I spent a lot of my working at home days during my pregnancy sleeping – that was one thing I hadn’t really anticipated! I’m not going to lie, I lost a bit of enthusiasm for crafting and my blog which was a bit disheartening after all the effort I had been putting in to it. But in the last few weeks I regained my crafting mojo and was able to complete a few projects for Little One. The fabric buying ban was still in place (and still is, actually!) so I raided my stash for all the plain colours I have. So these are a mixture of mainly Kona cottons, Moda solids and a few other random ones I had. There are 21 colours altogether, and I used 3 squares of each – Tom helped me to work out how to lay them out so they were ‘random’, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. It reminds me of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant! The backing fabric (pictured above) is ‘Mother Goose’ by Windham fabrics and it’s just gorgeous – I got it from Fabric Rehab with a birthday voucher (which certainly does not break the fabric buying ban haha!). As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to get it for this quilt.

I ended up with extra backing fabric and my Mum suggested making a cushion for tummy time – I found a tutorial online and it has turned out really well. I made some spare covers for it, which is why you’re probably thinking ‘but the one in the photo has cats on it!’ I’m going to do a separate review post about that pattern, so look out for that at some unspecified point in the future…!

I also managed to make some curtains for the nursery, using fabric from the duvet covers I had when I was younger. I loved them so much that I couldn’t part with them! It’s really nice to have been able to use them to make something for Little One.

Our nursery is quite small, so we kept everything white and decided to add lots of colour. My Dad very kindly came to re-wallpaper the room, and Tom did the painting. I think he’s all DIY-ed out now! Here are a few more pictures:

The piano stool has been useful in the nursery (added storage = bonus!), but I didn’t get the chance to paint it before Little One arrived. Something to add to the list of things I’d like to get around to at some point…

We are big fans of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Dr. Seuss My Mum picked up these cute bookends in the charity shop she works in. They’re fab!

This mini wooden seaside was a gift from Grandma H and Grandad K – we call it Maryport in a tin (that’s what it came in). We spent quite a bit of time there as a family, so it’s lovely to have this in the nursery. Little One likes to look at it now that she can focus in on things a bit more. It’s a good job that crabs and seagulls aren’t this big in real life – not to scale here!

The lovely prints on the wall are from Miri Studio. We wanted to have some pictures in the nursery, and had a couple of these frames from Ikea already. Katy from Miri Studio makes them to fit these frames, so they were perfect! And it’s good to support artists from the UK. I love them all, but the cheeky squirrel is my favourite!

I can’t tell you how long it has taken me to put this post together! A big thank you to Tom for the gift of time to be able to do it I’ll be returning the favour so he can do some composing! He has taken some extended leave thanks to shared parental leave, and it has just been wonderful having him around. Time is going so fast and it’s brilliant that he can be around to be with us. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if he had gone back to work after only two weeks – I have a lot of respect for everyone who does that. We’ve been able to muddle through the fog of the first few weeks together, and it’s so nice to be emerging from it and to be able to do a few more normal things. I’ve been getting back in to Instagram too, as well as posting a few things on my Facebook page, so you can pop over there to see more in between my blog posts if you like. It feels good to be back!

(I love this picture! It took a while to get it, but I got it! )

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You will need

A selection of Liberty fabric squares – I used these 5″ squares and cut them into 4 pieces

Some lining fabric (I used white cotton)

White cotton thread

An iron

1 metre of ribbon

Needle and pins

Sharp scissors

Step 1

Arrange your fabric pieces to decide on the best layout, splitting your squares into two piles – one for the front and the other for the back. I decided to sew horizontal rows first, and stitched the first two squares with roughly half a centimetre seam allowance.

Open the squares and then stitch the next square along, again with a half a centimetre seam allowance. Repeat with the rest of the squares in the row, and then press the seams open.

Step 2

Stitch the rows together, still using a half a centimetre seam allowance.

Don’t worry if all the seams don’t line up – this just adds to the feel of the scrappy patchwork!

Step 3

Repeat the first two steps to make the back piece. Then use a ruler and a rotary cutter to neaten the edges.

Step 4

Place the patchwork pieces right sides together and pin along the bottom edge. Take the top edge and fold over once, using your ribbon as a guide as to how deep the gap will need to be – this worked out at just under half a square using this size of scraps. Then I cut 1.5cm along the seam I had sewn at the bottom of the first square and folded it in (see below). This is to make sure that the openings for the ribbon don’t meet when the side seams are stitched. Press and then fold under the top seam.

Step 5

Next, pin and stitch the side seams, starting at the top of the top hem and working around the corners that have been pressed out.

Step 6

Now to make the lining. Take your lining fabric and fold it in half, and place it on top of the inside out patchwork bag. Pin where the lining will need to be stitched, using the hems of the patchwork bag as a guide. Press over the top hems (a couple of centimetres is enough) and then stitch the side seams of the lining.

Step 7

Turn the patchwork bag the right way out (you could press it here if it isn’t laying flat). Trim the seams of the lining bag and then place it in position inside the patchwork bag. Make sure that the pressed hem of the lining covers the folded hem of the patchwork bag, but leaving enough room for the ribbon to pass through the gap. Take your time getting this in the right position, and then stitch.

Don’t worry if you miss out any bits – you can always catch them by hand afterwards.

Step 7

Thread your ribbon through the gap at the top of the bag – you can put a safety pin at one end to help you pull it through more easily. Make sure that it hasn’t twisted at any point and then hand stitch it to join it securely.

Ta-dah! I’ve put a few of my sewing bits and bobs in here already

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