Change of heart

So in my last post I listed two of my WIPs. One is a lap quilt for my mother-in-law and the other is a baby quilt for my niece's newborn son. I had a change of heart at the last second with the baby quilt. I decided to go in a different direction to make it more youthful so I will keep the other one for something else.

One thing I've learned that was of great importance was to square up your quilt. I was in such a rush with the baby quilt I did not square it up correctly on all sides. Another thing that I did was I should have alternated my sewing directions. The quilt is a bit bowed, it's a lot bowed in the middle!! It's a lot more obvious as you look across the quilt.

Somewhere along the way I messed up my seam allowances. This would've been okay had I made the quilt taller. So in the end I ended up with a very small baby quilt. Basically just big enough to lay your newborn on or big enough for him to drag around and cuddle with when he gets older.

I found the tutorial for this blanket on Elizabeth Hartman's "Oh, Fransson! site here. It is a super easy (unless you are me) pattern for a beginner and you can download a PDF of the pattern right from her page. She has a bunch of different patterns that she offers for free and she has some super-neat patterns in her Pattern Shop and in the book she published.

I do intend to make a bigger lap version of it in the near future. Enjoy!

I purchased individual fat quarters from Walmart to make this quilt top and I purchased one pre-cut packaged yard from Walmart for the back. I paid less than $10 for the entire thing. Score! I quilted this on my Singer Simple 3116 using a Walking foot. I used white thread for the top and brown thread for the bobbin. I sure wish I had a new machine. THAT is another post for another day. Anyway, here are a few pics of the quilt:

"Initial layout"

Had it folded and ready to go so I had my daughter unfold it

Wavy-like quilting

Horse themed tote bag

A colleague of mine is not feeling so good and I wanted to make her something that would cheer her up. She is a horse lover so I decided to visit my local quilting shoppe, Buttonwood Quilts, and see if I could find some fabric with a horse theme. JACKPOT!! I found a couple of fat quarters that would do the trick! A horse theme, horseshoe, and two coordinating prints. I spent approximately $15 and I was able to make the tote bag plus I have leftover scraps that I can use later. Hmmm, a wristlet you say??? I shall have to ponder that...

In the meantime, check out the tote bag and tell me what you think. I didn't use a pattern and I made it up as I went along so the back and front aren't identical but I still use the same fat quarters.

Hopefully, tomorrow I can give the bag to her. For now, sleep! (Yes, it is 1:10 a.m. here!)

I also added a few metal studs to the bag.