Sam's Quilt

Happy first birthday Sam! The birthday boy has received his birthday quilt which means I can share the finished article with you all. It's a good job he's into colour as this quilt has turned out a bit on the bright side! Primary colours, what was I thinking?! Oh who am I trying to kid - I love garish. Fortunately, it's a hit with a one year old - his Mum says that he enjoys pointing at the patterns. How cute is that?

I decided to go for the star block design by Cluck Cluck Sew. I've made this design once before for my Stars and Scraps Quilt, but I thought the stars would work well with the sputnik fabric (continuing the spacey theme, see what I did there). If you want to know more about the fabrics used for the quilt top, see my last post. It's the back of the quilt that I'm uber-excited about though - it's quite possibly the cutest quilt back ever.



I know, just how good is that? I could swoon over that fabric all day. It's Riley Blake Designs DC2836, Peak Hour by Kellie Wulfsohn for Don't Look Now. I bought it at The Viking Loom in York if you're in the area and desperate to get your hands on some! I had planned to go for something quite plain as the backing but as soon as I saw this I knew it would be perfect. I really like how it features a small amount of each of the colours from the quilt top, so ties in perfectly.

The binding was actually some leftover from my Emma's Christmas Stocking. It was just the perfect shade of green and has little stars all over. The quilting was simply stitched in the ditch and I also quilted some diagonals to add a bit more interest.

I'm so happy with this quilt. If you're visiting over from Crazy Mom Quilts, finish it up Friday please comment below, I'd love to hear what you think.

Fab Fabric

I've been very busy this week rustling up a quilt, before I share the finished quilt with you I thought I'd share the fabric with you. A couple of weekends ago my sister Anna (Minnie loves) came to York and we tried out a lovely little café that has opened in York. It's called Me and Mrs Fisher and I thoroughly recommend it for crafty types. What is so great about it (apart from the delicious cheese scones) is that it also has a small but perfectly formed haberdashery upstairs where they also hold regular sewing and crafting workshops. I KNOW food and crafts - what a great combo! The whole place really has a crafty, friendly vibe. Anyway, Anna and I had a mooch around the haberdashery and  both fell in love with this wonderful sputnik fabric.

It's a Michael Miller fabric and has the best name - Retro Rocket Rascals! The trouble was neither of us could think who would like a quilt made of this fabric so we left it. Coincidentally, only a few hours later my other sister, Vicky, phoned me and suggested I make a quilt as a first birthday present for a friend's son. Ting! Inspiration struck and I knew I had to buy the Rocket Rascals! Such hardship.

I went back to Me and Mrs Fisher and not only bought the Retro Rocket Rascals, but also a second Michael Miller fabric. This one is called Toot Toot (loving these fabric names). I have since noticed that Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew (and one of my favourite quilters) has used this fabric in her new book, so it must be good!

I knew I wanted a third fabric, but just couldn't find anything that really matched. Anna came to the rescue when she found this lovely red and lime splodgey fabric from John Lewis in Sheffield. It's part of the Katherine's Wheel collection and is designed by Nel Whatmore for Free Spirit Westminster Fibers.

I'll blog about the finished quilt as soon as I hear it has arrived safely. The birthday boy's mum sometimes read this blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise. Ooh I hope they like it!