CHICKPEA SEWING STUDIO

Give Away!

My new free pattern download is up! You can find it here, at the Sewing Republic amongst many other good projects from my fellow Bernina friends. The crumb catcher is for you parents of a wee one that have been embarrassed by the mess left behind under the chair at friends or restaurants. Now you don't have to scoop it up with remnant of paper napkins while the public watches. You can just take the crumbs with you to feed the birds or the rubbish bin. It can go through the wash to await another adventure in artful spilling! 

 Think about all the inflated tips you left behind in shame and get sewing!

Of course seeing the project live online calls for celebration and a give away. I chose some Japanese goodness to match the simplicity of the catcher. One sewist will win a copy of the Petite Pattern Book : Simple and Natural.

 

The rules are simple, anybody can leave a comment, preferably after having visited the Sewing Republic and I will randomly pick a winner next Thursday. Easy enough!

The Everything Pocket Bag Tutorial

the file is a bit large, sorry... here it is as a word doc first and then as a pdf:

Download The Everything Pocket Bag
Download The Everything Pocket Bag

Roller Coasters

The pattern is up at The Sewing Republic! They made a beautiful pdf you can download to make your own.
I am quite excited/proud to see my little pattern featured on such a cool looking webpage. It gives me this fuzzy feeling...makes me smile.

Diaper Burp Cloth Tutorial

What's cooking on the Bernina this morning?

A little tutorial for diaper burp cloths for you to whip-up in a spare hour. Great recycling project for those long scraps too beautiful to toss, such as the excess fabric on a quilt back once it's quilted.

bibs, bibs...more bibs

A new batch of terrific bibs from Molly Severtson (check out her really beautifully done blog).
and a postcard from a Danish reader too. Thanks Anita for the picture, I love the fabric of the middle one.

A quick reminder that the pattern can still be found here.

I very much need to make more of those myself, as I am still getting aimed at by spit ups and such. I have been trying out all your burping suggestions with sometimes dramatic results! For the stomach patting, I must have been a bit too enthusiastic since all three ounces came back up at once to land on my laps...Traumatic sight to say the least. I had good luck however with Kristin's suggestion of laying the baby on my tummy after a night feeding...Surprisingly effective!

Baby Bib Pattern update

Today Blogger friend Stacy of Stacy sews has some of my bibs on her page, she used them for the crasfter baby swap. I opted out of that swap so as to keep my sanity...and I haven't received my mobile from Elsie Marley swap yet or the simplicity picture from another swap either, I am so impatient!

Quite a few emails with cute pictures of finished bibs have come this way. I was too lazy to organize them properly so this morning it took for ever to fish a few back from old emails.

The pattern can still be found here, and please keep sending pictures, I will be better about finding some sort of system to post them ! and pardon me if I seem to have lost yours

Left to right, Top to bottom:
Chickpeastudio, Don't call me Becky, Glittergoods, Holly and Eric, Kae Fukushima, Orange Flower, Stacy sews, Yarnigras.

 

The Little Crochet Basket Pattern is Ready!

Orange Flower and Chickpea Sewing Studio have put their act together to bring you a really fun project to create this weekend. It's fast, useful and super affordable. The basket is adorable as is,but also could just be waiting to be adorned to fit your decor. The pattern can be modified even by a true beginner (like me) because it is just so simple. You can make it as big or small as you wish. The diaper basket took two me skeins of Sugar'n Cream ( about $3 for two) with a G size hook, but two more are WIP's, a little one for baby socks and another with finer yarn. Karin's basket is crocheted with heavy cotton yarn and an I size hook.

Disclaimer: once you make one, you will be hooked!

Download crochet_basket_pattern4.pdf

Update;
For readers with no adobe reader, here is a simplified version of the document as MS word.

Download crochet_basket_word.doc

Fabric pinwheel tutorial

As promised, here is the tutorial for the Pinwheels.

Download fabric_pinwheels_tutorial.pdf

It's more blabla than pictures but I hope that you'll get what you need out of it. You are welcome to complain if it turns out to be obscure.

Making a Birthing Quilt

What is a Birthing Quilt?

A birthing quilt is something that I made up completely about half way through my pregnancy.
The idea was to make a twin size quilt, with cheerful colors, that I could bring with me to the maternity ward when I go into labor.
I must admit that for a first timer as myself the thought of delivering a relatively large ( to look at them through the nursery window) baby is a little bit disconcerting. So I devised a plan to make looking forward to the birth more appealing, less traumatic. I am sewing my own birthing quilt.

Being past 32 weeks you'd except it to be finished, but of course it isn't. So to get back on track I decided to share with you the pattern I whipped up, this way now other people know and I can no longer procrastinate.
That said I have already made a whooping 75 blocks!

The block I am showing is terrific to make Moda 'Charm pack' quilts. It can be made any size you'd like.
This is a very quick block, unless you become lazy and stop working on the project for weeks like I did!

Download birthing_quilt_pattern4.pdf

Chickpea Infant Bib pattern

 

The January free pattern download has arrived! I don't know if I'll be able to do this every month this year but it would sure be fun. Could it be a New Year's resolution... I'm afraid not. Last year I decided to try and go vegan but instead I got pregnant. I now sometimes will hide and eat McDonald hamburger in secret, destroying all evidence before I get home. Those resolutions can have weird side effects, be warned!

The pattern is for a small bib, that is easily customized with printable fabric or embroidery. It would make an excellent shower gift in multiples and is so light that you could send some all over the world. I have just loved making this pattern and the prototypes, using really bold print fabrics that are hard to fit in a quilt. They also go in the washer and drier nicely, where they wrinkle a little to a beautifully cool finish!

As usual with those, please only make bibs for yourself or as gifts, and not for sale. but DO send pictures, I just love pictures!

Download bib_pattern_final.pdf

here is a pic of the shape of the bib