COCKATOO'S GALORE

 I just love quilting baby quilts on my HQ Simply Sixteen as they give me a chance to try new patterns on a small scale.

My girlfriend, Donna, made this beautiful cot quilt (based on a Meags and Me pattern) with Australian Cockatoos as the main feature, and I offered to quilt it for her.

I chose a pounce pad pattern with hearts to use on the top and bottom sections and used a HQ ruler for the dark blue section.

I free-motioned around the cockatoos and then did a paisley pattern to fill in the background.  

Isnt he just the cutiest !

The reverse was a plain pale blue colour and it really highlighted the quilting/

I'm sure once its bound, there's going to be one happy little grandson.

BABY BOY QUILT

Now that I have mastered using Minki on the back of my quilts, I whipped up a modern baby boy quilt for the young mum to be, at work.

I went for a lovely peppermint and brown polar combination for the quilt top, and matched a Pooh Bear brown minki on the back.

Sometimes the simple designs are the best and I chose a triangle pieced top

I'm still not confident to do the quilting especially as this was for a gift, so off it went to my quilter, Mandy, who again did a lovely job with an overall swirl of her own design.

Sorry this picture doesn't capture the beautiful Pooh Bear brown of the minki but it does show the quilting design.

Here's the lovely minki colour that it really was.....trimmed with a plain peppermint binding.

FNwF - BABY GIRL

We are surrounded by babies at the moment....must be the season! 

I always like to do a baby quilt for my family and friends when they become parents or grandparents. I really wanted to try using minki fabric as the backing, but have been terribly afraid because of the stretch, but after reading up on how to sew it, I decided to give it a go.....

Using a pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew , I gathered my scraps of pink fabrics and teamed them with a plain Emma Louise white.

To add something different, I bordered the edges with grey dot material.

I was most afraid how to quilt the top with the minki.  Using my walking foot, I sewed straight crossed lines fairly wide to keep a nice soft feel.

I thought it was lovely and soft but then I washed it and wow it came up even  softer than before.  Now I think I will do all the babies quilts with the minki on the back.....so cuddly.

I think it turned out beautifully and it's off to its new owner next week. I'm sure she will love it!  

TRAPUNTO BABY QUILT

The up-coming arrival of our first grandchild was always going to be a big occasion and I purchased a printed baby cot panel with the intention of trying out the technique called Trapunto.

On the reverse side of the panel, I laid down some pieces of bamboo batting and then using my walking foot, sewed around the balloons, and each individual animal in the boat.  I then cut away any excess batting, which gave the balloons and animals a plump look.

Then I continued as for a normal quilt using batting and backing. I outlined stitched all the pictures and then stippled the main background of the quilt.  I also did horizontal stitching on the blue top rim of the boat and pebble free-motion around the name.

 I could have done heaps more free motion on this quilt but in the end, was more than happy with the result.