The Doll's Christmas Baskets Quilt

 We are busy preparing for Christmas right now . 

        Have you put your Christmas tree up yet ? Fairy lights sparkling ?

                       I  wrote all my cards , wrapped the gifts and posted everything off .

          SO now ,

                        I thought I'd show you what the dolls are up to ! 

 

                                           Here is Little Wooden Doll .

                  She is making a new cosy and warm patchwork quilt . A Christmas Quilt !

                                    

                                            Some of her friends have come to help .

                                                Moana is showing Grace how to sew .

Moana is a very old Polynesian dancing doll that I am slowly restoring . She will soon have nice new long hair and a pretty face . I will tell you about her in the new year  .

Grace is waiting for me to make her some clothes , but she is quite warm enough sitting with the quilt over her lap .

          The pattern is called Christmas Baskets .  Lots of little stitches to pull it all together .

                                   ⭐  I'll show you some more tomorrow  .⭐

                                                              ❄️🎄🎅🏽

                                                                      

Little Wooden Doll makes a Patchwork Quilt - Nearly finished...but then .....

 

All seemed to be going well , until we realised that we had forgotten to add the last border !

Without that extra border , the quilt would not hang over the sides of the bed . 

                                                       Don't panic !

So now we had some serious work to do ! Unpick all the stitching around the edge  so that we could get to all three layers of the quilt .

The border strips were stitched on to the patchwork quilt top .

More red cotton was cut to stitch on to the quilt backing fabric .

Four more strips of quilt wadding/batting were cut and laid edge to edge and then stitched together using herringbone stitch  . This was tricky but not impossible . 

 Herringbone stitch can be a very useful stitch as well as decorative . In this situation it didn't need to be perfect , gently worked from side to side , pulling the edges together .

   Carefully and not too tightly . All three layers were then put back together, ready for some further quilting and when that is all done , it will all be quite secure and you would never know anything had ever gone wrong ! 

   This method could be used to extend a full size quilt if needed . 

 

We decided to sew on the binding next and finish the quilting later on .

Tomorrow we are going to make the mattress for the antique doll's bed .

Little Wooden Doll makes a Patchwork Quilt - Freehand Quilting Pattern

 Little Wooden Doll has marked out her quilting patterns with a chalk pencil .

She simply drew them on freehand .

The chalk brushes off easily after the quilting stitches are done .

She is very pleased with how it is beginning to look . 

 

Little Wooden Doll - Patchwork Quilt - The Quilting Bee

 

Little Wooden Doll invites some friends over , to help with quilting her patchwork quilt  .

They enjoy a pleasant afternoon of tiny stitching , chatting and laughter .

                                          Many hands make light work !

                                                Tiny dolly stitches .

Just stitching

 

Little Wooden Doll - is making a Patchwork Quilt - Quilting

 A parcel arrived for Little Wooden Doll !  It was the quilt wadding from Billow Fabrics . It is a new kind of wadding made from a mixture bamboo and cotton . New to me anyway ! It is perfect for our tiny patchwork quilt . Very , very thin , so the quilt will drape nicely on the bed .

We could have used flannel or even not used any wadding at all in such a small quilt , but Little Wooden Doll says she wants it to be nice and cosy and warm .

It is just perfect , so we pressed the patchwork top and the backing fabric with the iron and layered it up with the wadding . A pretty sandwich !

Then pinned it all together . Tip-  You can use safety pins for this ! I usually use little safety pins , then I can roll it up and pop it into my handbag , to stitch a little bit whenever I have an odd moment . I could not find my little safety pins .

Little Wooden Doll begins to quilt it all together . 

I do hope you are enjoying this Little Wooden Dolly Patch-working interlude !

Little Wooden Doll makes a Patchwork Quilt

 

There are lots of scraps of cotton fabric to choose from in the basket . Little Wooden  Doll chooses cheerful reds and creamy pinks and a little bit of green .

                                         She sews the squares into rows .

                                  Then she sews all the rows together .

Little Wooden Doll is pleased with the pattern it makes .

 She sews on some nice red cotton sashes and a little nine patch block at each corner . 

Then she stitches on four more sashes to surround it all and bring it up to the right size for the bed .

  I have ordered some quilting wadding  and we have to now wait for the postman to deliver it , hopefully in a few days time .

 Meanwhile I will begin making the new mattress and pillows . 

Hope you are enjoying this little interlude from embroidery !  

New Bed for Little Wooden Doll

                                                           It has arrived !

                                 It needs a little bit of tender loving care !

                                   The other one was just too small  .

                                              This is much better .

The bed needs a mattress , pillows and bed linen . Little Wooden Doll  begins to make a patchwork quilt for her new bed .