Well since the obsession has started I haven't been able to stop... and since my friends and I are all busy baby making at the moment - what better excuse to keep quilting than to make us all baby quilts!!! Firstly I have to say that I LOVE making baby quilts. They are so quick and easy, giving me a chance to try different things without committing to too big a project - not to mention getting bored of the project half way through, which I have to admit is one of my downfalls!! Also they are such a well recieved and (hopefully) well used gift.
The first 2 baby quilts shown are still made on my old sewing machine. A machine that my parents gave me for Christmas about 7 years ago and had only ever been used previously for hemming trousers. It probably cost $100 and is pretty much the most basic machine going. NOT that I'm not grateful for the present- thanks mum and dad!! :)
So there is a major difference in quality, (not to mention production speed!!!!!!!) in my quilts after I just about threw my machine out the window and talked my husband into letting me buy a new sewing machine. I think the clincher was when I bought a new foot for my old machine so that I could do free motion quilting and then proceeded in breaking 6 needles over a 24 hour period trying to use it. Not cool!!
My new machine is a Brother IN 1200 sewing and embroidery machine. It's totally love at first sight!! I've had it for a week and have already finished 2 quilts and have another 2 on the go. Sooo deliciously easy and quick to use, not to mention that it makes me look about 100 times better at sewing. I love it!!!
Anyway here are a couple of the quilts I've made... As you can see I've got a bit of a bird fettish at the moment. Loving it.
Quilt #2 - Jorja's quilt. Backed with light pink fleece with a cotton wadding it's oh so cosy. After my dismal success with breaking needles using free motion quilting I just stitched in the ditch on the diagonal with this one using a pink variegated thread. Makes it more cosy for a baby quilt with less quilting anyway I think. I also bound it using pink flannel. It feels really cosy but remains to be seem how it wears for the binding.
Quilt #3 - This one is for a friend of mine who is due 2 weeks before me and doesn't know what she's having. Because she's due so close to me I thought it was just better to make one now and be organised, so I made it neutral colours. I did NOT love this quilt as I was making it!! In fact the colours really weren't working for me at all and the design just wasn't coming together. It wasn't until I found this
tutorial by Anita from Bloomin' Workshop that I got some inspiration and try out adding some scrappy birds. Once I finished this quilt I love it.
After finding my previous baby quilt a bit thick using both cotton wadding & fleece for the back I tried using flannel instead of wadding for the middle of this one. Not happy at it's success though. Especially as I just stitched in the ditch around the squares. It does not hang together as well. So back to using wadding for me. - Oh well - you have to expiriment with these things right?
Quilt #4 - Finley's quilt. This quilt was for friends of ours in England who just had their first baby. My first quilt on my new sewing machine - What a breeze!! This took about 1/4 of the time and came out so neatly. I'm sorry the photo is so rubbish. The white strip has blue, yellow and brown birds on and set the tone for the quilt. These are not colours I would normally pick, being more of a brights girl, but I loved this quilt all the way through and am really happy with how it came out. The photo just doesn't do it justice. It again has a cosy cream fleece on the back and is quilted on the zig zags 1/4 inch away from the seams. I embroidered Finley's name which looks pretty cool. I like naming baby quilts if you hadn't guessed. Also I tried machine stitching the binding using a blanket stitch just to expiriment. Not completely happy with the final result. Think I'll go back to hand stitching from now on...
In fact I loved this quilt so much that I was forced - yes arm twisted and everything - to make one for my own baby in pinks....
Which brings me to Quilt #5 - my baby's quilt. I wasn't quite so impressed at this quilt in pinks as I was with the blue but I still love it. It is super cosy. Did I mention I love my new sewing machine :) Again it was so quick to put together and looks so professional - not that I'm biased or anything.
Only 1 more baby quilt to do for now and then I can make my first adult quilt. What a novelty that will be!!
