Fabric Travel Baby Chair

With the time I can devote to crafting being limited after the arrival of my daughter last August, I recently decided that instead of committing to long-term, complicated sewing projects, I would try to find some patterns that I could work through relatively quickly. I wanted some instant gratification, and I also wanted to use up some of my fabric stash.

As much as I loved sewing my quilts, and crocheting the granny square blanket, time-consuming projects such as these can get discouraging in the long run. I tend to put them down for long stretches at a time to work on other things because I want to change simply for change's sake. Mind you, I'm still taking on projects that I realize I won't be able complete over the coming months, even the coming year: exhibit A, the Illinois quilt; exhibit B, the log cabin baby blanket -- at this point I'm not sure I could even find where I stashed this WIP if I wanted to...

This fabric baby travel chair is exactly the type of project that I was looking for -- it's quick and practical and combines both sewing and quilting. We are going on vacation in one month's time and will need something to help Bon Bon stay in her seat, whether it be in restaurants or at the place where we'll be staying. Of course, most places have high chairs, but some don't, and I think this will be a far more comfortable option for her.

I found the tutorial for this travel chair on This Mama Makes Stuff. I've been working on it a little at a time over the last few weeks, but I think it could be doable in one (uninterrupted) afternoon, especially if your fabric is pre-quilted. I quilted the fabric myself using leftovers and the same quilting style as for the Friendship Bag I made over one year ago. It seems a little roomy to me now, but hopefully by next month it will be perfect.

Illinois Quilt: the fabric

As promised, here are the fabrics I'm using on the Illinois Quilt. Coincidentally, most of them were purchased in Illinois on our trips to visit with family; the rest were picked up at the Marché St. Pierre in Paris (Mercerie Moline).

Since I'm using a traditional Lincoln Log pattern, I wanted to steer away from the traditional with respect to the fabrics. I chose modern prints and tried to limit the number of colors in each fabric -- most have only two -- so that each one can stand out. The styles aren't necessarily coherent -- there are curves and straight lines, circles and damasque-style -- but I think that visually, this will make the quilt much more interesting.

Here are the fabric details, from left to right:

- michael miller Dandy Damask (Pattern #CX-3095)

- Soirée by Lila Tueller for moda (Pattern #11409 11)

- Bohemian Manor by Jason Yenter for In The Beginning fabrics (Pattern #7BM2)

- Hoodie's Sparkling Paris collection for Blank Quilting 2008 (Pattern #5645)

- Naturally Naturals for Red Rooster (Style #3508, Pattern #16934-BEI1)

And I have these two that I might use for the backing and / or try to incorporate them into the quilt top -- haven't decided yet. 

Left: City Girl by Kitty Yoshida for Benartex (Pattern #0231255B)

Right: Fresh aire by Bj Lantz for Studio E Fabrics 

Illinois Quilt

Above is a diagram I made for my next quilting project. I’m calling it the “Illinois Quilt” because the inspiration for it comes from a drive I made west from Chicago’s O’Hare airport to my grandmother’s house during our Summer 2009 vacation. The sun was shining, the sky was very blue and filled with lots of billowy clouds and the fields, crops, grass and trees were all varying shades of yellow and green. This landscape is a familiar one for me, as we made several cross-state trips to visit with family as I was growing up. I was born and raised in the state of Illinois, USA, as were both of my parents. Today most of my family is still scattered throughout the state, and even though I left quite some time ago, initially for my studies, I am still very much attached to it.

I’ve chosen the log cabin pattern, partly because I’ve wanted to do quilt in this style for some time but also because I see in it a small connection. Growing up in the “Land of Lincoln”, all Illinois schoolchildren are familiar with the story of former US President Abraham Lincoln and how he was born and grew up in a log cabin. The link is weak, I know, especially since the Lincoln family log cabin was not actually in Illinois, but since Lincoln is inextricably linked with both Illinois and log cabins, I thought this pattern would be fitting for the project.

I’m considering doing the entire quilt by hand this time around -- all of my past quilting has been either partially or fully done by machine. Last summer I was reading through a book written by one of my great uncles about the genealogy of my maternal grandmother’s line and discovered that my great-grandmother would only quilt by hand, never by machine. She’s inspired me to do the same.

I’ve recently signed this process pledge, so from time to time I will do short postings on my progress. I’ve already determined the fabric arrangements for the 5 squares that will make up the quilt -- right now I just need to decide which of the above patterns I'll be working with. Next time I’ll reveal the fabrics I’ve selected for the quilt.

All work and (almost) no play

I'm afraid I've had very little time these past few weeks to do any crafting, baking and, to be completely honest, real cooking (unless you consider reheating cooking...).

I did manage to complete a quilting block for a "Block of the Month" subscription I signed up for via a local quilting store.   

I also wound these balls of yarn. This yarn was not in hanks to begin with, but re-winding it has allowed me to save some space in my craft storage.

While I was at it, I wound up a ball of the remnant of a skein used to make Simon’s blanket, so that he could play around with it… 

…though I promptly had to take it away because he got himself tangled up in the thread almost immediately. I suppose I should have seen this coming. Don’t let this next photo deceive you – it got much worse.

Quilt Kit

Last Christmas I received a quilt kit as a gift from my mother. Purchased at a local county craft fair, it contained several pre-cut fabric squares, binding and backing fabric. I think that kits like this are nice because they let you jump right into piecing the quilt together, skipping the fabric cutting stage, which is great for those of us with limited budgets / storage since it eliminates the need for special equipment, such as rotary cutters, rulers, mats... I personally enjoy measuring and cutting fabric, but welcomed the opportunity skip straight to the quilt design this time around. 

The instructions on the package stated “Randomly sew 20 squares together to make 1 strip. Make 14 strips. Sew all 14 strips together…” and so on. I was weary of what random ordering could do to this quilt – dark or light patches, ending up with the same colors next to each other, etc. – so I decided that I would try to structure the design. And this leads to what I suppose is one of the downsides to using a kit: while you can pick out a general color scheme, you don’t choose the individual fabrics. Some of the fabrics in my kit lacked coordination and were of disparate quality. There were a few that I didn’t care much for, including one that I decided to leave out entirely. There were also different amounts of squares for each fabric, which added a new challenge in terms of layout. So after fiddling around with a basic spreadsheet, I came up with this:

I decided that since not all of the fabrics were coordinated, a simple pattern would be best for the quilt top. I felt that this type of design would not only put roughly equal focus on the individual fabrics but would also allow room to be more creative with the stitching. 

It took me about one-third of the way into the quilt to realize that my quilting approach (quilting lines from the outside rows inward) was going to produce some major puckering towards the center. This ultimately led to a very awkward looking pleat down the middle of the quilt. My tendancy to not pull the fabric too taught when basting also probably contributed to the problem. I suppose I could have pulled out all of the stitches, but since I choose the three-step zig zag stitch, this would have left small trails of tiny holes all over the fabric. So I just soldiered on and figured that one day this quilt would serve as a reminder to me of how far along I’ve come. Plus aren’t handmade goods supposed to be imperfect? Isn’t that part of their charm? That’s what I keep telling myself.