Calm baby blanket

I am really happy how my new blanket turned out... my friend wanted me to make for her baby a crochet granny square blanket "just like the ones you made for charity" - she said. But I needed to do something different.

So instead I decided to play with colours, do something a little different and assembled it completely the other way around... yes the seam is on display and she is the queen of the show! Voilà, here's the new blanket... 

And I am calling it "The calm baby blanket". Just because the colours are very soothing and relaxing... and I am hoping that the baby that will use it will be calm and relaxed when wrapped in the blanket and enjoy cosy naps...

It measures 94cm by 80cm... which I thought would be a nice size for naps and going around in the pram... also maybe in the crib while the baby is still little... and because I live far from this little one I feel this way I can be close to her on a daily basis!

You can find the pattern for the granny square in this tutorial (here) I posted last year. Once all the squares are ready I assembled it with a simple crochet stitch to join the squares together. The only difference this time I did it on the right side of the blanket so they will show. Border is double crochet stitch all around in the same white yarn... here's a close up!

And as a little reminder today is the last day to enter my sewing supplies giveaway for your chance to win a counted cross stitch kit. Visit the post here. And for your chance to win the lovely birds needle book don't forget to sign up here.

It is for the birds hop and giveaway!

Hello and welcome to my stop in the "It's for the birds" blog hop. As usual a huge thanks to Mdm Samm for coming up with such great and creative ideas and inspiring us to create wonderful things. And a special thanks to Mary for cheering (and organising) us all along the way!

I signed up to this hop with absolutely no idea of what to make... I had seen a few times vintage birds shapes into appliquéd items, loved it, but never made something of the sort... until a few weeks ago there was a birds week at The Graphics Fairy (I love this blog it has amazing vintage images released every day).

And voilà, this is what I made... vintage bird inspired needle cases.

For the images, I downloaded four different birds shapes from the site, printed them off in a size I liked, then traced their silhouette and made it into templates. I used colourful fabric that would contrast the cream background I was planning to make for the needle cases.

I have previously published a tutorial on needle cases (you can download it for free here), but I wanted a simpler take on it this time... as I wanted a super quick project... I managed to make four needle cases in an afternoon! So I guess that counts for quick!

And I have made available the bird patterns for free (here) so you can also make some quick projects with it.. And if you are up for a quick tutorial... please visit my previous  post (here)... but don't forget to continue reading for the giveaway!

And now for the giveaway!

I am celebrating my 100th post, and what a better excuse than a blog hop for it! And that's I why I made so many needle cases... don't worry I am not hoarding them! I am sharing them... and the first one will be for one of my lovely readers and followers. Look how lovely they look with the tulips from my garden!

So what do you need to do? Well simply follow me, in any way you like Google (the blue "join this site" button on the right had side bar), Bloglovin (the + button on the side bar), Facebook, Pinterest, etc and leave me a comment below. Make sure I can contact you back to let you know if you win! I will ship it anywhere and will randomly select a winner after the blog hop is finished on May 15th.

Now don't forget to visit the other creations on show today...

Wednesday, May 8

http://sunshinequilting.blogspot.com

http://feltfree-p.blogspot.no

http://busyascanbe.blogspot.com

http://quiltdoodledesigns.blogspot.com

http://buzzingandbumbling.blogspot.com

http://patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com

http://ecoughlindesigns.blogspot.com

http://mywhittleadventures.blogspot.com

http://SewMuch2Luv.blogspot.com

www.natilittlethings.blogspot.com

http://justletmequilt.blogspot.com

http://ncweekendquilter.blogspot.com

http://Selinaquilts.blogspot.com

http://saneandcrazy.blogspot.com

http://abis-scrapsoflife.blogspot.com

http://roseprairiequilts.blogspot.com

http://marlarockscrafts.blogspot.com

Have a fantastic day!

Vintage bird needle case tutorial

So here is the tutorial for the vintage bird needle case. It is an easy and quick project inspired by my In love needle case (click here for the free download) but it has been simplified to fewer steps. And you can rock up this lovely needle cases in a whim... and they are really useful too!

What will you need? (for each needle case)

• Template for the birds images (print at 100%). You can download it for free here.
• Two 10 x 6.5 inches pieces of fabric. I used plain cream cotton, they will be the back and front of the needle case.
• A 6.5 x 8 inches piece of fabric for the pocket and a little extra to make the bird.
• A 10 x 6.5 inches (or a little big bigger if desired) batting piece.
• A 9 x 5.5 inches piece of fleece.
• Any double sided iron-on interfacing 
• Sewing machine and notions

Step 1 - Print your template and transfer your shapes to the paper side of the iron-on interfacing. Iron the glue side to the back of the fabric and cut out the bird shape following your transferred template. 

Step 2 - Take the paper off the interfacing and iron the bird shape into one of the pieces of the plain fabric. To make sure it is in the right place, fold the piece in two and centre it on the right half of the fabric. Make sure you take into account a 1/4 inch seam allowance on the three rough edges of the fabric.

Step 3 - Pin the fabric to the batting (no backing fabric) and quilt as desired. If you rather have a backing piece of fabric, use a scrap of fabric as it won't show in the final design. I did free motion and straight line quilting and all look adorable.

Step 4 - Place the quilted piece right side up.Then fold the pocket fabric wrong sides together and place on top of the quilted fabric aligning sides and bottom rough edges together. If desired you could run a line of decorative stitches along the fold of the pocket fabric.

Finally place the remaining piece of fabric wrong side up.Pin in place and trim the excess of batting/fabric all around.

Step 5 - Sew along the four edges leaving a gap on the top for turning inside out.

Step 6 - Turn inside out, making sure the pocket is in the inside of the case and iron in place. Iron the opening seam allowance in. Run a line of stitches all around the border of the needle case, to set the fabric in place and close the opening, I did mine at an 1/8 inch from the border.

Step 7 -  Fold the piece of fleece in half to mark the middle. Place centered in the needlecase (inside section)  , pin in place and stitch following the middle line marked previously.

And voilà you needle case is done! And how lovely it looks in the inside with my sewing notions... My vintage needle case (I use to store my yarn needles) looks especially pretty on this fabric.  Hope you enjoy making them!