Anna Crowley Redding

Okay, sewing peeps! This post is for you! Especially my new friends participating in the #talknt twitter chat on Tuesday nights.

Crowley is now 3-years-old. And when Baby Q was born this winter I knew it was time for C to get his very own big boy bed. And if there is something I’ve learned about my complicated little man, is that he likes to be involved in the process! I knew exactly where to start: the bedding!

I am not sure how I stumbled onto this fabric, but I am so glad I did. The line is called Fox Trails from Doohickey Designs. When C. and I first spied it, it was love at first sight. Specifically, Crowley was wild about the camping scene “camping toss in blue.”

I love that the illustrations look like they just popped out of a children’s book!

So I worked up a digital design board of coordinating fabrics and let C. pick out the ones he loved. Once they arrived, I got busy sewing!

And now he has a quilt for his big boy bed, a patchwork pillow case, two patchwork shams and an argyle lumbar.

To give these pillows a little substance, I lined the front and the back (envelope closure) with a tan batiste. This gives the pillows an upscale, professional feel.

I used my embroidery machine (Bernina) to monogram the lumbar.

I don’t have a long arm quilter, but my walking foot did a great job!

And my favorite part of all… a secret message from Mommy embroidered onto the binding before I attached the binding.

A Message in a Binding!

I intentionally placed this bit of embroidery on the underneath of the bottom of the quilt. This way, as he gets older, he won’t feel embarrassed by all the mommy love and yet he’ll know it’s there but none of his friends will. And the truth is, I love to hide little messages in most things I make for the children, including the linings of their rain coats and longalls!

I’ve cut all the scraps into 4-inch square for an extra throw quilt. I’ll post that once it’s finished!

Enjoy the stitching!

Anna