Sunday Stash #22

Uh-oh, going shopping with a fully-blown nesting instinct is no good idea, even worse when the shop you're visiting has a 25 per cent birthday discount. Then again, supporting the brick and mortar down your road and getting some exercise at nine months pregnant surely is a good thing. I mean, I also won't have the time or frame of mind for a while and it's always good to have a replenished stash, too, right? (Shhhh, I'm not even talking the Black Friday online order that sneaked in yesterday which totally fulfils the same purpose, just like the Cotton & Steel order I handed over to my mum to give me for Christmas.)

Anyway, if you're in Berlin - the Nähkontor is a lovely little shop that also offers classes. Go check it out.

I got some pretty dotty prints and a Cotton & Steel print I didn't order and that hasn't been handed over to my mum.

Beautiful, cutesy FQs and fabric scraps - just look at those mummy and baby animals. Not a chance that hormone-me could have left it behind in the cold world store. I'm also proud to have added some yellows and prints on white because I don't usually stack up on these colours.

Could you believe they had two spools of the perfect silk thread for the Eggplant Kona in my Grecian Waters HSTs? The thread I'd ordered online and showed you last week is a beautiful shade and would have worked fine but this is a match made in heaven! Kismet!

I also got some old snap-fasteners - they sell old notions, presumably from clearances, for a lot less than the new shiny ones and with the little one on the way they'll come in handy for makings - and some essential solids. They're not as drapey and soft as Kona but will work fine for the pillows they're meant for and the white was much needed for the big snowflake in my Winter Baby Girl Quilt.

It was quite a lot to carry home. Told you it was exercise!

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #9 - Assembling the Top

So I did it, I made a new snowflake using Shape Moth's beautiful paper pieced "Snow Cristal". This time around I avoided the mistake of cutting away my seam allowance and I made the block so much prettier, too, by using different fabrics for the different tiers. I still like the idea of a white snowflake against a dark background but it simply wasn't working for this particular quilt.

Just look at the difference a proper seam allowance makes! The new block is lying all flat and wrinkle-free.

This block has given me a huge boost and I've finally decided on my layout. Not only that, I've even started assembling the top as evidenced by our bed.

Time for a break now because the bump is getting in the way and demands a period of rest but I'm sure to sew up at least another column today. Whoop whoop.

Evening update:

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #8 - Layout

And the journey continues.

It's not that easy to put all my blocks together in a well-balanced way that pleases me. It took me probably an hour to come up with these variations. The first one isn't so good because there are two irregular stars next to each other.

In the second one the faulty snowflake (still to be re-done) is too dominant and the snowflakes are too close too each other.

I think I like this third layout best but the big snowflake is still too prominent. Maybe I should rather make a third one from parallelograms if my scraps allow for it, maybe I should consider re-doing the big snowflake with some of the beige fabric and not just my teal remnants. I'll give it a pondering. What's your take? Excess blocks aren't problematic. They'll be relegated to spicing up the backing.

Happy sewing!

Sunday Stash #21

I've acquired a few goodies to share on here over the past weeks and - shocker - most of them aren't going to be stashed and forgotten but are necessary for ongoing projects! Such as Gütermann silk thread for accent quilting on the Winter Baby Girl Quilt as well as yardage, quilting and silk thread for my Grecian Waters HST quilt. I set my mind on silk thread after stumbling upon this gorgeousness on Pieces of Contentment.

I'm so so excited to work on this project once the baby quilt is done!

Lastly, I also found this pretty print and bought two metres for some cushion-y goodness in the future, a cheap end of  bolt cut, and snap-fasteners to replenish my stash after making baby's first dresses.

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #7 - HST Star Blocks

Argh, I've run out of white white fabric so can't re-do my faulty snowflake today. Yes, I will re-do it. It just doesn't live up to the standards for this quilt. It might do just fine in another project but not this precious baby quilt. Nope.

Well, this little stumbling block hasn't stopped me from getting a bit more work done before visiting my parents with both my sister and nephew for the weekend. Actually, it freed up time to finally get around sewing my HSTs together.

And these blocks definitely meet my criteria for the quilt. The first one will be embroidered with little one's initial - once daddy and I finally make up our mind/finish our discussions. Hehe.

When I'm back from my mini-holiday it's time to set my mind on layouting the quilt. Hopefully it'll all come together!

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #6 - More Snowflakes

I should have cut the triangles with a proper seam allowance as Joanna clearly writes in her tutorial - silly me for not reading it and simply plunging in. Though I'll certainly not repeat that mistake! Piecing the halves together was hell and it's a tiny bit puckery now when it was all so accurate due to actually paper piecing the block - and I'm a bit scared whether it'll hold up with such a small allowance - 3 mm?

In the quilt or out of the quilt? We'll see. I'm piecing two more star blocks and then I should be done and able to piece my top and back. Maybe I'll just make a new big snowflake and keep this one as a reminder to work slowly now and then.

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #5

I made this yesterday and am unsure whether I like it enough to go in the quilt or not. For one, I made a construction mistake - the white was meant to go to the edges and the teal in the middle. I didn't realise my misstep until I'd attached and cut to measure the background fabric on half the pieces. Given that I'm running low on this fabric and am still planning further blocks I didn't want to disassemble and cut more.

So the star doesn't look as planned. It's also not as perfectly matched in the middle as all those seams have made it rather bulky. But it was a ton of work!

All in all I like it better after a night's sleep but I'm still on the fence. Guess it's best to just continue with my blocks and see how they fall into place in the end. If I don't use this one it'll still be good for a cushion or some other trinket.

Happy sewing!

Cushion Quick Fix

With all those wonderful but time consuming stars and snowflakes I needed a quick fix and decided to wing this into a front block for a cushion. I'll definitely buy the pattern if I decide to make more so I won't have to fret about math, cutting and adjusting in the future.Yesterday I just made it up as I went, same as I do with the stars and snowflakes.

The pillow will become my nephew's Christmas present. He keeps on stealing his mum's Kirby cushion and I think he deserves one of his own. Yay, that's one me-made Christmas present this year (excluding the guest in my womb). It'll be completed with a quick envelope back and some simple quilting. Nothing fancy, just a satisfying quick fix which, I dare say, is terribly cute.

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #4 - Snowflakes

More block additions to the Winter Baby Girl Quilt and yes, I did go with the snowflakes! It might have been a bit mad not to paper piece these but I managed and am deeply satisfied with the results. Can I just say how great I feel about this quilt already?

These will likely get frames in the evening, for now I'm off to visit my colleagues with cake and a gazillion sweets. Soul food to make up for my absence.

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #3 - Seeing Stars

The joys of pre-baby maternity leave - I've got lots of time to sew and you get tons of eye candy and regular blog posts - enjoy it while it lasts *wink*.

Here are two stars with a stained glass window effect that I started yesterday and finished today. Gee, I love love love them. And to think that it always starts with tiny strips of fabric nowhere close in effect.

The big one isn't one hundred per cent perfect and it's entirely my fault for hypercorrecting with the roll cutter during the sewing process. (Btw, I got a new blade in the mail today - it's always such a dream to cut with a new blade, isn't it?) I was more relaxed when assembling the smaller star and wouldn't you believe that it's ever so neat! This makes me especially proud as I didn't paper piece them.

I'm collecting quite the wonderful selection of stars here and am terribly fond of them. But, methinks, I might throw in something else. What do you reckon, wouldn't one or two snowflakes go perfectly with them? Either blocks or quilted, or both? I'm off to have a look for patterns to see whether I'll go for it.

Happy sewing and have a great week!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #2 - Saturday Stitching

I simply must share a few quick pics documenting my laborious but glorious afternoon.

Sticking with the star theme and still making it up as I go. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

Happy sewing!

Winter Baby Girl Quilt #1

I did it. I cut into these very special fabrics.

I'd been huffing and puffing about what to do, itching and aching to make a decision, very unsure and insecure - so I did something. Something most often beats nothing. Something to see how the fabrics look sewn together, something fun and quick, something not necessarily becoming part of the baby quilt. In short: something to free my mind. Say hello to irregular stars!

At the same time I made a bunch of tiny HSTs using the handy paper I won ages back and which I used to make the nephew's Fish & HSTs quilt. I'm not yet sure where exactly this is going but I'm happy to take this less planned journey. I've got a feeling this is going to be good.

Happy sewing!