Ripple Baby Blanket

Really close friends of ours are expecting. They have decided to be surprised on the day so we don't know if we are planning for a boy or a girl.
I decided I really wanted to make something that would/could be around for a long time and would suit whatever nursery colours they ended up having.
I have included the pattern I used at the bottom of this post.

I used bamboo cotton so it can be washed often.

I've always liked ripple blankets and thought they were much harder than this, but I would recommend them to anyone!

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PATTERN
With white, chain about 1.5 times as wide as you want your blanket to be. Don't worry if it is too long- you can always cut off the excess of your chain once you've started you valleys and peaks and can see how much you like.

I like three single crochet up the side of the hill, 3 crochet into the next single crochet, then three single crochet don the other side of the hill. Then, to make the valley, skip two single crochet and start the three going up the hill again.

At the last "side" of a peak you'll need to skip a single crochet and then turn as normal and skip another as you up the side again- otherwise your piece gradually increases- something I missed the first time I tried this.

Here is the pattern, properly laid out:

Row 1: With white , single crochet (sc) in 2nd chain (ch) from hook, sc in next 2 ch, *3 sc in next ch, sc in next 3 ch, skip (sk) next 2 ch, sc in next 3 ch; repeat from * to last 4 ch, 3 sc in next ch, sc in next 3 ch - 13 ripples.
Row 2: Ch 1, turn, skip (sk) first st, sc in next 3 sts, *3 sc in next st, sc in next 3 sts, sk next 2 sts, sc in next 3 sts; rep from * to last 5 sts, 3 sc in next st, sc in next 2 sts, sk next st, sc in last st.


Then I did 6 rows of white and two of the colours.
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Happy crocheting!

Christmas Craft Stall

I joined my second craft fair this year at the beginning of December.

Whilst I didn't do too badly in terms of sales it just reinforces to me that I do not like face to face selling. I much prefer on-line selling, where people can choose and buy and I do not have to smile manfully when they pick up my wares, turn them about in their hands and then put it down again. Arg, it kills me.
And then I get all weird when they do want to buy something. Like I want to warn them off, or something. Daft.

Chevron Quilt Tutorial

I have been eyeing chevron (zigzag) quilts for a while now and the immanent arrival of my sisters baby gave me a great excuse to try this kind of quilt. I could also use plenty of the fabric left over from my Polaroid Quilt.
I looked for tutorials online but struggled a bit to understand them, so I thought I would add a quick bit of help for anyone who would like to make a similar zigzag quilt.

Chevron Quilt Tutorial:

To start I chose 2 contrasting fabrics, a white and a blue stripe cotton. Cut them into squares. 

Lay the fabrics on top of each other with the right sides facing each other. Then draw a pencil line from corner to corner. Trust me, you want to draw this line- I have tried eyeballing it, it it is waaaay too hard. 

Now, sew two straight seams on either side of the pencil line. I used the edge of my presser foot to guide me to keep the stitches parallel with the pencil line. I have done it in red thread to make it easier for you to see:

Cut down the pencil line to create two triangles:

Open out the triangles to form squares again. I ironed them open and I trimmed the corners to make them square. I don't think this is strictly necessary but it helped me to then start treating them as one piece.

And this is where it gets interesting. In the next two photo's I've shown you how these two triangles add together to form the pattern.

Lol! So, I only made 1 set of triangles but I used a bit of Gimp photo magic to show you how this all fits together to make the quilt:

And on to the quilt shots: (What a kind husband/clothes line!)

It was pretty overcast (yay UK!), so the colours are a bit odd but here is a close up of the quilt itself.

I used a lazy binding which is simply awesome. I folded over the backing towards the front quilt piece. (It's like wrapping a present but you fold it over from the back, making nice corners with an iron). I then top stitched the whole lot down. It saved me from the inevitable heartache of fighting with binding and is MUCH neater than I have ever achieved.

I used a deep red spotty fabric for the reverse and added my own label so the baby will know its from me in years to come.

I really like the spotty fabric as a backing because it shows off the quilting I did in the ditch of the seams: 

Thanks husband! No need to look so scary ;)

Leave a comment if you have any questions on how to make this type of quilt. It comes together far faster than expected and it feels awesome to see it take shape.

Happy Quilting!

Let's see all the Plush Dinosaurs you've made!

My Plush Dinosaur with Sewing Pattern has been one of my most read posts on this blog - Thanks to everyone who has linked to it! I promised to showcase the gorgeous dino's you made following the tutorial, so here we go, feast your eyes on the happy Dino goodness!

Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom made this single guy:

 and then a whole lot for a dino birthday party!

Over at Angelhearts Crafts we had a slightly different version with such a cute face!

This great one was created for a Toy Society drop by SewAud's Fun

Love the great photo of this cutie from Plushies and Crafts:

Bright orange from Flowerflame:

bozrena made this lovely smaller version over at Deviant Art:

And finally this dapper dude was made by Wiedźma Domowa:

Absolutely in love! Thank you to everyone, including these great sites for mentioning me:
http://superstinkyboys.blogspot.com/2011/06/dino-rama.html
http://prettyshabbyuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/collection-of-stuffed-animal-tutorials.html

Got a dino to show? Let me know in the comments here or on the Dino tutorial. You comments and links are a great encouragement for those of us who have blogs- keep it up lovely people! :)