Hazel and friends

I have been endeavouring to complete one set of blocks (there are 6 sets in total) per month in my quest to finish the Fancy Forest quilt top.

I seem to have fallen by the way a little but finally I have completed the 6 required for Hazel Hedgehog and her friends.

Mr Google tells me that a group of hedgehogs is called an 'array'
so here's my array of hedgehogs.

My challenge for August is to make 6 thistle blocks - I guess our Fancy Friends need some foliage to hide amongst.

A happy little boy

Further to my earlier post today, I received this delightful image of one happy little boy with his own special memory quilt.

Quilt label and a finish

Just as I did for the first memory quilt, a Dr Seuss quotation was required for the final touch to this memory quilt.

With quilt label in place this busy little quilt finally got to go home to its owner.

I understand the quilt was going to be used to encourage this little man to graduate from his cot to his first 'big' bed.  I hope the process went well and he and the quilt are happily united.

Finishing touches

After piecing all the blocks together the quilt would not be complete without being machine quilted by my sister, Linda.

Echoing the shape of a fox garment gave the best finishing touch to this block.

This little whale is one of our favourites.

His/her water spout bears a strong resemblance to paisley shapes which are often used in quilting patterns.

This little boy is a real star in his family's life and Linda has given special emphasis to the stars in these blocks by echoing around them.

Maybe sometimes he might be a little monkey too?

He probably has the heart of a very brave lion!

Nearly finished now.

In between times

I continue to make beanies and booties for the  Nursery Intensive Care Unit at Waikato Hospital.

I have tried a number of patterns and different wool weights and have settled for the following:-

Wool - Utiku 4ply baby wool - beautifully soft, lovely to work with and at $6 per 50gm (plus p and h) it works out at the best value for me.

Beanie - I use a 5mm crochet hook.  The beanie is designed to fit a baby's head 12 inches in circumference.

Booties - For these I use a 4.5mm crochet hook.  The pattern is in 2 sizes and I make the larger size - the booties should measure approximately 3.5 inches in length.

Moving right along

Moving along from making decisions for the design board I was then able to progress on completing the blocks.

Each block needed fusible interfacing and then the elements from the garments had to be backed with fusible web.

Additionally the individual pieces needed to be stitched to the blocks.

The whale block is now pieced and has submitted well to the process.

A pocket and star cover the gaps in the corners.

A combination of a  4 patch block, a sleeve of the garment and some manufacturers' labels for this block.

Lots of fun cutting and combining of some of the smaller motifs from baby garments.

Everything is well on its way towards completion.

Decisions to be made

Making a quilt from baby size garments requires decisions at every stage.

I have found that if the garment has been cut with enough 'room' then I can usually get enough for an 8.5" square that I can use for background pieces for most of the blocks.

Sometimes I may want to use fabric from the arm or leg of a garment and in this case I find cutting 4.5" squares and making them into 4 patch blocks can provide background fabric with just a little more interest.

The top right hand block has a four patch background.

The whale block - top right was the front of a garment and had to be cut on an angle to make it work.  Even then I will have to cover two of the corners with motifs to make it the size it needs to be.

The bottom left is from a newborn stretch and grow - a lovely outfit - I could not put all of the garment on the quilt so I selected a part which reflected what it was like.

These images are all from the creation process.  I placed them on the design board as I proceeded but lots of changes still to be made to come to the final get together of all the pieces.

The same but different

When I embarked on this second memory quilt I wondered if there would be similar themes to the first quilt.

This image of Santa's little helper was one of my favourites in the first quilt, providing a happy memory of the Christmas theme.

I was pleased to see the Christmas theme had been repeated in the garments I received for the second quilt.

This one includes images of all of Santa's reindeer.

This baby hat for the first quilt was quite a challenge for me.

I was concerned that if I cut into the knit fabric it would all come to grief somewhere along the way but it has lasted the distance very well.

I did not feel quite so daunted when I saw a hat included this time.

Made from cotton I think this one should wear well too.

I left the bottom of the hats open on both quilts - something for little fingers to play with.

About four years ago.....

.....I was asked if I could make a memory quilt from a mix of baby garments.

Just recently the mother returned with a box or two of baby garments so that I could make her another quilt for her second son.

It was lovely to see how the first quilt has stood the test of time.  It did need a few little bits of stitching but on the whole it has taken up repeated washing extremely well.

I understand it is much loved by its young owner and pockets have been a favourite for hiding little toys etc.

If you go to this link you can see a young boy happily snuggled under his then new quilt.

This is my new pile of garments ready for the scissors.

It has been quite an exercise but it is all coming together and that is good.