here it is...

Phew. Quilt complete. And a bit of bunting to boot.







It's left me too tired to write much about it, but I'm so glad it's done and Sophia's room is looking more like a little girl's room than a mishmash of leftover baby things. Just a few more bits and pieces to do, but I'll potter away at them slowly over the next two weeks I think.







I have been inspired by both Tiff from Dottie Angel, and a post by my Seattleite friend Alisha (check out her blog, she's an amazing writer and an incredibly inspiring person all round, really) to create my goodies out of vintage fabrics--and also because they just look so cute. So I sourced some relatively inexpensive scrap pieces from Etsy.

As I mentioned in my last post, quilting something this big is not a quick and easy venture. Fun though, and thoroughly satisfying. I figure I will spare you a step by step tutorial on this one, given that there are so many quilting pros out there who have neater and more efficient methods than I to share. I'll just list a couple of tips for you--things I would or wouldn't do again (below).







And as for the bunting, I am a big fan of the itty bitty sort. There's a lot of it out there but here's my take on it.










I wanted to use up the scraps of leftover vintage fabric. I sewed them on to linen, and then on to wool. If they fray then it'll only complete the look. I like the rough look and the mismatched shapes and sizes. Would make a cute party garland as well.

I actually made a bit too much of this so I'll sell some of it in my Etsy shop soon. Will keep you posted.







As I have mentioned in past posts, I love the idea of using your kiddy's own art to decorate their room. I went with twine and mini pegs (you can grab little bags of them from Spotlight) and have displayed art, notes, photos etc. It's a living thing, we change the art over regularly. Sophia is so proud of her art wall and 'reflects' on her pieces with me daily. :)







So as for those quilting 'tips':

1. Check out this blog. Particulary her tutorials. Such as this one.

2. Either calculate how much fabric you need properly before you buy it (I still haven't learnt) or buy more than you think. There is a LOT of fabric in a quilt. I had hoped to use only vintage fabric in this one but ended up adding a whole lot more (of the Spotlight variety) in order to reverse it and increase the size to make it extra big and drapey.

3. Read the washing instructions before you wash the batting or it will practically fall to bits in the wash. (Oh dear, do I ever learn?)

4. Follow the advise of people like quilting pro Marie Barnaby (thank you Marie, if you are reading) who tell you to just use scissors and a ruler instead of wasting money on expensive fan dangle quilting tools.

5. Use safety pins to hold your quilting 'sandwich' together before you cut it and sew it.

6. Check out this youtube tutorial when it comes to sewing on the binding (if you are a novice like me). These are the sort of tips I need to add to my sewing repertoire instead of consistently winging it.

7.Take your time. Like knitting, I imagine the most enjoyable way to approach quilting is when you view it as a long term project. When you pick it up and piece away at it slowly.

8. Start a quilting bee. How fun would that be!? ;)










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