Originally Posted by swimming-duck 
I'd really really really LOVE to do a quilt, but I don't know how to quilt and frankly I'm scared!
Quilting is really easy! You can do a simple pattern that only involves sewing straight lines. I'm doing a rail fence quilt, but baby sized. If you'd like me to email you the Excel file that I did my pattern in, I'd be happy to!
I'm not a super great quilter, but I'm good enough for babies. :)
That jumper is seriously adorable, nikie! You are inspiring me to pull out my poor old sewing machine.
Ohmigosh I LOVE the red sweater! Did you find the pattern on ravelry?
I did! The pattern is called 'autumn leaves', if I remember correctly. You can find my notes & link to the original (free) pattern on ravelry -- I'm under homestyle on there, too.
Originally Posted by swimming-duck
I'd really really really LOVE to do a quilt, but I don't know how to quilt and frankly I'm scared!
Quilting is really easy! You can do a simple pattern that only involves sewing straight lines. I'm doing a rail fence quilt, but baby sized. If you'd like me to email you the Excel file that I did my pattern in, I'd be happy to!
I'm not a super great quilter, but I'm good enough for babies. :)
I would be really interested in your pattern. I was actually thinking of trying my hand at making a quilt for DS. Sort of a present for him too so he doesn't feel so left out with everything being about baby for the next few months.
Here is an image of the quilt pattern. I actually modified it from this pattern: http://www.claudiasquiltshoppe.com/Absolute2BlueWinter.htm
I like the way the two quilt blocks look in the original quilt, but I wanted to do all Rail Fence instead of mixing the Rail Fence and the Nine Patch. However, that basic quilt pattern on that link is a great thing to bookmark because it has 2 really simple quilt blocks. I made Nine Patch quilts for my other kids when they were babies and for my sister's oldest. I wanted to try something different this time.
Thank you so much for the link! I think I might like to try this one. It says it's for absolute beginners. I watched a youtube video on how to cut the quilt fabric. It looks like I have to buy some supplies. I have a mat, but not a rotary cutter. It seems doable anyways! Here's a link to one that I'd like to try.
That one is really cute too! The quilts that I made for my big kids looked a lot like the Sweet Baby one, except the blocks that have the little corners of different fabric were just solid squares on the one that I did. The blocks with the little squares are called Nine Patch and it's a really simple quilt block and one of my favorites. :)
Jenni - so I have a question about a beginning quilt such as the one that I chose. Let's say I have a day where my rambunctious 3 1/2 year old is with my parents and my hubby leaves me alone (I'm dreaming), how long do you think it would take a beginner to complete this project. I know how to sew a bit. I'll probably have to review my sewing machine manual as it's been awhile. But I don't know much beyond very simple basics. I mean, should I allot days, weeks, or months for this project? I have no idea and it'd be nice to have an idea on the time commitment involved before starting.
Jenni - so I have a question about a beginning quilt such as the one that I chose. Let's say I have a day where my rambunctious 3 1/2 year old is with my parents and my hubby leaves me alone (I'm dreaming), how long do you think it would take a beginner to complete this project. I know how to sew a bit. I'll probably have to review my sewing machine manual as it's been awhile. But I don't know much beyond very simple basics. I mean, should I allot days, weeks, or months for this project? I have no idea and it'd be nice to have an idea on the time commitment involved before starting.
For a baby-sized quilt and basic sewing skills, it will probably take a few weeks to finish. The sewing isn't actually the part that takes a long time, cutting the pieces is fairly time consuming. With that quilt pattern you'll only be sewing straight lines, but it will probably take you a little while to feel like you've hit your sewing stride. I'm staring my quilt now because I'm in school full-time and my big kids have sports. I'll have an hour or two a week to work on the quilt so I want to allow myself plenty of time.
I'm also considering making mine a quilted duvet cover instead of an actual quilt. I would just sew a plain white piece of fabric to the back of the quilt top, then make kind of like a big pillowcase. IKEA has baby comforters that they sell duvet covers for and I like the idea of being able to just take the cover off and wash it. Plus, that saves me the trouble of having to do the quilt edges, which frankly I suck at.
Spinnerette-I'm bummed that pattern has so many errors. What kind of problems does it have? I'm not a beginner, do you think I could manage to figure it out? I really like the look of it. I've been trying to use the Frantic mama pattern but the gauge is just messed up for me. I tried knitting it on size 4s and it the gauge was still too big and I can't see knitting my yarn on smaller needles than that.
I'll be swirl dyeing and low immersion dyeing some OBV for wipes tomorrow. I'm excited to start knitting some skirties and ruffle butt soakers, since we found out we're having a girl
Is that the one knitted (crocheted?) as a circle, with sleeves? That one's awesome. :)
I'm still plodding through knitting my baby kimono top, feeling mighty skilly because I'm doing the sleeves using the Magic Loop method. I still need to finish my mei tai, too - all I have left to do are the straps, then quilting the whole thing together. I got distracted a few days ago by the long-overdue task of decluttering my sewing niche, so now I've given away four bags of fabric scraps, bought an organiser for my threads, transferred my ribbons from a shoebox to several neat cards, and stored all my extra bobbins and press-studs and buttons and things in one of those organisers meant for hardware stuff. It looks SO much better! My to-do list hasn't diminished, but at least I feel much more able to tackle it. I've put all my "maternity fabrics" in one pile, all my "I have specific plans for this but can't implement them while I'm pregnant" fabrics in another... fabrics for DD in another, and "boy" fabrics in another... and I even have a few plastic bags with cut-out pattern pieces, ready to sew into baby boy clothes.
Sadly, I have time to sew today, but it's too freaking HOT! I don't want to do anything except lie stickily on the bed and try to pass out. I hate summer.
Hey! Yeah, if you're not a beginner, most errors are glaringly obvious. If you can read your knitting, you'll be fine. Most of them have since been posted as comments on the pattern, or on the pattern page on ravelry itself.
I really like the pattern, otherwise. If you plan on using the Worsted/Aran 10ply pattern, and worsted weight wool, I'd definitely recommend going down from 5mm to 4mm needles to get a more dense fabric with the thinner yarn. Your soaker might come out a bit smaller than what is stated, as mine did. For example, I knit the newborn size of the aran weight pattern in worsted yarn with 4mm and it looks a bit small to me (though I'm somewhat unfamiliar with how tiny new babies actually are..) but using the same yarn and 4mm needs with the small size worked out fabulously - looks like it'll fit with room to grow for at least a little while :)
I hope that helps :)
I'm also on Ravelry. :) I'm on as "heatherphoto" (click here for my profile page) and am always looking for more contacts! I've done a number of things for new baby so far, and have a lot more in my queue.
3 pairs of newborn sized socks: ribbed
Ruffled:
and Chevon Lace (hardest by far!):
a soy wool skirty, for cloth diapering and general cute-bum-ness:
And not for baby... I've been working on a large maiden-style dress for my 7 year old. It's been a nightmare so far, but the result will be absolutely stunning so I'm still trucking through. This is what it looked like just before I had to rip back the bodice (for the sixth time) and start again, but it gives an idea of what it will be:
I've been beaten by baby socks.
So far all of the knitting projects I've started are pretty big, and so I wanted to start something cute and little that I might actually finish before I go into labor. 
So, inspired by littleteapot's GORGEOUS pictures, I picked a pair of baby socks. Nothing fancy, just some little socks so that I could actually have a finished baby knit project to look at. Maybe I could make a matching hat or mittens afterward.
Everything went wrong. I've started over 4 times now because I keep goofing somewhere, and then having horrible meltdowns when I try to rip out *just a few* stitches. I don't know if it's because they're so tiny, or because I'm just REALLY bad at dpns, but all I have to show for a weekend's worth of knitting is a lonely slip knot waiting for me to cast on again.
And what's worse, I can't knit anything else, either! After getting completely fed up with the socks I decided to go back to the nightie, only to start dropping stitches and missing decreases all over the place. At one point I picked up the piece backwards and starting knitting the wrong way, and didn't notice for several inches that there was a weird step in the knitting. Cue more ripping.
I've never had such a catastrophic failure, and I'm blaming it all on the baby socks. 
Time to go back to sewing for a while, I think.
I'm a quilter. Trying to find a neat modern pattern for a quilt for baby. I'll likely make one for the crib (that probably won't be used, but I can toss it on the floor for tummy time) and a smaller one specifically for the stroller. No idea what to make yet, though!
I've found that I'm making tons of mistakes in my knitting lately too. Frustrating!
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