When I found out I was pregnant I had visions of spending my pregnancy making things for the baby, I won’t bore you again with why that never happened, I’ve mentioned it a couple of times on previous blog posts if you’d like to know why. Anyway my point being its taken me till now and Mabel reaching 21 months for me to make her a quilt! Bad sewing mum!!

One of the reasons why was because I hadn’t settled on a design I liked, I find it hard cutting into pretty fabric at the best of times let alone when I have no set idea of a pattern. It was only when I was looking through the book Quilt Petite by Sedef Imer that I came across the perfect pattern. A combination of crisp white fabric and pretty 1930’s fabrics in a beautiful pastel rainbow of colours. I immediately knew that this was the quilt I wanted to make for Mabel.

I had such fun going through all my fabrics and picking which ones I would use. I am an avid collector of 1930’s repro fabrics so had a nice little (largish) stash to  look through. The pattern is actually for a mini quilt and at first I did under-estimate how many squares I would need. This took me back to the cutting board and cutting more out. It is still on the small side and won’t last her for long but it’ll certainly do as a little lap quilt for a while. In hindsight maybe I should have cut my squares bigger!

Mabel took a real interest in what I was doing, even ‘helping’ me organise the blocks into rows. Can we just take a moment to appreciate the embroidery detail on her shirt! This girl is so much better dressed than I am! So many of her clothes I wish they did in my size!

Anyway back to the quilt! Once all pieced the next part came the basting and quilting, perhaps my least favourite part of making a quilt. No matter how careful I am I always end up with a little ruching on the back.

I decided to hand quilt this. I realised as I set out that it would mean I would have to wait quite a bit longer to see the finished article but it was so worth it. The best thing about hand quilting is it gives me time to think about what I’m doing and who I’m doing it for, I thought about my beautiful little girl as I stitched each stitch and hoped that it would mean so much to her when she’s older maybe even take it to uni with her!? Although secretly I hope she stays local!!

As I predicted this took a long time, throw in a holiday and a heatwave where the last thing I wanted to do was be sat under a quilt there was at least a couple of weeks where this sat sadly on the side. It then had to wait whilst I busied myself with other projects. However it was so easy to pick back up again and once I did I was on a roll!

The last step, sewing on the binding is my favourite! I love this process, I stitch front and back on by hand and it’s such a lovely way to finish a project. I picked a pretty binding from my local fabric shop and I think it completes the quilt perfectly!

Please excuse the pictures, I find it so hard to take good pictures of a quilt! I was going to wait to give it to her for her 2nd birthday, but I figured she’s been watching me sew it that it seems pointless wrapping it up, and plus after all she’s a toddler! She’s going to be way more interested in her new toys than a quilt her mummy made!