Quilting

Interesting discussion of the myriad batting options over at http://quiltingismytherapy.wordpress.com/, plus a generous giveaway.

I've reached that stage with my lap quilt. It's a simple top and I'm planning a similarly uncomplicated back, but am being overly-ambitious in my hopes for quilting. I'd love to create a scene of wisteria flowers tumbling down the patterned squares, with leaves winding through the rest. Confidence exceeding ability, but I'm not going to be deterred... until I balls the whole thing up, turn the air blue & have to lie down with the onset of a migraine.

I'd like to find a soft grey-blue back and quilt in white, to match the front. This could all go badly wrong. However, it is All About Experimenting, and I won't be as happy as I could be if I let myself be put off without trying. Poo to doubt!

Orange

I love the colour Orange.

Who am I kidding that I have, or ever will have, a regular reader. This gets updated when I feel like it, and the primary reason it exists is so that I don't feel a total fraud in commenting on others' sites.

I've been reasonably busy since last post, when I was getting to quilting stage with my first quilt. Well, I had a technical difficulty with my free motion foot (forgot that I had to set stitch length to zero until about 3 days ago) so I did it with my lovely new best sewing buddy- Mr Walking Foot- oh, what a well-spent 37 quid (!!) you were) and some lovely orange thread.

I am inordinately pleased with the result! I tried to pick up the disappearing nine patch theme in the quilting, and lovely the more geometric nature.

Yeah, it shows how I didn't get all my seams perfect on the front but Guess What? I prefer the back!

The binding was pretty pleasing too.  I used squares from the same layer cake for it.

Also, I made a couple of lovely cushions for the new sofabed in My Space, following the instructions on PurlBee. I didn't mean to follow the colours as literally- I found their site through How About Orange- but my local fabric shops are rubbish at stocking made interesting shades in felt. I didn't go for wool felt, but the washable acrylic. I have a toddler and am a realist/pessimist.

What's that lovely thing nestling between the two flower cushions, you ask?  Well, I used the cuttings from one of the cushions, plus a jumble sale shirt in wonderful dusky ORANGE to cuddle into my comfort zone! A cushion costing under a fiver, in a slapdash mosaic, handsewn (apart from cushion edges) and immensely fun to create! Get me, "creating"!  Not following instructions and making something that delights me has been a bit of a revelation... I still have a sloppy grin on my face!

Finally (!) my work-in-progress. The lovely layer cake from Christmas, finally being done justice. I'm aiming for a 5'x6' lap quilt constructed of 16 15"x18" very simple blocks- all about the pretty fabric & cuddling up on our new sofa, watching the world go by! It's sewing up faster than expected so more within 6 weeks... max