queen Bee for the Beehive Quilts. Our may Queen, Eleri, requested the Wanta Fanta block with "navy, pink and dirty yellow in a crazy riot of colour and pattern". I'm normally more of a tone-on-tone (or same desinger) kinda girl but for this block I strayed way out of my comfort zone and made a block with multi-colour prints from different designers:

I have a feeling her quilt will be absolutely sensational.

Kat

Sketchy Boards June Challenge

I wasn't sure if I would have the time to scrap after the arrival of two little babies but I surprised myself and made a project for the June Sketchy Boards challenge, which is to make a project inspired by the followings sketch and/or colour palette.

Admittedly I cheated a little and used a pre-made page kit from Paige Evans' first collection for Pink Paislee. I thought that the colourful geometric background was a good match for the colourful bricks in the second image, and thanks to the pre-made background, I managed to make a layout in the time between feeds!

Lots more Design Team inspiration can be found on the Sketchy Boards Challenge Facebook page.

Kat

Sunday Stash - 28/05/17

I missed last week's Sunday Stash, but for good reason. Rather than adding to my fabric stash, I made two new additions to my family. Gregory and Harriet arrived early Sunday morning after going into early labour during Saturdaynightcraftalong.

For this week's for Sunday Stash (hosted by Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts) I'm sharing some gifts that I received while in the maternity hospital this week; fabric from Mr Gray and beautiful flowers from my beautiful family and friends (I also received chocolates but they didn't last long enough to be photographed).

I'd found out from IG friends that Darn Cheap Fabrics had some Alison Glass Handcrafted prints in stock and was feeling a bit mopey that despite being less than 5 minutes away (I could just about see the store from the window in my room), it was impossible for me to get there. However, Mr Gray and his apprentice (our oldest son, Rupert) offered to add fabric purchasing to their repertoire and went on my behalf. They came back with these vibrant prints.

Not only did Mr Gray nail my preferred style, he also surprised me by picking up "some of those pearl bracelet prints you like". He must have been paying more attention to my fabric acquisitions than I thought :)

I also thought I'd share some of the beautiful flowers that I received. This pretty bunch was sent by my beautiful sister. It was very similar to last bunch of flowers I had received - also sent by my sister but for a different reason; as a gesture of love and support after a miscarriage (and many failed IVF treatments) last year.

A subtle but sweet reminder that all of our struggles were worth it and that perseverance pays off in the end. A group of friends also dropped by and delivered these pretty rainbow flowers to celebrate the arrival of our rainbow babies.

Here's a couple of pics of my rainbow babies on the quilts that I made for them.

Gregory Ernest Gray, born 6.45am 21 May (36 weeks 1 day), 2.75 kg, 49cm

Harriet Evelyn Gray, born 6.46am 21 May (36 weeks 1 day), 2.56kg, 50cm

It goes without saying that Mr Gray, big brother Rupert and I are overjoyed at their safe arrival.

Kat

May One Monthly Goal Update

Just a quick post to share my completion of my One Monthly Goal for May.

This month my goal was to finish a second Autumn Chain baby quilt for baby number 2 using teal/turquoise/mint/aqua prints. As I had already cut most of the pieces, the quilt came together pretty quickly.

I used the block tutorial by Alyce of Blossom Heat Quilts to make 9 Autumn chain blocks with different low volume prints for the background.

I then sewed the 9 blocks together on a 3 x 3 format without sashing and quilted with some horizontal organic wavy lines. Once again, my apprentice quilt holder did a pretty good job of helping me with the photo.

I'm also linking up with the finishes for quarter 2 of the 2017 finish-a-long as this quilt was on my list of proposed finishes for this quarter.

It's just as well that it came together quickly because the babies arrived earlier than expected (more details to follow).


Kat