Baby Blankets

This is supposed to be a craft blog, so it's about time that I write about something crafty again. Obviously with two small children to mind it's not so easy to find the time for crafts. Yet when I look back at the projects I completed since Enda was born, I realise that there's no reason to lament the lack of time. Somehow I seem to be able to squeeze in a few stitches, no matter how busy or tired I am. You always find time for doing things you really love, I suppose. And being really busy is also a good way of finding out what you really love and what you just wish you really loved. For example, I do like music, but I don't love playing or even listening to music as much as I love sewing. I took out my violine once in the last year. Looks like there was never enough passion behind this dream of being a good musician.

But to come back to my actual projects, here is a nautical themed quilt that I made for Aidan:

I started working on it a few weeks before Christmas last year realising that I wouldn't finish it for Christmas but hoping that it would be ready for Aidan's birthday in February. I didn't plan it in any way other than gathering the fabrics I wanted to use, and I didn't measure anything. I just cut fabric pieces and sewed them together, arranging them while sewing. This is not how a quilt is property done. You're supposed to make a plan and measure your fabric pieces. But I was too impatient and didn't want to lose time with making an elaborate plan. It also meant that the project felt less daunting to me. After all I was just sewing fabric pieces together in whatever way I fancied. "Making a quilt" sounds much more daunting and doomed to failure. 

Of course I didn't finish it for Aidan's birthday. It was several more months later. John, my brother in law, had just given Aidan a few ceramic buttons, one of them in the shape of a sailing boat. Perfect for sewing onto the quilt.

Since I made the first baby blanket for our first neqhew it has become a tradition to make a blanket for every new baby in the family. Yet Enda still hasn't got one. So after finishing Aidan's quilt (already the second blanket I made for him), I decided it was time to make one for Enda. I'd like it to be finished rather sooner than later ( I'll soon be making the next blanket for the next baby in the family), so I opted for something a bit simpler and quicker. I had picked up this lovely vintage train fabric in a sale a while ago but didn't know what to use it for, so now I felt the time had come for it to feature in this blanket.

For the reverse side I used a light blue fabric with red polka dots (a present from my sister in law). I simply sandwiched a layer of wadding between the two fabrics, then I folded the backing over the front and stitched it in place. To secure the layers I will use pieces of satin ribbon to tie them together. And that's it.