Inspiration tangled with a soupçon of Loyd

After the fun of yesterday's post where I put increasingly strangely shaped animals into differently sized sleeping bags, a friend and I (Friend Jenny, she of the Marie Claire Idées stash) discussed the possibility of turning it into a gameshow for television, with the catchy title of 'But will it Fit..?' After much deliberation we decided that Loyd Grossman would be the ideal compere for such a show. Those who spent their childhood in England may remember a television show that he hosted in the 1980s called 'Through the Keyhole' in which he snooped around a celebrity's home, giving clues as to whom it might belong, to the panel in the studio. His tour would always end with him posing the enquiry in his distinctive drawl: 'But who'd live in a house like this one?' before throwing it over to the panel for debate. I think he'd be perfect for 'But will it Fit...?' and I will be approaching his agent shortly, if he doesn't find me first, because I'm sure he's quick on the draw when it comes to winkling out an opportunity, no matter how obscure. Anyway, this post wasn't meant to be about the spin-off television series, it's about sleeping bag inspiration.

I wanted to share with you some of the beautiful sleeping bags that Michelle of City House Studio created. Michelle very kindly tested the pattern for me and made two sets to house the bunnies and sheep in her own household. If you haven't come across Michelle's blog yet, then do go and have a look - I'm rather in awe of her quilting skills and so it felt like a real privilege to have her testing my pattern for me. One of my favourite posts is this one - anyone who loves the children's author Eric Carle will love what she's created.

 I love the idea of having sets of sleeping bags!

 For the set above, Michelle used a lovely curving zig-zag to quilt the quilt cover.

Whereas on this set she used free-motion quilted the tops...I still haven't learnt how to do this properly and so feel rather envious and am determined to give it another go soon.

These are Michelle's sleeping bags from the back. When I gave a sleeping bag to one of my daughter's friends she was delighted to find that if she turned it over like this then her bear could use it as a day-bed without a cover too.

I've always been inspired by the mini-quilts that people create - in some ways I find these more satisfying than the larger quilts as often they will have a pictorial focus or the work will be more intricate. So on that theme, I created a very simple applique flower to decorate one of the sleeping bags that I made during writing the pattern - it's nice to be able to get so many different pieces of fabric into one small shape!

You might remember that I recently put a tutorial together for making a star block, seen in the sleeping bag below. I added a border to the edges and was left with a good size for a quilt cover for Daddy bear-sized sleeping bag.

If you have less time, another simple, but effective way to add interest is to centre a larger design in the middle of the quilt cover. 

Finally, I wanted to share with you what fast-worker Amy has been been up to. Again, Amy's blog is one that I've recently fallen completely in love with. She makes adorable things and so I was loopily happy that she decided to turn her attention to making a sleeping bag from my pattern. She posted this on her blog yesterday and you can read the full details here, as well as seeing more pictures and finding out the lovely history of the beloved creature in the bed.

Heather Ross fans will recognise the print. I love the way that Amy has quilting this, carefully stitching around the pictures, which makes them stand out even more. Amy sells many of the fabrics from this range in her delicious Etsy fabric shop, Pinked Fabrics.

For those in the UK interested in doing similar, then I've noticed that Kate has some Heather Ross 'Owl & the Pussycat', along with some dreamy roses in her sale here.

I think that just about wraps up everything on the bears' sleeping bag front for now! I'm really sorry for the deluge of posts on the subject - I wanted to get everything in one place straight away for anyone who's bought or is thinking of buying the pattern.

By contrast, the next post is, I think, very likely to be focusing on grown-up dresses!

Florence x