bee handmade

weekend

Well a busy weekend of late Friday night sewing, camping, a wedding and preparing for a kitchen refit!

I finally finished the wedding present. I have to admit that a modicum of sewing was being done in the car on the way to the venue! I hope they like it. Although I really enjoy making gifts I still feel quite anxious about actually handing them over. I harbour a certain reluctance about inflicting my homespun offerings upon people. But yet I still do it - hmmm.

The front

The back

Details

On to the wedding. There was an extravaganza of glorious bunting. How could a person fail to be in a festive spirit?

We topped the night off with the romance of flying paper lanterns (which were watched with some trepidation in case one landed on a tent). They looked so pretty floating upwards into the night sky. We made wishes as we released them. I'm not telling what mine was though!

Our tent withstood the rain AGAIN and is still drying out. I think it deserves a present and I know just the thing. A tea light chandelier from Bell Tent.

Jakob's baby quilt

A friend of mine had a baby just before Christmas and I decided to create a patchwork quilt for him. Possibly a tall order as I'd never made one before! I don't think people actually use baby quilts and blankets in cots now but he can hopefully use it as a play mat or something.

I knew he was going to be a boy but didn't want to go down the 'blue is for boys' route so opted for a fresh, spring-like colour palette of green, yellow and white. I didn't want it to be too cutesy as new mums seem to be inundated with a range of colours, patterns and styling they wouldn't ordinarily choose.

I assembled the squares to construct the front.

Then came the task of free motion quilting.  I really need to learn how to not inadvertently hold my breath while I'm sewing!  The results are by no means perfect. Some curves err a bit too much toward jagged rather than sweeping but it's getting easier.

The binding was machine sewn then hand finished. It feels like quite a soothing way to complete the project after the more frenetic quilting process.

I finished off by adding a couple of handmade labels incorporating a little bee handmade motif, the baby's initials and some washing instructions.

Ta da - the finished baby quilt.

Front view.

 

Back view.

 

Folded quilt.

I really like how tactile it seems once it's washed. I deliberately didn't prewash the fabrics as the soft, aged effect produced by the fabric puckering really adds to the whole look and feel of the quilt.

Now for a full size version for my own bed.  I have to admit that I was slightly reluctant to post this one off. I hope that Jakob enjoys it.

finally

I've finished it. A very modest selvedge project and my first attempt at free motion quilting. Not the most elegant finish but not too bad for a beginner's effort. Next time I'll try layering the narrow strips rather than sewing them together as I think this would ensure a neater result. A benefit of the freemotion quilting is that it helps to mask imperfections!