Where do I start, once again it has been a massive month of sewing for me, with the added bonus of designing..... My niece - the teacher of littlies with special needs, purchased a couple of Hungry Caterpillar panels and left it to me to come up with something bright and simple. This was the first creation. It's finished size was 1.2m by 1.5m a reasonably easy size to quilt and and fiddle with. The photo was a late afternoon shot so it has dulled the brightness......
I shadow quilted the main panel pieces and basic follow the line quilted the rest. The colored strips were leftovers from another project so were precut.
The second Caterpillar quilt was finished late this afternoon and although I have loved doing the two quilt I am glad to see the back of them. The quilting of the last one has been interesting to say the least and is probably why I am really pleased to be finished. This quilt measures 1.2m by 2m so has been hard work to feed through my domestic sewing machine. I would give my right arm for a long arm quilting machine.....
I even did a little free motion quilting on this. The sun and caterpillar had the honour of a little pizzaz. Usually I am a follow the lines kinda girl but I felt the panels needed a little something.
This is the quilt laid out on my cutting table waiting to be spray basted with 505 spray. I hate pinning quilts and find the basting spray to be the absolute best. No movement puckers front or back. The only thing I do is iron between every few rows of stitching. In the back of this picture is my UFO's.
I also put together these panels for my nieces class. My Mum had them in her stash and thought they might be nice in her class rather than packed away for a rainy day.
Next on my list for my niece was another tactile activity quilt. This was a rather girly one, pinks and ruffles.....
This is my second one of this type of quilt. Pockets to hide goodies in, as well as a zipper and buttons and tactile fabrics - toweling, polar fleece, satin, flannel etc.
Next finish are some vision box panels. The kids that have no mobility are laid on the floor with toys suspended above them. The box has to be sturdy as there are other more active kids in the class and it is protecting the child having there quiet time. The boxes wall are plain wood and the thought was to line them with padded fabric panels serving a visual and if they roll purpose.
I decided to theme the fabrics with future thoughts of making felt mobile hangings in the same theme.
This is the visual box that is being "blinged" up. It is having a coat of paint and the panels on the inside will be hung from a rod using rod pockets on the back of the panel.
Finally a friend of mine, whose daughter is a student at the school asked me if I could make her a poncho. She had one in the UK, and found it to brilliant for keeping her warm when outside in her wheelchair. Bulky jackets are time consuming to put on when there is a few of the littlies and the kids are not comfy with a wad of clothing behind them in their chairs.
The poncho is shorter in the back than in the front. the hood is there to stop the freezing cold breeze and the slightly longer front can be wrapped around their legs. And best of all they can tuck their hands under or have them out. I am selling these, if anyone is interested please contact me via email. I am a little restricted by fabric availability for patterned but plain polar fleece is fairly standard in colors.
Thank you Caitlin for being my model. She was very patient with me trialing the hood pattern, as you can imagine there were a couple of mockups made before the final poncho design was reached. This is a favorite as she loves pink, her mum has picked out a gorgeous piece of bright colored fabric for her next one.
