A quilt for Violet...

So I have a bit of a thing for quilts. Of course I mean the kind of quilts that are made by one person who painstakingly pieces it all together and crafts it with care into something lovely. Even better if it's made of beautiful colours and a patchwork of all kinds of fabric all coming together to create a thing of beauty. Quilts are for comfort and warmth, to be a reminder of home, happiness and snuggles.  I love the idea of creating something like that as a gift for someone you care about. Unlike a piece of clothing or a toy, you can never grow out of a quilt. My sister has made us  a couple of quilts and one of hers even features in our wedding photos. We love them. I had one made by a very talented lady for Isobel when she was a wee baby and then when my niece Molly was born I had the same lady make one for her. Bel sleeps with her quilt every night. It gets dragged all over the place, made into forts and wrapped around her if she's ever feeling sick. I hope that it'll always be a reminder of a happy home for her and that one day maybe it'll be wrapped around her babies. Anyway I've always kinda hoped that maybe one day I'd be able to make one myself. As soon as I got the gist of sewing I had quilts on my mind but to be honest I felt like it was beyond me and I didn't know where to start. When my niece Violet was born I was going to get her a quilt from the same lady that made Bel's and Molly's but for various reasons I didn't get it done. Violet's first birthday is coming up and I figured that there wasn't ever going to be another person so worthy of me giving it my best shot. Now, my quilt isn't fancy and isn't very elaborate but I made it with lots and lots of love for one of the sweetest, most adorable little girls you could ever meet and I'm just over the moon with the end result! I hope it keeps her warm and cosy and feeling loved for a long long time.

I decided not to attempt piecework on the actual quilt top just yet, I mean I didn't want to set myself up for failure! I decided on a cute fabric for the front. It has owls (Bel loves owls) spider webs (Seb loves spidey) and dragon flies and they always remind me of my sister because she had a dragonfly tatooed onto her foot while staying with me here in Canada. I made my own bias tape for the binding by cutting scraps of some pretty yellow polka dot and striped fabric and sewing them together into a long strip. The yellow spotty fabric was given to me by my sister (Violets mummy) in the sewing kit she made for me and I'd previously made some little tooth fairy pillow creatures for Molly and Violet with it and with  the yellow stripy one so they had a touch of personal meaning to them.  The back of the quilt is made from an old bed sheet of Seb's that  I'd also used to line that first bag I made. So it's got a touch of the upcycling tradition of quilting too. I also decided to appliqué Violets initials and a couple of the little owls and spider webs onto the back just to make it extra personal to her. After a whole lot of pinterest browsing and googling I'd formulated a basic plan of action and felt ready to start sewing.

Here's where I have a bit f a confession.....I bought a new sewing machine.  I know, I know, I went on and on about how I loved my old Singer and I do so appreciate that machine for getting me started. I honestly don't think I'd have had the confidence to even know what to look for in a sewing machine before I used that good old girl. The trouble was that I found it difficult to sew in a straight line with the old Singer, she was just too flippin fast. Knowing also that I really really wanted to get into making some quilts I did a bit of research and then made the fatal mistake of going into a sewing machine shop and , well, that was that. I went for a machine with lots of space for quilting and even considering that and the fact that this was just a baby sized quilt I was quite taken aback by how hard it is to work on such a big piece and still see what the heck you're sewing!



Once I'd started I just couldn't stop! I worked all day and nearly all night with barely a breather to feed my children some scraps before getting back to it. By the time I got to binding, I think it was nearly 2 am hence the very bad lighting in the photo below. Time to pin that binding tape....

I kept going and learnt a very important fact of sewing..... wearing shorts while working on a big quilt covered in pins is a bad idea. I'm honestly surprised there's no blood on that there quilt!

By some time in the early morning the quilt was done. With no one else up to show it to I was so ridiculously happy and tired I didn't know what to do with myself. For at least half an hour I sat on my sofa in the early morning light with a big smile on my face...all snuggled in Violets quilt. :)

I love it! And best of all, I think she will too.