A Unique Gift

I have been making a gift for Izz for her birthday.  She has a doll’s bed which has been passed down to her but no bedding.

I bought 2 u-shaped pillowcases recently from the op shop.  Here is one that I have unpicked ready to use.  Note the roll of fabric which is the dismantled and pressed frill.

The Duke bought a piece of foam cut to size for the mattress and I have covered that using some of the pillowcase fabric.

The next step was to make a patchwork quilt.  I worked out the size and number of pieces I would need.  The plain pink is more of the pillowcase, plain mauve from a piece in my stash of fabric, Dora pattern is a few leftover scraps from the doona cover and curtains that I made for Miss O last year and the pink patterned fabric is from a blouse I picked up at the op shop.  The frill is the one I unpicked from the pillowcase.  The hemmed edge remained intact so I simply regathered it and reapplied to the quilt edge.

I bought a large piece of cotton/bamboo batting for a bed quilt I am working on for Izz’s bed so I used a small piece for this quilt.  (I think this is a rather spoiled doll!)  The backing is more leftovers from some op shop fabric.  I quilted it by simply machine stitching along the seam lines which is nothing fancy but seems effective.

The finishing touch was to make a matching pillow.  A couple more fabric scraps and some salvaged filling from an old cushion and I had a complete set of bedding for the doll.  Here is the mattress with the pillow.

The total cost of things I bought specifically for this project was $6.60.  This is a gift which I know will be loved regardless of the cost.  I am looking forward to seeing Izz’s face when she opens the gift.

Now I need to work on the the bed quilt I am making as well since her birthday is in 2 weeks and I want to be able to give her the present before we go on holidays.

Something Different

I have always eschewed patchwork groups and my comment has been, “Why would you spend heaps of money on fabric just to cut it up into little pieces so that you can sew them back together again?”  I simply don’t see the attraction and in my opinion it is a waste of money.  In fact many of the creations are just for display and serve no practical purpose.  Once again, why?

However, I have recently discovered that this is not the case with all patchwork and quilting.  I have been reading Frugal in Cornwall and if anyone knows how to do something for nothing (or not very much), it is Froogs.  She has been quilting for some time but has really got into it recently.  This post is just one of many where she discusses upcycling fabric for these gorgeous quilts.

Anyway, I have been inspired and finally capitulated.  At the moment I am just creating some blocks out of scraps of fabric from my cupboard.  Most of it is new – offcuts from completed projects or pieces that have been given to me.  A couple are garments that have been unpicked.

When I looked through my stash it seemed that pink seemed to be the dominant colour.  Not entirely surprising, since I have 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters.  These are the blocks I have made so far.  There will be some blue as well with touches of purple and green.  I am not sure how many blocks I will be able to make with the fabric I have got.  Nor do I know what I will make.  I am wondering about a quilt for Izz, whose birthday is in August.

Watch this space for more progress.