Voile baby blanket

As I said earlier, I HAD to make my own version of Anna Maria Horner's Little Luxuries baby receiving blankets. I've used AMH voile in Maybe Sixpence together with Robert Kaufman flannel in Blue Cloud and AMH voile in RiverRock for binding. I've made a second one using AMH voile in Diamond Mine Ink together with Robert Kaufman flannel in White and AMH voile in Water for binding. Making the bias binding has been a bit of a challenge. After researching several websites, I finally understood the instructions. Note to self: Don't use disappearing ink pen to mark the lines as they disappear within 15 minutes! I've only got the binding to go for the Diamond Mine Ink blanket. But with the new baby home and having a toddler too, it's difficult to find the energy to craft at all. Not to mention all the healing I've got to do too. Nobody told me having a large baby would take such a huge toll! :)

Monkey socks

Monkey socks, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

A completed pair of Monkey Socks by Cookie A which I'm having great trouble getting over my oedema affected feet :) Love them.

Ryder Jackson

He's finally here! He was born on Tuesday arvo (hence my online silence) weighing a whopping 4.62kg (10.2lb). He had a massive 39cm head which needed the help of forceps to get out. I can tell you right now that the factory is now well and truly closed. After having an easy delivery the first time followed by months and months of complications (being born at 28wks) and now a very difficult delivery followed by months and months of physio, I can confidently say that that's it for me. If we have another baby, we'll be picking it off a shelf. My body is shattered and being 35 (nearly) it's going to take some time recovering.

I'm finally home as of last night and had a terribly restless night. Still waiting for the milk to come in properly and having a huge demanding baby makes for many wake ups and VERY sore nips. Hubby went out early this morning to buy some emergency formula to keep him satisfied for the time being. I'll pump away (again) until I can establish a good flow and try to give the nips a rest.

When I hear about women who have multiple children and given birth to them all naturally with no pain relief, I bow down. I cannot believe that women would do that to themselves and then go back for more!!!

Heather Ross

Since it's very difficult for me to get in front of the machine these days, both due to exhaustion and because I have a 3 year old, I get to spend my nights in front of the tv searching for inspiration and designing on EQ7.

I bought some Princess and the Pea fabric from a craft show a while ago and really want to use it up. I saw this one by Freshly Pieced and had to make one of my own. I'd already bought a fat quarter pack with complimentary colours and love how they all mix together.

Of course this one won't be made for a while, not until after the baby has arrived and the new machine is on my table :)

Monkey socks

One down, one to go.

New machine and new playmat for baby

Guess what my hubby bought me! Yep, a Janome Horizon 7700. How friggin exciting. Not that I'll get to see it anytime very soon as it's coming down from Queensland. By which time I'll hopefully have brought a new human into the world. But what a nice welcome home, hey?



Of course I've already planned the first thing I want to make with it using EQ7. I need a new playmat for the little one when he arrives. I thought the Dr Seuss fabrics would be ideal. Plus I'll have loads left over to make a quilt at a later date. I think I'll try to cut the fabrics prior to going to hospital...maybe tomorrow...so that they are ready to go once the machine arrives.

Bliss and Kiila

I've finished my Kiila socks. Boy, did the 2nd sock go quickly. I wanted to finish them before being shipped off to hospital to have my baby (I'm 39wks today). I don't know why I hurried though coz I'm still here. I think he's way too comfy in there to make an appearance. Meanwhile I'm too uncomfortable to try these on and take a good shot. So these shots will have to do. I really enjoyed knitting these. I had no idea that socks were such an instant gratification project.

Also, my first quilt finish for 2011. I was just using up some of my Moda Bliss jelly roll I used for this project and had no recipient in mind. Then my friend gave birth to her 3rd baby and it was a girl after 2 boys! Perfect. So being the size of a beached whale, I managed to baste, quilt and bind it all in one day. I wasn't intending to do it in one go but I was on a roll. And I think it'll be perfect because she loves shabby chic.

I used the smallest scraps of the leftover Moda Bliss (I still have lots of full jelly roll strips left!) with white cotton sashing. I used Moda Bliss Flannel in Polka Sweet for the backing and Kona Primrose for the binding. I actually really like using solids for binding. I've done this for the last couple of quilts I've completed. Not only that, but using my colour chart, it's easy to find the exact matching colour. I quilted it with an all over free motion meandering stitch. I really wanted to try a larger pattern than usual and I think it looks great and maintains it's softness.

It's on it's way, Alanna, I hope you love it :)

I've now cast on for Monkey socks using Colinette Jitterbug in Elephant's Daydream.

Kiila and other things

Here are a few things I'm working on at the moment.

Firstly there is my Kiila socks. I'm using Wollmeise 80/20 Twin in WD fuchsia. It's such a rich and vibrant colour. They are a bit full on with the twisted stitches on every row. I've already made a couple of mistakes but I'm not going to show you where :) These are great to knit when I feel like something challenging instead of my mindless Neat Ripple Blanket. The Neat Ripple Blanket is packed and ready to head to the hospital with me for when I have my baby...which, by the way I think has finally engaged. Bring it on!

Secondly, I HAD to make my own version of Anna Maria Horner's Little Luxuries baby receiving blankets. I've used AMH voile in Maybe Sixpence together with Robert Kaufman flannel in Blue Cloud and AMH voile in RiverRock for binding. I've made a second one using AMH voile in Diamond Mine Ink together with Robert Kaufman flannel in White and AMH voile in Water for binding. Making the bias binding has been a bit of a challenge. After researching several websites, I finally understood the instructions. Note to self: Don't use disappearing ink pen to mark the lines as they disappear within 15 minutes! I've only got the binding to go for these.

Thirdly I really wanted to use up the Moda Bliss jelly roll I had leftover from this project. So I got to work on EQ7 to design something. I've never made a pinwheel in my life and these turned out a lot smaller than planned. But they still look cute. I'm binding it using Kona Primrose and Moda Bliss flannel in Polka sweet. I didn't have a recipient in mind for this, but a friend gave birth to a baby girl after 2 sons. I know she loves shabby chic, so I might have to gift it to her. I'm still not sure how I'm going to baste this since I think the baby has decided to! engage itself at 38 weeks. I'm not sure I'm going to finish any of these before the baby comes. Aargh!

Pre baby photoshoot

Burp cloths and pram blanket

Ok, so here they are. What do you think? I just made a template maximising the longest side of a fat quarter (approx 21"). I made a dent on one side about 7" long and 2" deep. I only made half a template to be cut on a fold.

I cut the fabrics on the fold using my half template. I placed one printed fabric and one flannel fabric right sides facing and overlocked the edges leaving one straight side with a 5" opening. I then turned them right side out and pressed. Then I topstitched about 1/8" from the edge. That's it.

Pram blanket, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

And here is the matching pram blanket. Designed and planned on EQ7 and then put together in an hour and a half. To top it off, it was exactly the same size as the nappy liners I used to back the burp cloths so no cutting was involved :) Perfect pram size at 25" x 30".

A few things in the works

Neat Ripple Blanket. This is a great little project to carry around. I've made it so it's about 90cm wide and the pattern repeat can almost be done blindfolded...or whilst watching a movie :) I'm loving these lovely fresh colours for summer. I've had this project in the planning for zonks. I'm using Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton 8ply.

And when I'm not crocheting in front of the tv I'm cutting and sewing things for the baby. In this case, burp cloths. We don't really have these in Australia, but they are a brilliant idea. With my 1st son, I mostly used white face washers bought in packs of 10 for a few bucks. But they are really quite small and, in hindsight, really rough. I'm planning on backing these with 100% cotton absorbent flannel used in reusable nappies. I bought a packet of 12 for $44 at Baby Bunting. I can probably get 2 or 3 out of each nappy liner.

Each burp cloth only takes up half of a fat quarter. I could make 2 matching newborn bibs from the other half of the fat quarter. Or maybe wash cloths? I'll be contemplating which whilst I'm prewashing the flannel. Stay tuned.

1. Michael Miller Ring Dot Turquoise
2. Michael Miller Ta Dot Teal
3. Robert Kaufman Kona Solid Marine
4. Echino Nico Glasses Gold (85% Cotton/15% Linen)
5. Monaluna Çirca 50 Pebble Stripes Citron (100% Organic)
6. Echino Nico Bicyles Turquoise (85% Cotton/15% Linen)
7. SEI Playful Geos Teal

Christmas pillow rip off

Christmas pillow rip off, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

These pillow covers were totally copied from Crazy Mom Quilts. I loved them so much I had to make a pair to match my Christmas stockings. I used only the smallest of scraps except for the binding. Obviously my free motion quilting is a far cry from Crazy Mom Quilts, but I'm getting better at it. One pillow was hand sewn binding. The other was the first time at machine sewn binding. Also a first is the envelope closure. I usually do zip closure. I finish this more than a week after Christmas :)