A Little Madness in March

March was always going to be a busy month.

Our third grandchild was expected on 13th of the month but arrived two days early in rather a hurry making a very special birthday present for his big sister Ava.

Ava and baby Murray sharing a birthday forever.

A few days later our other grand daughter Macie jetted off on her first foreign holiday and loved the warm sunshine.

Macie, now 5 months

Back in my sewing room I was able to get busy. The quilt I had prepared for Baby Murray was fashioned out of his daddy's shirts, I mentioned this a couple of posts ago. I had bought rather a nice cotton gingham fabric for the back which felt almost like a soft flannel. Before assembly, if I can, I like to machine embroider a personalised label using the backing and wadding and then fully layer up, creating an integral label. However, as soon as I started to embroider the machine began to chew up the backing fabric - ugh!!

Back to the drawing board, I decided the gingham fabric was quite a loose weave nd ditched it (although I did go on to use it for binding)

I then decided to stick with shirts and made up a backing using 9 large pieces. Although I loved the soft feel of the back and front I was very nervous about quilting this little project - I just knew it was going to ripple and pleat and do all those other nasty things you just don't want. I knew I wouldn't sit and hand quilt so I opted to machine tie it. Every intersecting point was stitched with a small fancy satin stitch pattern and then each plain white patch was treated to two similat "ties".

I do feel a bit disappointed but remind myself that I have made this quilt totally from used fabric (apart from the wadding of course) and think in a funny way that the quilting sort of suits its style.

Moving on, I made a bit of an effort and achieved my second quilt finish of the month. This next quilt started over a year ago as an alternative colour sample of an old class project and is something I am hoping to offer soon as a pattern. 

When I bought the Lewis and Irene "Island Girl" range it made me think of Disney's Moana so it was always destined for Ava, I just hope she still like Moana by the time she gets it

I also continued with my Luna Lapin wardrobe.............I am now happy to say that as well as her coat and shoes, Luna not only has a new polka dot dress but finally her modesty is preserved with the addition of some French knickers.

My final March make was somthing I have fancied doing for a while - converting a small tin (typically an Altoids one) into a mini playset. It was so much fun as I footered (or furtled) with little bits of paper, felt, glue etc........

And finally before linking up with Mini Archie, please indulge me as proud Grandma as I share my attempts to get all three into one photo. Herding cats came to mind.