A quilt for the baby

The other thing I have been making in my time away from the shop is this little fella, baby Nathaniel born five weeks ago:

The embroidered fish piece in the last post made me think how nice it would look as a square in a quilt. At the same time, a good selection of yellow-y fabrics began, as if by magic, to build in my stash. Like, all by themselves.

A trip to Whitstable last summer led to a bit of this:

Which in turn led to a very satisfying and definitely best-done-in-private bit of this:

(I posted these on Instagram hence the filters. The comment was 'I miss my blog'. I really did).

...And before I knew it I had enough for a cot quilt. I always look to Alicia Paulson for spiritual guidance when planning a quilt, and followed the technique she used in her Ollalieberry quilt. 

I went for fabrics that had a bit of a narrative, like this lovely Heather Ross 'Princess and the Pea' (below) from her Far Far Away range. And the Hansel and Gretel fabric. Not sure what the story is with the Mexican dudes but I'd sure like to know it.

I copied Alicia and used Warm and White wadding this time, all natural and made from hemp and not too artificially light feeling. Perhaps it would also aid sleep...

Nat in progress visible here. The choice of wadding makes it a bit thinner than usual but I am pleased with the result:

A boy! He's a bit small for it yet, in fact he's a bit small for most things yet; but when he graduates from moses basket to cot, the quilt is ready and waiting, with love.

Laptop case

Well, this is a strange post to write. I lovingly made this case for one of the most important things in my life, the recipient of hours of my time and waking thoughts: my dear laptop. 

The second most expensive thing I have ever bought even with the staff discount my friend got me. But my word, it was worth it. I decided to make it a cover as I simply could not bear the thought of any little blemishes on its perfect body.

I made it a couple of weeks ago but did not have a chance to write a post about it. Since then we have been parted. And things have changed. I have been on holiday, camping and travelling and have not had time for my sweetheart. It has been so nice to get sun baked, eat a lot of sausages, drink surprisingly potent hot chocolate and sleep under nothing but stars and canvas. And be unplugged.

So it feels odd to be writing this ode to my laptop now. I know it is only temporary, an evening or two and we'll rediscover our spark. We just need time.

To make the cover I used this tenugui from Japan. I love the way it has been dyed, the thick softness of the cotton and the deep beautiful blue. I also thought the glasses print had a great studious, ocular feel. 

It was not big enough so I added some more cotton from my stash. The floral print came from here and worked perfectly. I used some old curtain lining for the padding, the really thick kind, essentially a plain blanket. This gave the cover enough padding and protection.

To finish it off I sewed the whole together and used red bias binding for the edges. For once I used the invisible hand sewing technique for binding, and I loved it. I had forgotten what a lovely way hand sewing is to spend a few minutes of your life. I did it the way shown in  sewing books: you sew it back to front on the machine on one side, then flip it over and use tiny invisible hand stitches on the other side.

Amy Karol has a great tutorial for the all machine way here, if the project had been any bigger I would have used that method.

Some well-placed velcro, a few zig zag stitches and it was done. What would have been great is if I had used red velcro, but there just wasn't the time.

But for now I am feeling happily analogue, grimy and brown. 


As long as I ignore the perfect storm of dirty washing, unpacking, empty fridge and tired children brewing downstairs.

Running repairs

I finished this quilt about fourteen years ago. It was the first quilt I made using a machine, and the second one I had ever done. I made it up as I went along. This may have something to do with why it took three years. That and the fact that I went to university in the middle of making it.

I didn't use the highest standards. I did not know about things like binding, or binding makers, or really have any  proper understanding of how fabric frays. The quilt goes on our bed every winter and currently looks like this:

Fourteen years wear and tear. I know how it feels. 


Around ten years ago, in a moment of madness I took it to the launderette to be cleaned, not knowing how else to do it. It came back faded, which at the time I was very upset about, but now quite like. 

Once, I filled the bath with warm soapy water and walked on it with my bare feet, grape crusher style, this was a lot of fun but it took about a week to dry. 

Any suggestions of how to clean a patchwork quilt are greatly appreciated.

Last week with the first sign of sun in our little north facing garden I hung it over the washing line and did some repairs. 

Just me, the sun, the birds, the radio, the local stereo soundclash and some sewing. It was lovely. 

And it lasted exactly twenty-nine minutes. But each one was bliss.






PS Giveaway winners Ju, Elizabeth and Claire from clarabella kindly send me your adresses and I'll get cards in the post. And thanks to all who entered.

Swedish sewing

I saw this Almedahls fabric in Skandium and it was love at first sight. Only one metre mind, beautiful Swedish design does not come cheap. I wanted it on the sofa in our kitchen, but I have wasted enough of my life straightening crumpled sofa throws. So I made it into a sort of quilt-throw. A thick one so it would hold its shape and not need any attention. 

This was going to be a world speed record project. I did not even measure up, I just chose the other pieces from my stash and cut to size by pinning them right sides together with the Almedahls piece. I then sewed the backing pieces together, added the 'filling' layer of the batting, and did a couple of lines of quilting to keep the whole together.

The large black patterned piece was brought back from India by my mother years ago. It is hand block printed and still smells of sandalwood.

I spotted this elegant linen round the neck of a dapper friend who kindly sent me an identical piece. To finish off I bound the edges with chocolate brown linen. And this is what it looked like yesterday:

Oh dear. I recently discovered the joys of the bias binding maker. A little gadget that helps you make your own trim, giving you nice neat and strong edges. 

I used the one on the left  to bind this quilt-throw with chocolate brown linen. It was too thin, and I am not a skilled and patient enough seamstress so it did not bind properly. So I found the larger, 50 mm one (the site I got it from does not seem to be around anymore but you can find one here) and it worked brilliantly.

Lovely mitred corners.

Here it is in action:

So yesterday I made the above pile of bias strips and re-bound it. And here it is:

There are a few tutorials out there to do this properly, which all seem to involve a lot of hand sewing. I bet that is a lovely job to do whilst watching a film. But as I said, I tend to make things in a hurry so I just pinned around and sewed it and that was that. Very smart, comfy and low maintenance.