ClaireSanders.com
Portfolio About FAQ store blog

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Quick Baby Quilts

I really like quilting but I don't always have the time. My step-sister had a baby boy this past September, so I made him a quick quilt with a super cute frog print in primary colors for Christmas. 

Instead of a time intensive patchwork quilt, this one is just a top layer with a print with the backing a solid yellow. Instead of batting, I put another layer of white flannel in the middle, so it's warm but not too thick. The backing is made about an inch longer on all sides so it can be folded over the top for the binding edge instead of making a separate bias binding strip.


I did a random quilting pattern once all the layers were assembled moving in between the frogs. I made sure to pre-wash all the cotton so it would shrink the same amount.


There are so many great flannel prints out there that I couldn't resist making another one for my soon to be here daughter with happy breakfast foods all over it.


With the repeated design, it was easy to create a quilting stitch pattern by just working between specific parts of the print.


Friday, December 25, 2015

Felted Wool Project


My mom had saved a bunch of baby clothes for me including a couple of wool sweaters that my Grandma had knitted for me and my brother when we were kids. Unfortunately the sweaters has been accidentally machine felted so they couldn't be worn anymore. I didn't want to waste my Grandma's hard work so I looked up some ideas on how to reuse felted wool. I was surprised at how many great projects I found. I decided to make a couple of ornamental balls that could be used in a couple of different ways.


The sweater looks alright here, but it's really thick and has lost all the stretch of the knit. I tried to cut out the ball shapes to incorporated some of the existing design from the sweater.

I put a jingle ball in each one, then filled them with polyester stuffing and added some extra felt shapes for fun. I made them with multiple uses in mind, they can be a pet toy, a tree ornament or a kid toy that is safe to throw around inside. You could also add potpourri to the inside if you wanted to make a sweet smelling ornament. Without you can wash it and it will continue to felt up more.