Black & White Baby Quilt

June 8, 2014June 9, 2015Dora Baby Gifts, Quilts Leave a comment

Made this baby quilt as a surprise for a dear friend earlier this spring. She and her husband wanted the gender to be a surprise, so I tried to keep it gender neutral. I’ve been playing with a few designs that are a bit more modern, and this project seemed to fit perfectly. The black and white stripes were totally inspired by an Ikea Stockholm rug that I’ve been coveting for my living room for months, but am too cheap to buy. I also found a Marimekko black and white onesie on a Vermont Trip this past winter that coordinates very nicely.

Without further ado, I give you loads of pictures!

I was home for Easter when these pictures were taken, so I had some help. Thanks Mom! Had a lot of fun taking these around my family’s house.

Oh, and his big brother also got this really cool super hero cape:

The tutorial can be found at The Pleated Poppy.

And finally, congrats to Krista and Bob, who were blessed with a sweet baby boy, Arden, this past weekend! He is adorable, hope he looks good in black and white!

Love,
Dora
;

It’s Never Too Late for Baby Blankets!

March 8, 2014July 7, 2015Dora Baby Gifts, Quilts Leave a comment

I was cleaning out my iPhone picture the other day (because I am out of room for more), and realized that I never posted these. Here are two baby quilts that I made last winter for some of my former co-workers.

Race Baby Quilt (Fabric: Amy Butler – Dots)

Triangle Baby Quilt (Fabric: Lotta Jansdotter – Glimma)

Now back to organizing the new craft room so that I can start quilting again. I made a deal with myself that I couldn’t start any more projects until the new room was finished and organized.

Love,

Dora

First Custom Baby Blanket

February 15, 2014June 9, 2015Dora Baby Gifts, Quilts Leave a comment

We’ve had our fair share of snow days here in CT lately. I am so thankful to have the extra time to catch up on projects. Last week, I finished and mailed my first custom ordered baby quilt for a friend. Her only request was that it be purple, and after a few back and forth text messages of ideas and pictures while shopping for fabric, this is what I came up with:

Hope you like it Kolby!

Stay warm.

My First Sewing Machine

February 25, 2012June 9, 2015Dora Baby Gifts, Home Decor, Sewing Projects 1 Comment

This has been a week of firsts…my first week rounding at St. Francis, my first week back in lab at CAIRD since my fellowship, first time getting my car stuck in the snow this season, and the list goes on. So it seems fitting to finally jump back into blogging again with my first post of the year being about my FIRST SEWING MACHINE! Needless to say I’m thrilled. Enough of the firsts and onto the good stuff, pictures!

My lovely new machine, it’s been very easy to learn.

And now for a few of my first projects…of course I would need a dust cover for the machine. Plus I found this really great remnant at JoAnn’s that goes very well with the craft room decor. The pattern was a Simplicity Project Runway pattern that just so happened to be on sale for a $1.

New throw pillow for the coach, with a removable cover so I can wash it! No pattern, just made this one up as I went. It was also a remnant found at JoAnn’s, I thought the print was very fitting for our cozy little lakeside condo.

Handmade swaddling blankets for my dearest friend Krista who is expecting their first in May! One side is white flannel and the printed side is cotton. I borrowed this idea from Martha Stewart and embellished it a bit.

And now for my current project, I am making my first quilt! I am making the Easy Four Patch quilt from a book I bought at JoAnn’s back when I was in college and using some fat quarters bought for another project that never got completed. Already have the top pieced together and need to get quilting. I’m think I will likely end up tieing it, as I’ve already got my eye on another pattern and Denyse Schmidt’s new Aunt Edna fabric! Maybe I’ll actually try to learn machine quilting for the next one.

A Long Overdue Blog Post & Highlights from the Baby Boom!

October 28, 2011June 9, 2015Dora Baby Gifts, Knitting Projects Leave a comment

While it has been almost 4 months since my last post, life has not been uneventful…I finished my fellowship program in July, traveled home to Illinois for a few days, started my new job teaching at a new school of pharmacy, we moved to East Hampton Labor Day weekend, we’ve taken several trips (to the Adirondacks, Vermont, & Ohio), and I’ve already created and taught an entire class this semester. Despite all of the chaos, I haven’t stopped knitting…those sticks still tend to come out of the bag on occasion after a hectic day. There has also been quite the baby boom this year among our close friends. I have been bound and determined to hand knit each of these little guys and girls something warm and cozy. Enjoy!

I’ve also recently started my first adult size sweater (for myself, thought that would be best in case it doesn’t come out well). Stay tuned for pictures…

Little Boy Blue Blanket for Tommy in Ohio

Made with Jo Ann’s Sensations Sublime – while it wasn’t the appropriate weight, the color of this yarn was exactly what I was looking for. I ended up using a much smaller needle (size 3) as this yarn was a sport weight yarn rather than worsted as called for in the original pattern. Took much longer to knit, but was totally worth it, the texture of the tighter knit turned out beautiful.

Pattern: Diagonal Comfort Blanket

Cotton Hats & Cardigan for Willow in Connecticut

Made with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease (the multicolored hat is Cotton-Ease knit with a strand of left over Deborah Norville sock yarn from my stash)

Patterns: Eloise Eyelet Cardi, Hat is a pattern that I came up with on my own and will hopefully get published one of these days. Gift tag is scrap fabric sewn to a piece of hand made paper, then trimmed with pinking shears.