Big quilt

The day has come - I've finally finished the Big Quilt!

It's for my colleague's sister's 21st birthday. It's taken about 3 months to complete. She wanted detail of handbags, cherries, cupcakes, birds, and lots of colours. Quite feminine, hence lots of red and pink, without being too girly.

I used several different fabrics for the binding - mainly because I didn't have enough of one fabric to do it all the same. The cupcakes worked really well on the binding.

I found it challenging working on such a big quilt, having done so many small projects lately. The last big one I did was all by hand, and I was living in my flat which had lots of space to spread out. For this one, I had to use the spare room, and laid out flat the quilt took up all of the floor space!! It made pinning very tricky, and I'm sure the backing isn't as smooth as it could be for that reason.

I couldn't do any quilting through all the layers though, which I was disappointed about. The quilt was just too big for me to manoeuvre around my sewing machine - especially as the wadding I used was quick thick. I tried to quilt by hand but ditto the problems of thickness again. I bought a sewing loop hoop recently, but again, the wadding was too thick to use that with it! Lessons learned for next time however.

My colleague was really pleased with it, and has already asked me to make one for herself in the new year. She wants some castle fabric if possible, but I'm having trouble finding any.

I always get a little sad when I have to say goodbye to one of my quilts.... it was even sadder for such a large quilt. A lot of time and effort goes into making things for other people. Sometimes it would be nice if someone spent so much time and effort on me.

Three stages to baby quilt

This is my latest baby quilt, with a specific colour scheme - my first quilt that's not been allowed to be random!

Step one: laying out the blocks.

There are two types of white fabric: one plain, and one with a paisley pattern that's very subtle and cute. I love the random patches of gingham, flowers, and the baby letters.

Step two: all the strips sewn together:

Although I think I got a bit gung-ho with the strips, and perhaps in the future I'll stick to making blocks up. I found that doing strips meant there was more chance of the width being slightly out in places. Not a lot, and I'm sure the receiver won't notice, but I do....

Step 3: the finished quilt top:

I think it looks lovely! A great time spent in my newly-painted sewing room which is getting more comfortable by the day - there'll be shelves going up soon.

Up and running

I've been MIA for ages as we moved house last weekend - I now officially live with my boyfriend! In a house about 5 times the size of my old flat - it's going to take some getting used to. I keep wandering around, looking for Steve because there's too many rooms to find him in (then I remember he's not here, he's got his head in a car engine elsewhere...).

So, there was the hustle and bustle of moving, and then useless BT couldn't figure out how to press the one button that connects your broadband. Numerous arguments with them later and I'm finally online again, hurrah!

The house is lovely. And, it includes a spare room that will be my sewing room! No more crouching over the coffee table on my sewing machine - I now have a whole room with a desk to spread my patches out on. I can't wait to get re-started on my projects.

I've now been issued another challenge for my godson - to make the bunting for his birthday party in May. Slightly less stressful than the Christening cake. His mum wants a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake, but has decided as mother she ought to do it herself - I'm pleased, as although I'm a baker, I'm not a cake decorator!

To celebrate our excellent new house, we have instigated 'Champagne Mondays'. A brilliant idea, you'll agree?