New charity quilt top

I am so happy to announce that I have finished my first ever quilt top. Yey! It is of course going to be donated to Manos en Accion, as part of the charity project and also going to be  part of the 100 quilts for kids organised by Katie @swinbikequilt.

My aim for these charity blankets is to be super creative and resourceful, and make good use of the materials I have or can get hold of. So I pulled the Noah's Arc fabric I had in my stash (it was originally intended to be used as applique for a baby project - so sorry but it is gone for charity now) and matched it with some polka dots I had. But I needed some more fabric... So thanks to my lovely husband who donated a shirt (that was in GREAT condition except for the collar) I got the perfect combination I was after.

Embroidery cuteness

So I had a little visitor (and of course his lovely mum) this week. And I had the chance to finally give him his 1st birthday gift: The rocket T-shirt. See how happy he is wearing it and playing in the playground!

Fabric Stash news

I am very happy here with my new acquisitions for my fabric stash. Some very nice buys this week (need to get sewing soon before I run out of space for the fabric). A little bit of on-line shopping and a visit to a couple of stores made up all the finds for this post.

Of course a great addition to my treasure chest would not be as great without some Liberty Prints (love them!) I got these limited edition Liberty prints for the V&A inspired in British antique quilts on sale at the V&A Shop. Click here for a link to the shop, they do international delivery and you can buy the fabric in an assortment of different cuts. I got all mine in fat quarters.

So many charity quilts

So finally this week I got to see Auntie Penny and see all the hard work she has been up to lately putting together 13 baby quilts for the charity project! Look how lovely they look with the chickens and the dog (none of those mine by the way - just borrowed the garden and the animals for the pictures).

She has been working through her stash of fabrics and some other donated ones, finishing up some unfinished projects and converting them into baby quilts as well as brand new projects just for charity.

Dots on dots blog hop

I am so exited to be participating in my first blog hop, dots on dots from the ladies at Quilt Taffy! So this blog hop is all about dots...

You can follow up the link in the sidebar or click on the logo below for the list and schedule of all participating blogs. I will be posting about my dots on dots project on 21 September.

And keep tuned to see all this crafting loveliness! Ideas starting to flow and a trip to my favourite fabric supplier is due! Just remembered I have a lovely fabric I bought a while ago (and for those that used to know the haberdashery off the station in Putney will know how long "a while ago" means), and I am planning on using it! yey. Sorry just thinking out loud here!

Any ideas or thoughts for my block? feel free to leave me a comment.

Have a lovely Sunday.
Nati xx

The Granny Square tutorial

In anticipation to the arrival of my very first, and very much wanted, sewing machine. And hopefully all the lovely sewing related things I am planning to make... I thought I post a bit more about crochet! Also this is a celebration post as I finished my third charity blanket... and now we have got 10 finished blankets/quilts!!

I love the granny square! It is so simple and yet so lovely. But the best part of it is that it is super quick! Working on the charity blankets I was looking for a pattern that would do just that! easy, quick and lovely! And also you do not need to carry the whole blanket around when working at the hairdresser, airport, bus, as I do!


So here are the basic step by step instructions and a few tips I gather over time!

Granny square pattern

I have been doing some research to see what patterns are available on line, wow lots of different methods for making the granny square. I always liked the three double crochet stitch + two chain method, but I encourage you to look around for the combination pattern that best suits your crochet style, tension, etc.

This is the pattern for the square that I have been using in the charity blankets. The explanation of each row is below, also you can follow the link for a handy explanation I found on-line of each stitch.

Assembling a blanket tutorial

Since I started with the charity blanket project I have been trying to figure out which is the assembly method that works best (and quicker) for me. My personal favourite method is crochet the squares together using the yarn matching the square I put on the top (of the two I am stitching together). However it is very time consuming to be changing colours, and when doing a charity project I not always have all the colours of yarn left.

So I have been inspired by a quilting technique for this one... chain stitching the squares together! Here it is how it goes.

Cupcake baking

Following Argentina's friendship day tradition, we organised with my Argentinian friends in Lux our take on Secret Santa. So my gift for my friend Maia was a complete cupcake baking set, including tray, paper cases, piping bag and a cupcake baking class (or sort of baking together afternoon!)

So yesterday we met for a bit of baking fun, and although Lux is not baking heaven (that is due to the limited amount of supplies readily available at the shops) we managed to make some lovely cakes... and finally I got to show off the cake dish I bought a couple of weeks ago!