Monday, April 28, 2014

A Baby Boy Patchwork Quilt

My youngest sister had her first baby in February. A sweet little boy. They named him Oskar and you’ll never guess what I made for him…

Ta da…

Oskar Quilt lighter Kopie

A rather soft-toned little patchwork quilt with his appliqued name. (Well, how DID you know it was a quilt?!)

Oskar Quilt applique

I chose the striped background to make it look like the name was written on lined paper. I raw edge appliqued the letters and outlined them with black Aurifil in a rather careless, wonky way. I like the effect so much that I will surely come back to this method often.

I free-motion quilted the patchwork part with dogwood quilting, one of my favourite quilting designs ever. As there are much more light fabrics, I used a white 50 wt. Aurifil so the thread blends well with most fabrics and just adds texture. The striped part was fmq using straight lines within the white stripes (see photo above).

Oskar Dogwood Quilting

And the same light striped fabric was used for the binding. If I knew where I bought it or what it name was I’d buy some more, I really grew fond of this versatile fabric! For the backing I used a dark grey fabric with white and green butterflies that I’ve had in my stash for ages.

Oskar Binding backing and name tag

And then I tried something new. When my husband gave me this sewing machine for christmas 2012, it came with an automatic embroidery module. I never tried it because I never wanted to sacrifice the little spare time I have for reading the manual.

Then I decided that Oskar’s Quilt needed a proper label and eventually I read the manual and installed the hoop. I could not make it work. I read the manual multiple times but the hoop did not move. After spending two hours muttering and swearing I called the Pfaff Dealer in complete desperation.

It turned out that I only forgot to remove a little transport securing plastic device. Stupid me. After 2,5 hours I made it work:

Oskar label making

In the end I was so happy with this little label that I am sure I will make many more (Now that the darn plasting thingy is gone…)

Oskar Quilt label

Now guess what happend?! Little Oskar likes his quilt! See??

Oskar close up_lr

Isn’t he cute as pie? And he is sooooo “well behaved”! He sleeps well, he eats (or rather drinks) well, he seldom cries (and only with a low voice). He is such a handsome litte baby boy!

Thank you, dear brother-in-law for that lovely photo! And thanks for your permission to use it on my wee little blog (o:

Happy Quilting!
Christine

P.S. As you can see from the label, I made this quilt in january. The baby was born at the beginning of february. It “only” took me 2,5 months to write a blogpost. Guess how much sewing has been done during the last 4 months? Nearly nothing. My daytime job is so exhausting at the moment.

I so long for more time (and energy!) to sew. Even on the occasional afternoons off (when the boys are visiting friends or grandma), I can’t gather enough energy to sew. I am tired all the time. I can’t count the evenings when I headed downstairs for my sewing room, turned on the lights, looked at my WIPs and turned the lights off again.

Does this happen to you sometimes? How do you get over it? Is there a tried and proven method?

9 comments:

  1. Both the quilt and the boy are cute! i love how you raw edge appliquéd his name on the quilt, I might just pinch that idea ;-)
    I've had non sewing days, weeks, months too and my way of getting out of the funk is to start a small, quick project like a pouch, fabric bucket or cushion cover. Once I finish that I'm usually bursting with ideas and find the energy to make them reality.

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  2. These are such nice soothing colors for baby. It's beautiful

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  3. Love the quilt --and he is adorable! Doesn't matter when you post--just as long as you DID! Thanks For Sharing!

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  4. Oh Christine I am with you on the sewing front too.... Sometimes I think my Mojo gets swamped.... I have so many WIPS that I can't see past the long list & piles of fabric.. I think the best way is to tackle one thing at a time.... Decide which is going to be most fun and work on it until it is finished. or..
    I think deadlines help me.. I work best under pressure so promising someone something will focus me to get it done as I don't want to let them down. Pick which method will suit you.. x

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  5. The WIPs are not the thing you should do right now when you do not like to finish them. When the WIPs do not speak to me I simply ignore them and start something new or I do sports. I always get energy back after sports. Or maybe you should go to the doctors and have the Eisenwert checked. But I would not worry too much. There are times for sewing and times for other thing. Just relax ;)

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  6. Dear, your work is deliciuous and Oskar´s pretty and swetty.
    Quisiera ser capaz de escribir en inglés cuánto te entiendo acerca de no disponer del tiempo que quisiéramos para dedicarnos a estas tareas tan placenteras. Ojalá puedas encontrar en breve ese tiempo que necesitás. Lo deseo tanto como aprender a hacer estas mantas pachwork que tanto me gustan.
    Take care!

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  7. Der Quilt ist toll geworden und das Label auch. Ja das mit dem Zeitproblem habe ich auch aber es kommen bestimmt auch mal Stunden an denen man sich seinem Hobby widmen kann. Übrigens ist gestern das angeblich von DHL zurück geschickte Päckchen angekommen. Ich war einfach nur baff.
    Lieben Gruß Sylvia

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  8. Das ist ein wunderschöner Quilt für Deinen Neffen, die Stoffe finde ich ganz klasse - und er selbst ist auch richtig süß :-) Ach ja, manchmal wünsche ich mir, meine wären auch noch so klein... Aber wenn ich dann wieder an die Nächte denke... Ist schon gut so, wie es jetzt ist :-))
    Mir geht das manchmal auch so, dass ich keine Zeit oder Lust zum Nähen habe. Dann denke ich mir, dass ich ja nicht nähen muss, keiner zwingt mich. Und dann darf auch mal was liegenbleiben. Wenn ich dann einen ruhigen Moment habe und ein Erfolgserlebnis brauche, dann klappt es meist wieder. Aber ein großes Werk würde ich da auch nicht anfangen oder wieder aufnehmen - eher etwas Kleines. Mittlerweile ist es bei uns ja so, dass ich auch tagsüber nähen kann - nicht erst abends, wenn alle verräumt sind. Das hilft viel, denn da bin ich einfach noch nicht so k.o. und fertig...

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  9. Der Quilt ist so schön, und so schön für Jungs geeignet. Besonders den Schriftzug finde ich toll, das können auch Stickmaschinenlose wie ich :-).

    Und was das erschöpft sein angeht: Bei mir siehts genauso aus, nach Arbeiten, Haushalt, Kind, etc. fehlt mir die Kraft. Es reicht gerade zum Auf-dem-Sofa-sitzen und einfach Sachen stricken.

    Ich hoffe dass ich demnächst etwas Energie finde....

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