The Baby A Quilt

Well what to do with all that left over pink fabric?  Hilary to the rescue!  Thank goodness she had beautiful baby Audrey, who has already been the victim of a homemade gift (see the buttoned-up baby wrap).  But I couldn’t let the baby wrap be her only present (seeing as I think that’s a one time use kind of gift), so a quilt is perfect!

The quilt inspiration board on Pinterest is just overflowing with ideas.  But there was one that I pinned early on and I’ve been itching to make!  It’s the Color Block Quilt from Bijou Lovely Designs.  Just perfect for all the leftover pink I’ve got – I only needed to pick up the sashing, and two other colors to come up with my version:

And I super duper love it.  It covers all my obsessions of modern clean design, ombre, and adorable baby size (Ahem, Race for the Cure quilt, this is sooooooo much easier than king size!).  But as much as I love it, after I made the top, I just couldn’t leave it at this…..

No, I felt the need to come up with something spectacular for the back as well.  I mean, who says you can’t piece the back too?  And I still had tons of pink!  So I set to work on a monogrammed design that has me flashing back to the pixelated graphics of the video games of my youth: 

The back actually took me longer to make than the front!  That’s a lot of little squares to sew together.  But it’s the perfect pair to the fabulous front and now there can be no stealing of this quilt!  It’s all Audrey’s! 

–Martta

 

Knitting the Super Easy Baby Blanket

You know, for a post that doesn’t have a lot of words in it, this project sure took me a looooooong time to complete.  I decided that this would be the year I learned to knit.  (I make these kinds of royal decrees all the time, thankfully usually only the dogs are around to hear them….) I had a long road trip coming up and I thought I could pick up an easy project and make some serious progress on the drive.  This pattern from the Purlbee seemed like just the ticket – I mean it’s got the words “super easy” right in it!  

Let’s just say that I did not make tons of progress on my road trip, in fact, it took me SEVERAL months to tackle this monster.  But it got done.  So no welcoming of the baby, but in time for baby’s first Christmas!

Here’s what I learned:

• I am a slow knitter.
• Driving while knitting a first project = lots of dropped stitches.  Only I didn’t know what those were at the time, so I just called them delightful holes.
• Ripping out 20 rows of stitching and then trying to remember how to cast on was a good idea in that I accidentally cast on fewer stitches so it made my blanket almost pattern width (rather than 50 stitches too wide)
• I am remarkable efficient at adding stitches to my work accidentally.  How do you think it got to be 50 stitches too wide?
• Knitting a wool blanket on planes is a great way to pass the time and an excellent way to ward off the plane chill unless you are in a middle seat sitting on the tarmac in Dallas in the middle of August when they decide to cut the air conditioning.  Then it seems like a TERRIBLE idea.
• Everyone on a plane wants to know when you are knitting.  Best guess I heard was scarf (When I was on my last skien of yarn.)  Really dude?  That’s one hell of a giant scarf.  Make nice with these people anyway, you will need their help when you drop your ball of yarn.
• I did get faster as the project went along, but I still wasn’t fast enough to start a row when the plane landed and finish it by the time we got to the gate in Austin.
• I hate stopping in the middle of a row.
• Two seasons of Downton Abbey = tremendous progress on the knitting project.
• The internet is a terrible place to look for knitting help when you don’t know the name of the stitch you are doing.  It’s garter stitch.  And it’s now my favorite.
• The best gift of all is giving a gift to a friend who you know will appreciate it.  Laura, you have my permission to steal this blanket from your child on use it for yourself.

With all that, I will say this project is super easy.  You know, after I figured out what the crap I was doing.

Full details on yarn and the project on my Ravelry page 

Here are some pictures of the in process work because there is no greater joy than celebrating the start of a new color…..especially when you have like four more colors to go after it. 

–Martta

Pattern Review: Insulated Wine Tote

I found this adorable wine tote pattern made by Kathryn Goodman on the Bernina site a few years ago when I was just learning to sew.  It made for a quick homemade project that was spot on with my skill level.

So that Christmas, it was ‘Wine Totes for Everyone!’

Even after making over a dozen of these totes, I still love the pattern.  So when I was searching around for a gift idea for a volunteer board that I head, I immediately thought of this project.  Who doesn’t like a little wine as a thank you for all the hard work you do?  Don’t they look cute all sewn up? 

Just a few tips on this project.  Be generous with the pins in step two when you are basting the exterior fabric to the Insul-Brite.  Otherwise the exterior fabric has a tendency to shift a bit. 

Also plan to be generous with the pins when you attach the interior and exterior. The only issue I have with the pattern is on the handle – and it’s not a deal breaker of an issue.  The pattern calls for a 3″ wide cut on the tote handle.  After sewing the long edges together and pressing opposite edges in 1/2″ the picture in the step shows that the long edges of the fabric are touching but they should be an inch apart if you cut the piece 3″ wide.  I think it’s just a type-o and that you should cut the handle 2″ wide, but if you prefer a wider handle, then keep it at 3″

Happy Sewing!

–Martta