Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Christmas Craft Idea

For a week now the kids have been chanting the count day to the last day of school which means that the pressure was on to come up with a lovely Christmas Craft idea to give to their teachers. Thankfully I had only two to make this year because my teenagers are past the whole teacher gift giving thing.

Despite the constant ringing in my ears of the daily countdown I still found myself trying to create miracles the night before.
This year I opted for some cute little angels that were very quick and easy to make. The morning after I was met with a big warm hug and a little burst of excitement from Miss Nine as she jingled the little brass bells. Then for the final touch I had Miss Nine sign the back of the Angel and include the date so that her gift would be remembered for years to come.




As she wrapped her precious Angel I was reminded of how simple a gift could bring such delight. Surely this is the essence of Christmas. I hope you are enjoying creating your own Christmas crafts for others to enjoy.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Baby Cot Quilt Inspiration

When my youngest sister gave birth to a lovely little girl in September I knew that I had to make her a very special baby cot quilt

It had to be designed just for her and I wanted the whole family to contribute to it, although I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do that. I knew that hubby and master 13 were not going to be excited by the idea. 

My two daughters, on the other hand, were eagerly waiting for me to start so that they could begin. They have both grown up with sewing and I knew that incorporating some hand embroidery work was a good idea and in safe hands.The challenge was to motivate my two men folk. 

Then I stumbled across this wonderful new book all about baby cot quilts and my hopes lifted.



Click the link below for more information about this book and other baby cot quilt pattern books
Quilts, Baby!: 20 Cuddly Designs to Piece, Patch and Embroider


Something about this baby cot quilt book inspired me and made me smile. The fun and quirky designs appealed to me and I knew my younger, artistic sister would fall in live with them too. More importantly it presented me with a  solution to my baby cot quilt design. I now knew how I was going to involve all my family (including my reluctant men folk) with the design of the quilt.
Have a peek inside this book and you will see what I mean.


 


Many of the designs include little hand draw sketches of delightful creatures.
So my plan is to get my men folk, who are thankfully both good at drawing, to sketch some special little characters to appear in the baby cot quilt design.



 


And I know my girls will have heaps of fun embroidering some designs like these.



 


It would also be fun to include some applique, like these amusing little monkeys.



 


Thanks to this inspirational book called "Quilts Baby" by Linda Kopp, I now have lots of fun ideas for my baby cot quilt. I just need to find a free weekend so that I can get started.
Here's the link again if you would like to take a peek.
Warmly Lenna

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