Cute booties

One of my oldest friends had a baby boy last week (congratulations!) so I wanted to make something special for the new arrival. I spent a while flicking through Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones (weighing up how ambitious I wanted to be against how much time I actually had!) and decided on the 'cute booties' in a 3-6 months size. They were fairly easy to make - just a bit fiddly at the end, sewing through lots of layers to attach the sole. I couldn't get hold of any fusible fleece so I used some leftover pieces of a fleece jacket bought at a charity shop a while ago for another project. The fleece sits between the exterior and lining fabrics (both of which were cut from scraps of Amy Butler fabrics) and gives the booties a nice squishy padded feel. They're not perfect by any means, but they still look cute. I hope my friend is pleased with them!

Finally - a babywearing bag!

I've been mentally planning this bag for ages. I wanted something simple, versatile for wearing with a sling (and a toddler!), large enough to hold a couple of cloth nappies, drinks bottle, snacks and all the other stuff I seem to end up carrying round! I bought some canvas months ago to line it with and finally found some suitable exterior fabric a few weeks ago - it's a Liberty print called Strawberry Thief. I found it hiding away in a charity shop disguised as a curtain, and at £2 - what a bargain! The straps are long and tapered at the ends - I can tie them together in various ways depending on how I'm carrying Matilda. I put in an internal zip pocket, big enough for wallet, keys and a few other bits and bobs; the bag itself closes with a velcro flap over the top. I'm really pleased with how it turned out - I'll try and take some action pics soon!

Magic mushroom!

We came across this perfect toadstool today on our walk with the local mums walking group. I snapped a pic with my phone, then we noticed more and more of them up above the path. It really was very cool!

Damson muffins

A friend gave me a few damsons in return for a lift yesterday. Today they have become damson muffins, courtesy of this recipe. The rich sharpness of the fruit offsets the sweetness of the muffin mixture. Delicious!

First quilt

Inspired by talking to a friend a few months ago I decided to try my hand at quilt making. I finally finished my first quilt last week, which I made for my friend's little boy, using a basic 6-panel patchwork design and stitch-in-the-ditch quilting plus extra quilting round the edge of the animals or trees in the centre of each panel. It was a bit of trial an error really (and lots of consulting of online resources!) and I had problems with the fabric bunching up while I was doing the machine quilting, so I have since bought a walking foot for my machine. For the centre of each panel I used an Ikea animal fabric, while most of the fabric strips around each panel are from Fabric Rehab. I bound the quilt with more of the Ikea animal fabric. Anyway, here it is. (I'm already planning my next one!)

I followed this tutorial for the binding, including the mitred corners...