Some finished sewing

I had a number of sewing targets I hoped to meet before Katie was born.  The first had to be met, really, since it was a commission.

The Summer Meadow quilt is for a toddler girl.  Her mum and I picked out a bright mix of fabrics with lots of interest in them.  It has birds, butterflies, foxes, flowers and elephants....in such a happy, summery mix of colours.  I guess it would be a challenge to find all those together, especially the elephants, in one meadow - but you never know, especially in the mind of a toddler.

Like most of the quilts I make it is backed in soft unbleached flannel.  I love the feel this gives to the quilt.  With the bamboo/cotton mix wadding it still stays fairly thin bit it has a definite weight and warmth to it.

Next up were bee blocks.  I was way behind on my blocks for the Fresh and Funky Bee and, for my peace of mind as much as anything (my fellow bee members are a lovely patient lot thankfully), I wanted to get up to date.

This first block was for Courtney from Seamstar with a great fabric selection.....but that's not surprising given what's in her shop!

There was an equally lovely fabric selection for the next block - well, strip.  Which again wasn't surprising as it was for Jo and Fran from Saints and Pinners.

We're very honoured with our bee members!

And just because I can't resist, and to break up all the sewing, here's something non-sewing.  Little Katie peacefully sleeping in my arms (who would have known you could take photos while carrying a sleeping 7 week old?).
I also desperately wanted to make some sleeping gowns for Katie before she was born.  I've seen them over the years and thought they looked like a great idea - no poppers for night-time changes.  The pattern came from Growing Up Sew Liberated and was pretty straight-forward (actually very, I just had to learn a little as I've never sewn with jersey before - it was pretty okay once I got into the swing of it).

I managed three sleep gowns.  They are quite fabric hungry, I found, and I ran out of time and fabric to make any more.  They have been used every night since she was born and are much easier for nappy changes.....and look pretty cute and comfy too.

This Blue Skies quilt was commissioned by the same person who commissioned the Summer Meadow quilt - this time for her nephew who is due any day now.  It is a little smaller than most I've made as she'd asked for something baby sized.  It is a proper quilt however with wadding, flannel back and hand-sewn binding.

As you may have noticed its another bright one!  I was quite worried when I'd finished joining the strips, it was just way too much.  After some humming and hawing and a few colour 'auditions' I settled on adding the turquoise around the edges.  It settles it down a lot (this is settled, honestly, compared to before!) and then the floral feedsack fabric for the edges calms it further and I think/hope ties the colours together quite well.

This was finished at the weekend and posted off yesterday.  I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to open my folksy shop just yet - I think I may leave it empty and in holiday mode a little longer and do some sewing for Islay and Katie - and I'm just starting to think about the very last block in our bee, so I should probably work on that too.