{in progress: 'on the tube' baby quilt}

Sometimes, inspiration hits so hard that there's nothing to do but give in, right away, dropping everything else and running with it. 

That's how I felt when I saw this Tokyo Subway quilt by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson!. She provides full instructions for making the quilt, including just how many thousands of squares to cut... 

 (image source: Oh, Fransson!)

...but I loved the idea of designing my own snaking, bendy train lines. I also loved the idea of scaling it all down a bit, and making a baby/toddler-sized quilt instead. Oh, and I like to imagine these are London Underground trains instead (so please 'mind the gap' between some of the blocks).

The idea was to slowly but surely cut out the 500 squares I needed over the next few months, a few each evening, leaving plenty of time to sew it together before our December due date. However, it was all just a bit too exciting, and one manic night of cutting led to four manic days of sewing, and within a week the whole top was done.

So much for slowly but surely... but then again I do have an awful habit of just making quilt tops and never backing or binding them, so at least there's a good few months left to get all that (boring) stuff done. Until then, Tilly is putting the top to good use, driving her Brio trains up and down the tracks and stopping at each 'squirrel crossing' square (made out of a pair of Justin's old boxers) to avoid any casualties.

{annual summer knitting}

Every year, as it gets hot, I'm overcome by the illogical impulse to knit a thick and woolly blanket. In 2010, it was a little faded pink, basket-weave project for Tilly. Last year, it was a gigantic patchwork throw for my sister, Alice, to take to university. And this year, I bring you the grey stripes -- a baby blanket for our forthcoming little winter elf.

Though the knitting is now all finished -- happily, it worked out that I could cosy up with it while in chilly England this May -- all those stripes means a few dozen ends to weave in. And end-weaving-in is top of my list of unexciting projects. But hopefully by December, it'll be ready to wrap around a new little person... you know, if Texas temperatures ever decide to drop down to blanket-wearing weather!

{blanket neopolitano}

Three panels. Each forty stitches wide, and perhaps 300 rows long. Approximately 36,000 stitches. Done.



It started out very pink. So I added a little of white to lighten it, and then a bit of brown for contrast. And suddenly, it became a giant slab of patchwork ice cream -- strawberry, vanilla, chocolate.



Only a few hours in, I realised that this blanket wasn't for us. We, the house of a million blankets, in the land of eternal humidity, do not need 5lbs of heavy wool.

Instead, it is destined for a certain little sister of mine (I'm banking on the fact that, mid-IB-exam-prep, she doesn't read my blog, so other family, please don't tell her!) who'll be heading off to university this autumn. Though she's a Snuggie fanatic, I'm hoping this'll come in handy when dear old Snuggie is in the wash.



And what's lovely is that the whole of our family contributed: Tilly chewed on the wool as it went from ball to needle; Bella donated a few of her own hairs (albeit, accidentally) for added warmth; Justin knitted two whole stitches on his own-- his first attempt at knitting, and, sadly, probably his last; and me, I just knit and knit and knit, all the while thinking back to my first year of uni and hoping that Alice's first year is equally, more and less momentous.

The Second Annual Bird-Brained Blanket Project

What better way to spend a hot and humid Texas summer than knitting a heavy woolly blanket?

Last year at this time, I was just beginning Tilly's basket-weave baby blanket -- a labour of love in dusky pink, on the tiniest needles known to man. Ten months, it took. I actually started to hate knitting for a bit.

But this blanket is different. Bigger needles, brighter colours. In fact, I'm using up all the sorry little left-overs of other projects, knitting them up into long panels which I'll join together. It feels doubly wonderful to be making something out of stuff that's getting in the way anyway. It's like a patchwork quilt... but with no seam pressing.

The finished blanket will hopefully be something like the lovely ReadyMade one above, but perhaps just slightly pinker, as so many of the wools started out as Tilly hats and cardigans.

So, it promises to be a warm summer, no matter what the weather has in store!

The Cheater's Guide to Quilting

So, in the spirit of getting started early on all things Christmas, I thought I'd show you what I'm making as a present for Tilly. As she's born in the year of the tiger, this Alexander Henry Zoo print seemed just perfect to mark her first year of Christmas with us.

And what better way to get all snuggly in winter than with a big cosy "quilt". Why the quotation marks? Well, serious quilters would probably take offense to me calling this a quilt... really it's just two yards of fabric and two yards of fleece joined together. No batting. No patchwork. No fuss.

Of course, even the simplest of quilts needs some sort of edging. And since the quilt-top took me all of two minutes to make (i.e. trimming the fabric to be the same size as the fleece!), I thought I'd spend a little extra time on the binding. Rather than buying pre-made, I made my own double-fold binding, and am on evening number three of hand-stitching it on the backside.

So, if you're after ideas for handmaking Christmas presents that'll be useful and well-loved, a little handmade quilt doesn't have to be a daunting task. Really, two yards of a favourite fabric, two yards of good quality fleece, and a couple of packages of binding (or a yard or so of fabric, if you want to make your own... tutorial here) are all you need!

And if you do start making your own, please post a link, as we'd love to see!

P.S. If you haven't entered the bits-and-bobs Christmas giveaway over at The Fable of the Table yet, you've got another day or two! Go on...

Knitting

I've started on my largest knitting project yet: a baby blanket for little Tilly. It's a lovely simple pattern, just calling for one colour of wool, but it's done in what's called 'basket weave' stitch, which adds a bit of fun, and keeps me interested in knitting it!

(You can see the blanket in the bottom right corner)

It's a lovely dusky pink, and though I do wish it was a bit softer (it felt softer when it was wound up!), I'm sure we'll find a use for it. It takes four balls of wool, and so far, I'm on ball number 2... so still a lot of knitting to go! Luckily, it's rainy today, so I should be quite productive.

Oh, yes, and I've already spilled a glass of pineapple juice on the blanket, so I'm eager to finish it so I can give it a wash! :)