I love making things for new babies! Made this little baby bib from a Liberty of London print, some polka dot organic fabric and backed with the softest organic cotton flannel.
Etsy Finds Friday
Liberty of London! Yes, I am getting excited about the new Liberty line coming to Target. No, I am not being paid to talk about it. Tana Lawn prints always make me think of spring. Here are some Liberty finds on Etsy:
Dusty Pink Silk Dress, $200 from 13 Threads.
Pair of Liberty Pillows from Plum Cushion, $125.
Princess and Pea, $48 from Dolittle Design.
Liberty of London Coin Purse, $24 from Sew Lola.
Pram Kittens, $16 from Dotty Monkey.
Large Buttons, $3.50 from Notions by Polly Danger.
Toddler Merino Sweater, $54 from Sew Katiepie.
Liberty of London Clutch, $75 from Pretty Lulu Bridal.
Wonderland Top, size 6m to 7 years, $60 from Maison de Lucille.
Finding Inspiration
I’ve not been posting many projects lately because I am working like a dog on my book. Do dogs work hard? Most dogs I know don’t, but maybe if you’re a sled dog in Alaska or something. Anyway, since I can’t give you many details about the book, I thought I’d share a couple of things that have been inspiring me lately.
Quilts of Gee’s Bend: I can’t remember what year I first laid eyes on these amazing quilts, but the power that these women put in their work is amazing. I think these quilts speak volumes about the beauty of necessity. Pictured below is Mary Lee Bendolph’s Blocks and Strips of 2002.
Children’s art: As always, I’m influenced and inspired by my children’s art. There’s something about the simplicity and directness in the work of a child that can’t be imitated. My seven-year-old’s apple drawing is pictured below. She was working on a cardboard box, which created those great textural lines.
Liberty of London: Always an inspiration. And I will definitely be making a trip to Target on March 15 when their new line arrives. Look at this adorable girl’s dress. You can see a few other images on the Oprah website. Thanks to Laura for sending me that link!
Oh, and one more thing that I wanted to mention. The very talented Kristal of The Rikrak Studio is holding a fun competition called the Handmade Olympics and I was nominated in the category of Favourite Blog with a Handmaking Focus. So I wanted to say thanks to Kristal and to Tara of Scoutie Girl for putting me on the list of finalists. If you’d like to vote for me here, I would be grateful.
Flower Pot Pincushion
I thought I’d try to make one of the little pincushions in a flower pot that I’ve seen lately. It requires no sewing! Ha, but you probably won’t want to make one of these unless you like to sew. I added a little felt flower (like the hair clips I wrote about in my last post) and a button. And I used this Liberty of London fabric again. There’s still some left, so you’re sure to see it more!
Supplies:
- small flower pot
- fabric scrap
- polyfill stuffing
- hot glue gun
- rubber band
- Cut fabric about three times the width of the top of your pot. My pot was 4″, so I cut a 12″ square.
- Place some polyfill in the center and wrap loosely with a rubber band.
- Continue stuffing with polyfill (as much as you possibly can, and then some).
- Wrap rubber band around a few more times to tighten it.
- Adjust fabric evenly and try it out in the pot.
- Glue all around the inside of the pot, about an inch from the top. Quickly stuff in your fabric.
All done! If you make one of these, be sure to post a photo over in the Make it Monday Flickr photo pool. Check out these flower pot pincushions from Betz White for some more inspiration.
Knitted Blankets
I’m not much of a knitter. I started this blanket for my younger daughter about three years ago. The unfortunate thing is that I used #6 needles and cast on 200 stitches or something ridiculous. The blanket was left in an odd long rectangular shape, so I cast off, cut it in half (by sewing a zig-zag stitch over some bias tape before cutting) and made two blankets for the girls, backed with this Liberty of London fabric. My kids are three and five, but still sleep with their blankies, so here are two more. At least this project is done!
These turned out a bit wonky, so I’m definitely not one to give instructions on how to sew knitted material to cotton fabric. But there’s a nice blog post from the purl bee addressing the subject.