Update on Quilted Gifts

Here are some photos of the finished baby mat. I am actually quite pleased with how it turned out, very colourful and I think playful. I like that I ended up making a 'neutural' coloured mat because if the have other children later, boys and girls, they all can use it! I do hope it proves useful to the parents. I know they have polished floor boards in the house so this would protect the child from the cold floor when it is playing- that's the idea anyhow.

I have also got some photos of the cushions I have been making. I have finished piecing the tops and putting the borders on. I am now contemplating whether I do quilt them or will the stitching make the tops too busy? I could dip stitch them but I am totally hopless at that and you can always see some stitches. Oh I don't know but I do have some time to think about it.

As you can see I have decided on making 4 cushions. I don't think I could fit more in my suitcase! Also I eliminated the green squares in the corners, I had cut them out and set it up with them in the corners but it acutally looked wrong. It looked good in the mockup design but in real life YUCK! don't know why but it just did! I think that gold/green material is what I will use for the reverse side.

Cushion Covers in the Making

I have been working hard these last few days crocheting, quilting and then quilting some more. My latest quilting project are these soon to be pillow cushions which I will also take with me to Germany. ( it seems my suit case will have nothing but handmade gifts in it and no clothes!) These will be for my boyfriend's parents to put in their lounge room. My boyfriend has sent me a photo of different rooms in the house and after having noticed their couches don't have cushions I thought that's where I could help!

Here is a photo of the room I am making the cushions for. I think I will make four, enough to decorate the place without over doing it and making it possible to carry them with me on the plane. If I have time, maybe some bigger fancy ones for the single chairs. See how I go.

This is my mock up design for the front of the cushions. I think I will make them with buttons on the back or maybe just get my mum to help me put a zip on them. I am not sure yet, but I think some nice brass buttons would finish them off quite nicely.

In their first stage, middle section done. So far I have done two middle sections, two more to go!

Crocheting Around

I just love the german crochet bag that was posted on the Granny-Along blog. I decided to have a go myself and so I downloaded the pattern but couldn't really understand it, then I went on You tube and found a video tutorial and viola I was making solid granny squares! I've tried a few ways one where I am going in between the double crochet and another where I am going through the top link in the double crochet, both which give a different effect. I think I need a bigger hook as the stitches look much smaller than the ones in the photos posted on flicker.

It's Coming along, Slooowwwly

Here are some update photos of the granny square blanket I'm making for my boyfriend. Once these squares are complete then that's basically just under half of the blanket done!

Baby Play Mat Quilt!

I have started making a baby/toddler quilted play mat for my boyfriend's brother's soon to be born baby. I didn't know the sex of the baby when I bought the material but since then I have learnt that it will be a baby girl. Anyhow the colours I chose are neutral, neither traditionally boys' or girls' colours but bright fun and almost tasty! I used my block book again but this time it let me down, the measurements were wrong by an inch! Thank God I didn't make that many before I realised they wouldn't fit together. I might use the spare bits as part of the border's corners. I've never made this pattern before so it's been fun and also quite easy because you just have one corner that has to match up.

Here is a photo/mock up of how I plan to finish it with the border. I was also thinking the purple material as the binding.

February Swap Block

For February's block swap my swap partner asked for a block that featured a star. I have used my new quilt block book to make a simple 9 patch star. Whilst my sewing machine has been playing up and causing me trouble using, the book has been easy to use! Here is a photo of the block. This is the first time I've made this block!