In's and Out's of Quilts - The Literal Version

I recently finished making a quilt for my soon-to-be-born niece, Annette Marie... She is of course going to be the most adorable little baby you ever saw (Pics to come =D). And every baby needs a nice soft blanket to play on the floor, cuddle in bed and every other daily activity of the smallest of human beings, so I made her a little quilt and I took pictures of the process. They were all taken with you in mind!

Since this was my first quilting project I chose a very simple pattern which was Amy Butler's "Amy's Lotus Brick Path Quilt" (You can find it here: http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/free_patterns.php)

Next: FABRICS!!! I tried for the longest time to find the fabrics I wanted to use but lacked the creativity (And partly the selection) to pick out 11 different fabrics that would work together... So I used fabrics from a collection called Gypsy Caravan by Amy Butler. At first they looked kind of funny together but the finished look was adorable.

Next was the cutting out:

And more cutting out... ;)

The next step was to organize it how I liked it. It was really fun and I focused on mixing the large prints with the smaller prints appropriately. (It is kind of hard to notice because of the busyness of the fabrics but every other "row" across is a larger print vs. a smaller print.) After that I collected all of the pieces very methodically, lengthwise and from bottom to top. They were then labeled which row they were from left to right. (It was a more of a science than I thought =P)

After sewing at a 1/4 in for a long while and gobs of seam ripping (although it did go quickly) I finished the quilt top.

The next step was to find the backing which was a flannel from the same designer.

And then more cutting out, to be followed by more sewing! But this time it was the beginning of the end. It was time for the padding, backing and quilt top to be put together... First came the padding which I laid on a flat surface and smoothed out as best I could; next the backing went back side to the padding; and the quilt top went right side to the backing. You then sew all the sides leaving a 12" hole so that you can turn it right side out. 

 I then contented myself with a few hours of just sewing lines... First was the 1/4in border around the blanket which also closed the 12" hole; I used a pretty decorative stitch for the length and a straight stitch in between the rest of the blocks.

And here is the completed blanket... 

 Ready just in time for my sister's baby shower! <3 you, Kitty and Annette!

Commuter Biking...

Doesn't it just sound terribly pleasant? A nice little ride around town... maybe even the country. Well here is the loveliest bike out there for a lady to do some city biking.

Her name is Poppy (Even though she could very well be renamed "Lucretia") and she is made by a company who still manufactures their products in England called Pashley.