04 October 2010

A quilt for a little man called Felix

I meant to post this last week and not have so big a gap between posts.  But hey, I'm just over 6 months pregnant and baby brain has been quite intense this time, not to mention the tiredness and just plain laziness...  I seem to reserve most of my strength for Tamsyn and the bare minimum of housewifery.  Even though I make sure I read (almost) everyone's blog each day, comments may be brief.  I think "cool!" has been all I can manage some days.  :/

I don't altogether see this as a bad thing, my body is working hard at growing a little person and apart from the occasional meltdown things have been pretty cruisey.

Felix's sock monkey quilt was the first I've ever made where I didn't have a plan other than doing a whole heap of bias squares, and the width of the fabric (all half yard cuts) dictated the size of those squares.  I thought I'd leave the Brady Bunch style fabric whole which would be good for alternating blocks.  When it came to laying out the blocks on the lounge room floor after Tamsyn had gone to bed one night I had come up with a star style.  Ant looked at it, screwed up his nose a bit and said "how about this instead".

I knew he was right.

It's the first quilt I've made purely out of flannel: front, back and binding.  I made sure there was enough fabric left over for a very scrappy back and did some basic machine quilting.  I'm never going to do a purely flannel quilt again, it's so much more temperamental than quilting cotton - it seems to give/stretch more, but I'll continue to use it as a backing fabric.  That works well.

Next up, I want to try my hand at some 'quilt as you go'.  I've been quilting for over 20 years and have never tried it.  I've also been inspired by what this talented lady can do here and here. Oh and here too.  ♥

14 comments:

  1. Hey Jen...growing a little person is hard work!!! Great quilt you have made, I love all the squares and it has given me some ideas too...Rest when you need to, Dzintra♥x

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  2. Felix is going to be one lucky and much loved little boy, just as his sister is! The quilt is so cute! Take care, and get lots of rest! One more thing: Is that an apple blossom in your title picture? It is beautiful, whatever it is! ---"Love"

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  3. The quilt is adorable, love sock monkey! I agree with you about using all flannel. It does make a very soft cuddly quilt.
    Rest, keep growing that little one, and enjoying Tamsyn.

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  4. Cute quilt! Haven't tried flannel yet, maybe in the future.

    Liri

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  5. Lovely snuggly quilt, lucky nephew.
    Enjoy your baby making, Debs :-)

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  6. Thanks Love (and everyone else!). Yes, it is apple blossom. I took the photo a couple of days ago in our back yard. I felt the banner needed a 'spring' clean!

    Oh and I should have clarified that Felix is Tamsyn's cousin. I'm just being lazy with words now! ♥

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  7. Hi Fer, You're not nearly as lazy with words as me and I know you're still getting out walking (I'm stalking you, you know). It's a huge amount of work growing a babe - so much so that I'm not sure I'll be up for it again.

    The quilt is great. Love it. I did a couple of cot sized flannel ones - so wonky - I'm not a quilter and it was really hard to stop the fabric slipping. Embarassingly wonky really but at least babies don't mind!

    Thanks for all your lovely supportive comments. I really appreciate them.

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  8. I wish I culd still use pregnancy as an excuse for my befuddled state! Felix's quilt looks terrific Jen - how cute are those sock monkeys?! Never mind about the blog/s - you just concentrate on family. Ann :-)

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  9. I love the quilt. The sock monkey has a long history as I have said.
    For having "baby brain" you are doing amazing. I don't know how you do it all.
    I also loved the picture on Tamsyn putting her little fingers through the holes in the Hungry Caterpillar
    book. It is an adorable mental picture of little baby fingers and the book. Thank you for that.
    All my best.

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  10. Fabulous, fabulous quilt. Wish I could make quilts like that!

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  11. Gorgeous Quilt! I was the lucky recipient of Black-Eyed Susie's quilts ... I can't see the wonk ... the flannel is just gorgeous - felix is going to love this one!! Quilting is still a dark art to me!

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  12. oh Jen it absolutely stunning soooo very gorgeous. I love the description of "brady bunch fabric" that is so true isn't it.cute

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  13. This is so adorable! Lucky little Felix! (And growing a baby is energy draining... I am impressed by all that you get done!)

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  14. I went over to check the specific sources of inspiration (yum) and have but two words for you: Get. Cracking. (!)

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