My, my, it has been a while since I've even thought about this dear blog of mine. I thought it was time for me to document what I've been up to this year.
So to start the year off I had my Marcelle Medallion quilted by the ever so talented Trudi. I had no idea how to quilt it and my fmq sucks so the only option was to let the Master to what she does best. I had absolutely no doubt that she would work wonders on it and I wasn't disappointed! Feathers, oh how I love feathers! That made for a quick finish! (I'm really not keen on the quilting part, and I really don't like basting) Sending a quilt out for a professional to finish = a very pleasurable experience. I got to do my favourite bits, the piecing and binding. And talking of binding, I kept that as loud as the rest of the quilt. I love Anna Maria Horner leopard print!
Next up was my bee quilt. I had to make up quite a few more blocks to make it big enough for a lap quilt so off I went. Sew, sew, sew. 20 blocks altogether was just about enough. Then set about joining them. Hmmm lets just say that maybe next time I'll choose a block that will work with sashing. Anyhow after finishing my quilt top I spray basted it onto some left over wool wadding and used some AMH velveteen for the backing. I was worried about how it would quilt up. Turns out I shouldn't have. Nothing fancy for the quilting just straight line on the insides of the +'s & x's. It was scrappy binding for this one. And we were left with a lovely, busy, warm, squishy quilt to snuggle under for the remainder of winter.
So after a while I started on a quilt for my eldest daughter. She decided on a low volume and aqua colour scheme and a pixilated heart. That is still sat in the cupboard waiting to be finished. Sorry Miss Mary!
The reason it is still sat there is because a lovely lady that had already bought a few of my toddler sized quilts commissioned me to make a quilt for her bed. Her king size bed!! "No, no" I said. "I can't, I've never done anything bigger than a single! I don't even have the floor space to lay a quilt that size out. And the cost!!!" "I trust you" she said "I'd like a rainbow".
Boy oh boy did I battle with this one. Where to start?? I couldn't price it up until I worked out what I was going to do. So after weeks of scouring pinterest I decided on a swoon. A 16 block swoon! And after seeing some fabric bundles on Tikki's instagram I asked her to make me up a 32 piece fq bundle.
I should add that I ONLY agreed to making this quilt when Trudi agreed to quilt it for me.
After 2 days of cutting, came lots and lots of piecing. 16 blocks done! Yay!! Blast! Now I need to cut the sashing! Some being 106" long! How? I turned to instagram for help. A couple of people suggested it would be easier to cut WOF strips and sew together. So me being me, ignored that advice and cut from the length. After putting the job off for a week I had it done in less than half hour! And even sewing them on wasn't so bad. Oh the joy of completing that quilt top!! I don't think I've ever been so proud of my sewing achievements. So I packaged it up and sent it to Trudi. "Just a simple all over design please" I asked. (Expecting a stipple) She had other ideas! I was bowled over! Just look at what she did!
So not only did she have wadding in stock to use she also now has a selection of extra wide backing fabric saving me the hassle of having to piece a back or source something big enough. 106" square quilt remember. If it wasn't for this woman, this quilt would have been anything but a pleasurable experience!
But uh oh. Look it is the start of May! My mother's birthday is the 24th. She loved the swoon pattern and fell in love with one of Bari J's prints I had in my stash. She wanted bright! So I paired it with some bright kona solids, cerise, glacier and tangerine. I had every intention of using white for the background but it looked a bit harsh so went with scrappy low volume instead.
This one only needed to be a runner so 3 blocks was all that was needed. I decided on wool wadding again for this as I decided I wanted to hand quilt and the squishy look you get from wool is so luscious. I machine quilting in the ditch around the sashing first and then spent a few nights hand quilting on the sofa. I love hand sewing! I made a welcome break from the many, many days and nights sat sewing at my dining table. Job done in under a week!
Then the giant commission needed binding. Again I put it off for a few days thinking it would be a nightmare but it all went surprisingly well.
And that is what I've been up too fir the last 5 months. Oh as well as joining Slimming world and shedding 2 stone! ;) All in all a good year so far.
