Friday, March 2, 2012

Creativity

I've been a busy little bee over the last few weeks, and wanted to share a few of my creations...

First, I finished our little guy's quilt!!!  It's my first quilt ever, and thanks to the wonder of YouTube videos and some advice from my mom and mother-in-law, it came together more quickly and easily than I ever could have imagined.  It's far from perfect, but I can't wait to wrap my baby boy up in it and snuggle.

I used nautical fabric (to match his room).  Each square is 5", so the finished quilt is just over 35"x50" - it's slightly bigger than a car seat quilt, and slightly smaller than a crib quilt.  I used flannel for the backing and the binding.  This probably wasn't the smartest idea from a newbie standpoint - I ended up with a few puckers, and also a corner of the backing that pulled away from where it was supposed to be.  However, the soft and cuddly factor more than makes up for the frustration factor of using a stretchy fabric like flannel.


  Here is a photo of the back.  The small triangle of fabric along the bottom edge has 2 purposes.  The first is to hide that ugly backing mistake.  And the second is so that I can write his stats on it when he is born.  So it will include his name, time and date of birth, weight, and length.  What better way to turn a mistake into a "happy mistake" as my second grade teacher Miss Privot always used to say.  :)
 

In knitting news, I've began test knitting a project for Knitterella.  I've been a reader of her blog for over a year, and I absolutely adore her hilarious note/greeting card/tag designs. You can see a collection of them here.  If you craft, you'll definitely want to order some of these.  She recently asked for test knitters for a new project, and I jumped at the chance to help out.  It's a huge honor, and lots of fun to test knit for other designers. 

Here's a sneak peek at one of her upcoming designs.  Keep checking back for my progress photos.  Once the pattern is ready for release, I'll be sure to post again as well.  


I'm hopeful that I can finish up the test knits before our little boy is born -as we still have over a week until my due date.  Being busy is definitely helping pass the time as I wait for my Braxton Hicks contractions to turn into something real.  


In other knitting news, I have 3 more new patterns almost ready to release.  They are partially typed up, and all but one sample is knit.  So now it's just a matter of finding a quiet moment at the computer to make the magic happen.  Other moms may understand my dilemma in this however.  I can sew, knit, or make cards at the kitchen table, and my kids will play quietly and independently.  But the minute I sit down at my laptop, suddenly the world comes to an end.  It's also like this whenever I try to take or make a phone call.  So, besides working well past my bedtime, I have little opportunity these days to try and get these patterns together.  Perhaps the nesting adrenaline will help me finish them up.  For now I'm working on them in five and ten minute increments.    

1 comment:

Linda Norman said...

In your corner you should also put who it was made by and when! May not seem important now but could be a long time from now! Congrats on your first quilt!