Defractured – a baby boy quilt

I can’t believe I actually finished a quilt. It’s been such a long time! Don’t get me wrong: I haven’t been quilting much lately, infact I haven’t been sewing much at all (my mojo went missing). But FINISHING a quilt that’s something that has not happened here for a very loooooong time…

All that was needed to get me going was another baby to be born. Not mine. But my friends’. And another one (from my sister). And another one (from my colleague at work). So even if I finished ONE quilt now, I am already late for the other two… (stay tuned for more though, I am on a roll recently…)

And now, without much further ado, here is the baby quilt that I made for my friend’s second son:

In the upper left, the hexagons are still regular. They start to fall apart in the lower left part and are completely defractured in right half. Things can be pretty in life even if they are irregular. Harmony can be found in the oddest shapes, forms and places.

I combined low volume fabrics with vibrant boy-ish prints in blue, turquoise, grey, and different shades of green.

I decided to keep the quilting simple: I used the stitch-in-the-ditch method and only quilted within the main (block) seams.

I used a white backing with little blue pluses and a scrappy binding from leftover low volume strips.

No baby quilt leaves this house without the baby’s name on it! Although I am not a huge fan of serifs, I instantly fell in love with this font. I admit that I hated those tiny serifs even more when tacking them down with my sewing machine. I used a broad zig zag stitch for this raw-edge appliqué.

One last photo and I am off to visit the newborn!

May there be many more babies to come (or I will never finish my WIPs).

Do you sometimes need some extra motivation? Did you ever loose your mojo? How did you get it back? Any tips or tricks that you want to share?

Happy Quilting!
Christine

Comfy clothes

Am I the only one feeling the need of making clothes in summer? Is there perhaps a pre-historic code that tells us to prepare clothes for winter? It seems like each summer I feel the urge to sew clothes for my kids (2013 and 2014). My quilting mojo has completely vanished 8 weeks ago.

It all started with these supercool ninja fabrics that I found in our local fabric shop. The darker one is jersey and the light one is a thick and super soft and cuddly sweater fabric.

 

I decided to make two hoodies and two t-shirts for my boys (german pattern by pattydoo found here – including how-to videos):

I would have added the front pocket to both hoodies but I am forgetful sometimes…

Here is little boy, trying some ninja moves in his new sweater:

…and big boy wearing his new tee:

When big boy fell ill some weeks ago, we discovered that he had outgrown his comfy pants (how can his legs be so long while is waist is still so small?! He needs extra long skinny jeans now). So we went to the local fabric shop and I let him choose the fabric.

I ended up making several pairs of comfy pants for him and little bro. Some with  waistbands made from knits and others with elastics in “fold-over tunnels”. Some with pockets, most without. Some with hems and others with cuffs.

And this one is my favourite:

It’s a pair of shorts I made from the left-overs. I added eyelets to the waistband and the pattern called for an imitation of a zipper-facing. It took me ages to figure out how to make it but I am happy I did it.

Here are some “in action” shots:

 

 

Now we are ready for cold but cosy and snuggly winter months (o:

Do your kids like to wear handmade clothes?

Happy sewing!
Christine

Bags, bags, bags

I made four more bags. It all started with this fabric:

And it ended in a sports bag for my youngest who was about to have his first handball lesson ever.

In the photo above, I stuffed it with boxes, the bag is too floppy in reality. You can see, that is not stiff enough in the photo below:

Of course I should have known that big brother would ask for one, too. I made the second one much stiffer by using a fusible interface. And I used a laminated IKEA fabric as lining.

See? It keeps it form without stuffing.

Plus I tried a covered zipper. Yay.

And then there was my mother’s birthday. She asked for a little bag with the emblems of her rowing club. Well. Here’s the result:

I enlarged the emblem and appliquéd it on a low volume love fabric (wonder if she saw the hint?!)

I lined it with a red and white striped fabric and I even put in a little zipper pocket for keepsakes (which is lined with a fun fabric featuring all kinds of traffic signs).

I am happy to report that she loves this little bag and that she uses it a lot.

And I made another bag – another quilted one – that will be a gift for a dear friend. So just a little sneak peek today:

Happy Quilting!
Christine

Upcycling denim into bags for boys

While in many anglophone countries kids go trick or treating on All Hallow’s Eve, in Germany the kids take lanterns on St Martin’s day and walk around the neighborhood, stopping at every door and singing songs. They are usually rewarded with candy.

I decided to make two new little bags for them to collect candy.

I browsed the internet and found this awesome tutorial. It was easy to follow and I finished the bag in two evenings. The only thing I changed is that I used a pair of old denim jeans instead of fleece.

It would have been easier if the legs had been wider but with some squeezing and twisting I managed to make do.

I showed the shark bag to my sons and my youngest adopted him at once. I told my eldest that I’d make him another one. But he asked for a dinosaur bag. Duh. No online tutorial available ): So I had to come up with something myself.

I upcycled more denim, combined it with felt and some cotton fabric and tada: this is the dinosaur bag:

After much tweaking, swearing and seam ripping it was done. And I won’t do it again. No wonder there are no tutorials for dinosaur bags. The construction was a real pain in the butt…

But it was worth the effort. My kids love their new bags and they were a huge success on St Martin’s day:

And now they take them to kindergarten every day.

Happy upcycling!
Christine

My Quilt for Craft Book Month

Oh yes, I do love craft books. And there’s one that I bought just because I liked the cover and wanted to know what’s more inside ;o) And I wasn’t disappointed.

Imagesource: amazon.com

Jessica Levitt’s Modern Mix is all about combining your favourite prints with solids. So much inspiration! And in May I really made the cover quilt ;o)



Although I must confess that I changed the pattern a bit. It called for turn-under edges for the circles and I used raw edge appliqué instead. And I changed the dimensions according to my needs (baby quilt). I used Ann Kelle’s Urban Zoologie (again) and used my GO! Baby Circle Cutting Die. I had quite a hard time deciding on the background colour as Kelle’s colours are so bright and vibrant and I didn’t want to steal their show. But I am sooooooo pleased with how it turned out in the end!

I free motion quilted circles in different sizes all over the quilt – but behold! I cheated again – I was afraid of messing up the bigger ones so I traced around some large round objects (mostly lids) and quilted the shapes afterwards.



The only frustration is that I chose a zigzag stitch that is too narrow. Some circles start fraying and might be torn off entirely so I will have to secure them with additional stitches. Oh well.

You can find my initial post with more photos here. I’m going to link up to Craftbuds, you might want to hop over and have a look at what smarter people have come up with ;o)

Happy Sunday everyone!!!
Christine

More handmade gifts…

Tomorrow my youngest will receive a little kitchen as a gift from his grandma. He turned 3 two days ago and he had a small party with three little guys from his kindergarten (and his older brother of course). Shame on me, I realized when they were gone home that I did not even take one photo of the whole fun. Blank pages in his photobook. Aaaah stupid me. Does that happen to you or am I the only  one?!

But onto the sewing part of that kitchen gift.
I quickly decided that a kitchen calls for an apron:

And another one for his older brother:

And some accessories like pot holders, oven gloves and dish towels.

All made from Metro Market by Monaluna from Robert Kaufman.

I’m nervous to see if they like them or think that they are too girly…
What do you think? Acceptable for little boys (3 and 4 years old)?!

Happy sewing!
Christine

Turn too holey jeans into shorts

My progress on #2 of my to do list: 

I finished off two jeans that were too holey and turned them into shorts:

In fact, it was the first time ever I used a twin needle and I'm really impressed with how easy it was to use and how nice the seams look.

That were the top priorities of my list. Tonight I can dwell on finishing my Jelly Roll (Race) Quilt Top. But I might be tempted to watch our National Team play in the European Football Championship instead :o)

This was the last utilitarian sewing for the next weeks. Promise. I'm glad to return to quilting now :o)

Happy Sewing!

Christine