Sewing of late

Have I mentioned that I really enjoy sewing? And fabrics? I really like the creative process of putting it all together. I'm learning so many new things just by trial and error.

I finished a changing pad for Adelia last night. Mind you, I didn't start it last night (more like an entire month ago!)

I used Sandi Henderson's Ginger Blossom fabric, which is the first fabric I ordered online because I liked it that much.

The changing pad turned out a whole lot different than I'd originally wanted it to look like, but I'm happy with it. I had wanted a ruffle around the outside, but after pulling those threads through a tiny strip of fabric to gather the ruffle for an entire 45 minutes, only to feel the threads snap, I was quite done with that idea. Especially since I was only 1/3 of the way through the gathering.

And since I actually wanted to finish this project before Addie is out of diapers, I moved to Plan B, which gave me the opportunity to use my bias tape maker for the first time.

But then it still wasn't quite right. The ruffle added a little something extra, but now with no ruffle I decided to add a flower on the top, inspired by this idea, here, of the talented Erin at house on hill road. (Did you follow that link? How cute is that? She has another one, here.)

Anyway, I attempted to freehand a flower from the main fabric, and my first attempt was shaping up to look something like this:


But that wasn't quite right, either. (The flower petals were so thin that the fabric beneath showed through too much and was just too busy. The flower kind of got lost.)

So I ended up with this:





But I'm sure we can all agree that it doesn't look quite as cute without this particular added feature:


Also, I realized this morning when I was looking through some pictures on my computer that I never posted the quilt I made for Adelia. (This is the first quilt I've done since the doll quilt I made over a year ago.)

I was inspired by Sew, Mama, Sew's quilting month (back in February) to try my hand at a bit more quilting. So I began with some of these:


And it turned into this:




This was the first time I binded a quilt and did mitered corners. I consulted Heather Bailey's Quilt-Binding Directions for that step. For the hand-stitching that was required for the back of the quilt (which happened to be the part I was dreading but it actually ended up being my favorite part!), this video really helped.

Next up, this one: