Handmade

I'm four rounds off finishing Kitty's Christmas jumper (and a little darning in of ends and sewing of seams) so there's hope that she'll get it before the 12 days of Christmas are up.  I think I can count that as finishing in time, yes?

One of the other reasons that I didn't worry too much about not having finished for the day itself was that she did have a large Mama-made parcel under the tree to open. 


She isn't short of quilts or blankets, but they were all made for the bump that turned out to be her, rather than for her specifically.  That and if she keeps growing at the current rate she's going to need something a little bit bigger.

This is the next size up; about 46 inches square and on me it's a lap quilt, but for her it's big enough to play tents and hide-peepo and wrap up in until she's snug.

I'm possibly setting a new personal record for the time between buying the fabric and making the quilt as it came from Il etait une fois at this summer's Quilt Festival at the NEC.   I walked past the stand, took one look at a print of a little curly haired girl on a swing and knew that it was coming home with us.


The picture blocks of the little girl and the apples and houses are sold by the block and the other fabric comes by the metre (a really really wide metre). 

It's really the simplest of simple quilts.  I cut the blocks to 9.5 inches square and played around with them until I liked the layout, then sewed them into rows and then into the quilt top.


The backing is another length of the gorgeous multicoloured check, and the binding is the same.  To quilt it, I used a red/pink/yellow variegated thread and stitched lines with my walking foot about a 1/4 inch either side of each seam to mirror the check fabric.

Kitty had caught occasional glimpses of something interesting under construction through an open doorway or perched on the back of the sofa but all attempts at further investigation were swiftly curtailed. As I mentioned in an earlier post, she unwrapped it, hugged it, and lay down and rolled in it.  I love that I made her something that she loves, now all I need are some new labels that say 'Mama made it'.