My first group quilt :)

Sometime back, 6 of us from our FB quilt group got together to make a baby quilt or one of the other members who just delivered a baby boy. Realistically, I knew it was gonna be tough to commit to the project, but I went ahead and signed up for it anyway :) A forced deadline is always a good incentive to start & finish something new :)

The subject was appliqué, any design and color, on a blue block. I wasn't ambitious, especially since it's my first ever appliqué work, so I chose a simple dinosaur motif.

If you look closely, the machine satin stitch is irregular in places (especially around corners), so I'm glad you can't see them! To make up for the simple design, I added some hand embroidery in dark green DMC floss.

The other ladies did a fantastic job on the quilt. I especially love the bright rocket! I don't remember who pieced it together, but Kak Aida did the hand quilting and it's yummy...

The smiling, chubby recipient is Zila's baby... Isn't he just so adorable on that quilt?

It was a fun experience, and I'd definitely do it again in the future! I missed out on 2 more group quilts after this one due to work commitments, but you betcha I'll be signing up again soon!

Another baby boy space set

Technically this isn't my handiwork... But this was one of the custom orders we did for the shop. The customer saw the first one we made and wanted a similar quilt, but she also added some pillows, bolsters and a mattress cover.

These pillows & bolsters were stuffed with kekabu, and they're nice & firm :)

The whole set is now in the hands of the owner, just awaiting the arrival of the little one soon :)

Of pre-cuts, yardage & the end products

I love charm packs & other pre-cuts. I love the fact that pre-cuts gives me an opportunity to have and play with the whole set in a fabric range... otherwise it'll cost me a mini-fortune to buy each piece in each colorway!

This is the first time I'm actually using up one of our pre-cuts... I chose Dream On by Urban Chiks cos of the sunshiny colors :) Made up 4 nine-patch blocks with 6 charm pieces left over for another project. Spent an hour arranging the pieces, but sewing them up was a breeze.... my patchworking has improved I guess, since my seams matched up! Hehehe...

Haven't quite decided what to do with them yet... my options at the moment: 1) make 2 bags, or 4 if they're just the main centerpiece, 2) turn them into a baby quilt, or 3) line them up and make a table runner. Will update what happens to them once they get turned into something :)

One of these days, I plan to make this bag from pre-cuts or patchwork strips, just for variety... for the moment, though, this yardage seems to give that illusion anyway :)

This one's available ye, only RM 45 without postage. Drop me a line if you're interested, before someone grabs it off the shelf!

Space-y Quilt

OK so I didn't manage to have any hand in this one :( This was all my mom's work, and cos it was an urgent order, I didn't get a chance to pitch in...

Isn't it cute though? The customer loved it - a present for a newborn :)

All Things Space-y! :)

When the daddy-to-be is someone who had the enviable experience of going into space, it's no surprise la that the theme for the baby is astronauts, space & the galaxy :)

The baby quilt was appliqued with different images in each block (astronaut, the Earth, the Sun, stars, moon & spaceship), in vibrant colors as requested by the parents-to-be. We echoed the same image & color combo for the cot bumpers but mixed it up a bit for the pillow and bolster covers.

Just had to take one last pic before packing everything up in its own carrying bag!

We really enjoyed making this order, and we hope both Datuk & Datin Dr enjoy using the set soon! :)

Kekabu sleep set - special order

Fiza wanted a sleep set (mattress, pillow & quilt) in kekabu for her son, and took a fancy to these bright fabrics I've used on a couple of other quilts... Luckily had some in hand, so got to work...

This was the quilt, pillow & bolster case... the quilt used cotton batting, which was thinner, but just as warm and more comfortable for her son...

She had her preferred mattress size, so all we had to do was make one (a very nice and plump mattress!) and pair it with the striped cover (secured with ties).

The whole set, as ordered... She can remove the mattress covers for washing as well as alternate with new ones if required... The day after Fiza picked up her order, I was told her son enjoyed sleeping on the mattress so much that he overslept! :) No problem, little kiddies don't have to rush :)

If anyone wants a kekabu set made to order, drop us a line! Kekabu's in limited quantities though, so hurry :)

Sandcastles Quilt

Something bright and cheerful (aren't most baby quilts like that? :) )... sandcastles on the seashore... I had fun (as usual) doing the hand-quilting around the main design... simple machine-quilting as well around the panel borders...

Simple yellow batik border and binding

Material: 100% American cotton
Size: 33" x 44"
Price: RM 180 only
Status: Available :)

p/s. It's also up on our shop (Beverly Collection)... you can hop on over or even drop by the bricks-and-mortar shop and check out our other stuff too!

Patchwork Attempt - Disappearing Nine-Patch Blocks

I first saw a Disappearing Nine-Patch tutorial while bloghopping, and I thought the technique was really cool (I liked the end result, and before I saw the tute, I thought it involved a lot of piecing! Turns out there was a neat trick to creating the blocks heheh). I thought I had the link saved, but couldn't find it again later... eventually I found Rachel's tute for it, which was pretty similar to the one I first read, so I gave it a shot...

This is my first ever patchwork piece made from scratch!!! My mom tells me adding borders to panels don't really count as patchwork, so that means I've only been doing quilting je hehehe... this is my 9-patch block, made out of strips cut from several fat quarters.

I ended up with 16 blocks made using the Disappearing Nine-Patch Block tute, and after lots of staring at the blocks and moving them around, this is the arrangement I came up with. It took me ages, cos the limited no of fabrics I used meant that many times the blocks I arranged faced the exact same fabric, so I had to rearrange the blocks again & again...

Looking at this arrangement, I think I can get a decent-sized baby quilt out of it, once I put in the sashings and borders... the blocks are now stacked nicely on our notions table, put aside for now while I focus on finishing the hand quilting on our other baby quilts... I promise, this will get made! :)

My first quilting attempts

Ever since my mom & I officially ran Beverly Collection, I've wanted to start making quilts on my own. My mom is, and has been, the one with the skills (not to mention she's the instructor for all lessons we provide), and I figured I should add to mine too :)

These were my first attempts at quilting. As owner of the label, what I produce for myself still counts as producing for an (internal) customer, right? ;)

This blue and yellow baby quilt is for my newborn baby... started off with a quilt panel, added a border, then had it hand-bound and machine+hand-quilted...

This was also a panel quilt... added the sweet pink floral border and hand-bound the quilt. I really like doing hand-binding... there's a calming rhythm to it once you get started. Also machine-quilted along the borders and frames, and handquilted the picture elements.

These two were made from the ever-so-cheerful-and-cute-I-like IKEA fabric, with two simple borders and hand-quilting around the bigger motifs...

I started making all these before my delivery, and managed to complete all these as gifts. I loved doing hand-quilting so much, I ended up buying the quilting frame to make my work neater... it really made a big difference in the quilting (well, that's my own rough comparison anyway, looking at the panel quilts done pre-frame usage, and the IKEA ones post-frame).

Now I'm trying to be more ambitious, and just started on a patchwork quilt next... will post the pics and progress later... I've already had to unpick the seams several times cos my edges didn't line up... argh... wish me luck!