Thursday, November 8, 2012

Christmas Quilt


Well, I have decided to learn how to quilt better.  I need something else to spend my time sewing.
I found a fun 20 block quilt on Craftsy.com It is their 2012 Block of the Month Quilt. It is a free class on their website.  So I have been watching all the lessons as I have been working on getting all my fabric together. I have most of my patterns.  I'll have the rest and my background fabric on monday. So I'll be able to finally get some blocks sewn. I have a few of them cut out and planned. 
As you can see it is a Christmas quilt.  I don't know if I can get it done in time.  I may be able to get the quilt top done.  We shall see. Some of the blocks are going to take some time.

Update: Finished Blocks



Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Baby Shopper

As some of you know I recently published my first sewing pattern.  I figured if I was going to take the time to redesign something that I didn't have the pattern to, I might as well create a pattern for it as I go.
This is what I call the Baby Shopper.  My mother used a similar  thing when we were little. She let me have hers when N was born. I liked it, but wanted mo make some improvements and make it more functional.  The one she had used Velcro and had long straps that I ended up just wrapping around then tying around N's waist.  I shortened the waist straps and added nylon webbing and d-rings. I wanted it to be easily adjustable to whatever shopping cart I was using.
This is the one I use with baby N.  I loved Michael Miller's Forrest Life print.  I originally wanted the print in another color, but my local quilt shop didn't have it in stock. So I went with the orchid color and ended up liking it better. I used a avocado colored duck canvas on the undersides.  You might recognize it from the diaper bag I made in a previous blog. I like the weight of the canvas.  It makes it feel more durable and not just like a pillow. If you look closely, I used gross grain ribbon, not nylon webbing on this one.  I am not totally sold on the ribbon.  It tends to slip a little.  It works, but when N was dependent on it to keep her upright, it would slowly slip out and she would be sideways.  If the ribbon was less silky it might work better.  

I have been selling the pattern on etsy.com and craftsy.com
Originally I was planning on just selling patterns in my Etsy shop, but as I was just setting up my shop, I started getting requests for custom made Baby Shoppers.  I was new to Etsy and didn't realize that many of the patrons don't sew. So now I sell both the pattern and ready made ones.

Before too much longer, I will no longer have a model.

As you can see from the above pictures, It also works well as a portable high chair.