Unfurnished Quilt is finished!



Measures approx. 45" x  60"


I finished quilting this baby on Friday night, stitched the binding last night and then spent a very happy 3 hrs hand stitching it on whilst watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I didn't manage to finish in that time, so spent another couple of hours playing catch up watching Holby City whilst the kids were upstairs having "quiet time" (they decided about 2 weeks ago that they no longer need a lunchtime nap)

I am really pleased with the pieced back - I managed to use some of the fabrics I didn't get onto the front too, which is good

A close up of the binding strip to show where I've added a small piece of the orange flower fabric. I had intended to add this to the bottom right of the quilt with the flowers the right way up, but it was only when I'd machined the binding on (before hand stitching it to the back) that I realised that the quilt was upside down so it is now actually on the top right hand side of the quilt (and upside down). I toyed with the idea of unpicking and restitching, but in actual fact, I rather quite like it there now. I do like to add a bit of contrasting fabric to the binding for interest

This quilt is going to be a raffle prize for our forthcoming retreat in March. We will be raffling this to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. Let's hope it raises plenty!

New Stash

We decided not to buy each other Christmas Presents this year (we both have birthdays relatively close to Christmas and didn't really have anything we neeeeeeded). I did, however, warn my husband that I would be doing a "little bit" of fabric stash shopping

It's all started arriving now. I think I am too ashamed to show you all of it (it never seems as much when you are ordering collections online!!) but here are some of the pieces to arrive so far.................

Just some of my dots - I have a bit of a thing for dots - and they are fabulous as binding, I have found

Both of these are Patty Young Sanctuary fabrics - they are delicious and so soft to the touch (remind me of the Patricia Bravo fabrics I have worked with recently). This bottom picture reminds me - going through my stash I definitely have a thing for blues & greens (green being my absolute favourite colour)

My mind is whirring with ideas. Which one to choose.......................!

Free Motion Quilting

Last night, the back for my Unfurnished Quilt was pieced and basted and today, before work, I got on with the quilting. Stippling again for this one. I did toy with the idea of hand quilting around each of the squares in a co-ordinating thread but decided this quilt would look better stippled. So the sewing commenced.

I left the quilt in the machine with the hope of carrying on this evening but work took over and I have only just finished.  There are two reasons I am not now continuing with it:

- I have no energy left to quilt (Lianne & I had a rather energetic session of "Let's Dance 2" on the Wii before lunch to power up for a heafty paperwork session this afternoon and the aches have started!!)
- The photo below should show the second reason - the black mass to the left behind my machine is, infact, our 13 yr old black & white cat, Phoebe, who has decided that the quilt is a far more comfortable place to sleep than anywhere else in the house - typical!

The part quilted pieced quilt back



Phoebe napping on my quilt behind my machine - not much chance of continuing with that this evening!

We are forecast snow again for the morning - hoping it's not too bad. Still, no need to go out - kids are not in nursery and we have plenty of food in. Lazy day for us!!

A Market Bag

I bought this pattern from Artsy Crafty Babe earlier this year and made a few bags and then stopped when the quilting started. It uses vintage sheets and I just love it. I made one for mum, one for me and a "Sunshine Bag" for a very special lady who's going through a tough time right now. I didn't get around to making one for my very best friend and have been meaning to. That has now been rectified and here it is (sorry about the multiple photos - it really is very hard to get a good pic of such a slouchy bag!)

A little more............

I have today chosen the layout for the stacks and sewn them together into columns

Just need to press, trim & sew together and top will be complete

Not quite sure which colours for the binding yet - am quite fancying dark brown but will peruse my stash tomorrow (hopefully!) and decide. Lots & lots of work to do tomorrow and J will be helping as his Chicken Pox are not clear enough for nursery. Let's see how far we get! At least Lianne will be here *yay*

Progress.............

......has been made this evening. I now have a huge pile of this

Which came of these............

Which, with a little more sewing, time and cutting..........

Became these...........

This is not the final layout - just to give an idea

I am now waaaaay too tired to carry on (it's 01:04 as I type) and no doubt the twins will have me up at 06:30 so I'd best make tracks up the wooden hill...................................what do you think???

Not sure if anyone actually reads this - please leave a comment if you do - would be nice to think that at least someone is sharing my excitement of this quilting journey with me xxx

I started cutting!

So I have started to cut the fabric for my next quilt. Progress is slow as the shoulder is still giving me a little grief and with J & A both now refusing lunchtime naps and bearing the spots of Chicken Pox, time is precious!

Here is my progress so far:

Can you guess what it is yet??!

I hope I will have some actual sewing to show in my next post!

S x