mini quilt for May's whiplash

I was so excited to see that mini quilts were the challenge for the May whiplash- a great way to try out a quilt without committing to something I would never finish.

I'm definitely a wing-it sewer, to say the least. I have a degree in furniture design/making & had a studio for a little while, but in the absence of having a place to build, I pulled out an inherited Necchi and the rest, as they say, is history! Regrettably I've yet to take any classes, so I sew the way I approached building furniture.

I saw the challenge on Mother's Day, and The Idea fell out onto paper very quickly (I almost never sketch anything, so this was a novelty!). Long before I was even pregnant, I had always thought I would name my theoretical kiddo Blue, because Blue is everything I would like to give my kiddo- the peace, expanse & freedom of the sea, the sky & space/eternity. My daughter was born last October, and my husband put the kibosh on Blue for a boy or a girl. I couldn't even convince him that Blue was a good middle name.

But I still want to give her these things- thus, a triptych of mini quilts, sea, sky & space/eternity/infinity. I have finished Sea- hooray!- and the other two will actually follow, because I have absolutely loved every bit of making this first one!

The quilt is a wavy-seamed log cabin (hard to tell in the picture, sorry). I used the machine to piece it, but handquilted the rest. In the center patch, the "waves" are also wavy-seamed strips, and I used white thread to piece them with the idea that gently pulling/pressing the seams, the white thread might look like the white spray on the crest of a wave. Not, um, sure that that translated as it just looks like I used white thread...

***I am having a problem with the 3rd quilt & need your help!!!! I can't decide if I should embroider the word space, eternity or infinity... please de-lurk yourself and let me know which you think fits the concept the best!



And this is Miss Lovely, whose name is Kate (admittedly just as lovely a name as Blue), though she did get some seriously Blue eyes...

Thanks for viewing- please don't forget to leave a comment casting your vote for the third quilt!

the whiplash - finally!

It has been completed. It has been tested. It will soon be washed (since it was tested- yuck)! It was photographed.... and the verdict is... it works! My shirt is clean!

This is the Quilted Spit Up Smock I whiplashed for the February whip up- it was super fun! Here is the whole story- from sketches to completion.

Miss Lovely, my satisfied customer

Materials used: A torn, tattered, stained old flour sack towel that had just been sent to the rag stack, leftover flat cotton quilt batting, thread & pearl snaps.


Category entered: Household Waste

ReForm School? With a modified design, I'd love to do it.



What is a Quilted Spit Up Smock, you ask? It is a solution to the age-old issue of a baby wearing a bib, spitting up, and somehow defying all laws of physics, completely missing the bib and instead soaking you with watery cottage cheesey spit up. This smock is long enough to put over your shoulder when holding your babe, protecting your fine threads, and long enough to drape over the front of the Baby Bjorn (when carrying facing forward) so the babe isn't puking/staining/gnawing all over the carrier.

The smock snaps at the neck for quick on/off, and it is as long in the front as it is in the back for reversing when one side gets clobbered.

Side One
Side Two

Tatters, tears, holes & stains- in other words, the interesting parts- were cut out of the towel and pieced together. The perimeters of the holes & tears were stitched to stave off unravelling & provide a little stability, as well as to emphasize the beauty of these marks/imperfections. To me, they are an elegant record of function and utility.

Edges were also left raw; the cotton will fray at the edges through washings, and the flat cotton batting can be seen. I love that you can see exactly how the piece was constructed and what materials were used- sweet, unabashed honesty.

Detail of exposed edge & stitched tatterDetail of tatters & piecing

Detail of big tear & small hole.

Big tear was stabilized with aquick running stitch (by hand).

So there you have it! Miss Lovely didn't mind wearing it, it was convenient, it is soft, it is absorbent, it isn't so precious that I won't ever let her wear it, my shirt didn't get spit on, it was fun to make, I am proud of it, and maybe someday one of her babies will wear it. And best of all, I rescued a lovely old towel from the rag stack!

Thank you, whip up founders for starting this site & inspiring thoughful projects- you have given me pause to exercise my "real" brain in the midst of sometimes mind-numbing adventures in teething...

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spit up smock, con't!

Here are the pics from my whip up adventures last night. I've never really done anything piecey, so this was pretty fun...

First- I picked the best tattered parts of the towel to use -

Then I made sure my choc chips were close by (the only sweet thing in the house, I was jonesing), took some measurements off of other bibs that fit Mlle. Lovely pretty well, and guesstimated how long the smock should be to cover her belly and be able to drape over my shoulder.

First cut - the back of the bib. I just drew on the neck hole spot. I loved that I didn't need to worry about wrecking the fabric.

Detail of the pieces I cut & puzzled together.

I decided to pin the neck & stitch before cutting the neck hole since I was leaving seams raw anyways. Easier to handle.

Yikes, photos/light was pretty rough... at any rate, I also stitched around the tatters to stave off unravelling, as well as highlight that these imperfections were the endearing focus of the design. Kind of like birthmarks, they are beautiful...




Mlle. Lovely was asleep, so I borrowed a model from her. Bad image, sorry, but it gives an idea of the layout.



And now my big dilemma is which fastener to go with. I've ruled out using strips of the towel to make ties- too cumbersome, I think snaps would be better. I have wicked vintage snaps that were my great-grandmother's (she was a seamstress), I have been saving these for years for only the most special of the special projects... but I also have a few pearl snaps. I love the cards that Nani's snaps are on- so incredibly cool. But I think I will go with the pearl snaps- a shout out to the wild west we call home. Plus, they are stronger than the dainty snaps. And I'm thinking that I need to frame Nani's snap cards & keep them just like they are in my studio!

Hopefully I will have a picture of Mlle. Cranklee McStinkbottom modeling her new recycled kitchen towel quilted spit up smock posted this evening. Teething be damned, she's gonna model it and look adorable for her tired mama!

whip up whooped me

am so excited- the whip up spit up smock is almost done- i love it! needs snaps. that's all. can't remember where i put nani's snaps?

took pictures of it while it was in process, but the camera battery just died. aargh. and seriously- it is now 2:15 a.m., i should be going to bed anyways.

sometimes a project is like a really good book- can't put it down until it is d-o-n-e.

my funny valentine

This woman made tears stream down my face laughing because of this post... I could hardly breathe I was laughing so hard.

Michael Jackson- freaking hilarious!

Luckily, Miss Lovely does not pull MJs on me, but she has snuck some poop firecrackers along to the grocery store.

This was my little spit up smock debate today- snaps at shoulder or down the center? I think shoulder. And I think I'll go for the round neck. And I'm all hyped on exposed seams- or leaving the edges raw so they unravel in the wash. I love that soft edge- love to look at it, love to touch it, hate how the strings can get tangled & then you get a lump coming out of the dryer, but it is so worth it...

there's gonna be a whole lotta lovin' 'round the world tomorrow. happy early valentine's day!

whip up challenge - february

I haven't done one of these before, but it seems like a good thing to tackle this month. I just retired a stained, tattered old flour sack towel when pulling laundry out of the dryer the other day... and it was sadly relegated to the rags stack in the laundry room. But then... a-ha! Thanks to Whip Up, I now have something better to do with it.


Miss Lovely is a puker. She goes through bibs like they are going out of style... the best bibs are the ones my mother-in-law knits from chunky cotton yarn. Uber absorbent.


I have yet to make my Lovie a bib- but this won't just be a bib. This will be a Quilted Spit Up Smock. Enter, the tattered old dish towel! Long enough to pull over my shoulder when I burp her. Absorbent cotton batting for the lining. Fastened with one or two tiny black snaps I've been saving on the card from my great-grandmother who was an incredibly talented seamstress for one of Chicago's top designers in the 30s & 40s. Hooray! Can't wait to get to work.



The sketch:

The tattered old towel:

I think this will be big fun!

Will post progress as it happens...

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