Guess who has a new brother?

Yes, it's Jemima from Play School, and her new brother Joey. The Bug has discovered that they're both excellent soccer players, or 'Socatime Joeys' like his friend Tilly, hence this Joey's name. When I've finished the Blythe dresses for the new We Play With Dolls shop I will make them some soccer uniforms.

Finn's mummy found the pattern in an old edition of Play School's The Useful Book- I'll try to find the year of publication. The pattern worked really well, and Finn's mummy and I are thinking of using it for the Uthando Project.

Play School is the Bug's first experience of television. We sit together absolutely still for 30 minutes (another first!), then rush off to make farm farm animals out of toilet rolls or to turn the washing basket into a troll.

A Quilt Fit For a Once-And-Future-King

Here at last is the Bug's new quilt. It's Kathy Doughty's 'Avalon' pattern from Doughty and Sarah Fleike's book Material Obsession.

I like the authors' philosophy of the "One" inspiration (p.11): 'What is it about quilts that invites you to make one?'. For me it is the wish to give it to a particular person, in this case my Bug. They also suggest 'Start with the one fabric that makes you sing'. Here it was Alexander Henry's 2-D Zoo fabric, in the Bug's favorite colours of blue and green. I searched for some others with animal themes, and have just learned that the beautiful green duck fabric is "Ugly Duckling" by Lizzy House. I thought for a long time about the pattern, then my quilting guru Taccolina suggested the Avalon, and it was indeed the One. The back is Alexander Henry's Blakely Stripe, so the quilt is reversible for when the Bug is older. My other quilting guru Lynne suggested the argyle design for the hand-quilting and the bias-striped binding in the same Blakely Stripe. I'm lucky to have my gurus!

In Arthurian legend, Avalon is the island where the sword Excalibur was forged, and in some versions Arthur was taken there after he was mortally wounded. It is known as the "Isle of Apples". As my family name is Orchard, and I am writing a Ph.D dissertation on mythological weapons and armour, it was obviously the quilt pattern for me!

If you look closely you may see Michal Miller's apple fabric in the bottom right square. I'm thinking of adding an apple to all of my quilts, a sort of coded signature, either in the fabric, the quilting or in applique.

Sewing Bloopers #1

Somewhat bleary-eyed yesterday morning, I was pre-washing some red fabric. I always add some cooking salt to a red wash to prevent the dye from running.

Only this time I accidently added dessicated coconut instead. The packets looked the same. It was white and flakey...

It took me a long time to get the coconut out of the washing machine!

Do you have any sewing bloopers? share them here!

Spool Pigeons

I made these fabric birds for my brother's partner's birthday, using this free online pattern from Spool.

Birdcage courtesy of the hard rubbish collection. I'm told the legal term is "scavenging".

It's sitting on a cable reel that was scavenged from the beach. So technically that's "beachcombing"!

Caterpillar Quilt

Here's a quick look at the Bug's Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt. It's at 'lock-up' stage, as they say in the building trade- ready for use, but without the finishing touches.

I wanted it to be ready for the cooler weather, so I hand quilted the border and the ditches between the strips, then sewed on the binding.

I'm intending to add more hand quilting within the strips. I had planned to quilt his name and birth date, as I did on Finn's quilt, and add leaves, fruit and a caterpillar or two. However he likes it so much he won't let me take it off his bed to quilt it!

Click on the images for a closer look.

Quilt Quality Tester

Here's my little sailor friend testing out his completed quilt. I've called the design "Sailor Suit". It's inspired by French children's sailor suits, as worn by Babar's cousin Arthur.



He's an extra large baby, so this is an extra large cot quilt. That means there's lots of fabric for secure tucking-in. I made it square so that when he outgrows his cot it can sit diagonally across a single bed. Or a double, if he keeps growing at his present rate!

It's machine quilted for strength, then hand quilted with name, birthdate and pictures. If you look carefully you can see Arthur's French sailor's hat- click on the images for a closer look.