Friday, 18 April 2014

Q1 FAL Update

So, I failed.

I failed to complete anything on my FAL list. I failed to link up to the end of the Q1 FAL and I failed to link up with the Q2 FAL. Go me! Lol.

Anyway, it's not a complete disaster. My giant star quilt is sandwiched and basted and waiting to be quilted. Might need to put my big girl pants on for that.

My Katherines Wheel star quilt is basted and is being hand quilted, hoop and all. I must admit, I'm really enjoying hand quilting. I take it to my weekly sewing circle and sit happily for a couple of hours sewing and chatting with the other ladies. I can't help but think of times gone by with women sitting round a giant frame each working on a section of quilt.

And the wonky star cushion, well, we'll quickly skim over that as I've not even looked at it since, despite it being a relatively quick finish.

Obviously I've sneaked in a few other makes (see previous 2 blog posts) as well as bee blocks and a cushion for the mother but this quarter it's a "must do better" for Mrs Poppins!

Thursday, 17 April 2014

It's a girl!

No, before you ask, I'm not expecting!!!

Remember my last post (from a month ago - must blog more regularly) where I said, I was waiting to hear about my other friend....... Well, later that day on the 18th March she had another wee girl.  A happy, contented little thing, who I've had lovely cuddles from.

So, in time honoured tradition, baby gifts were bought and what better receptacle to put them in than a Noodlehead divided basket? I picked colours sympathetic to the nursery so went with Essex linen in flax for the outside and grabbed some pink, blue, green floral fabric from my stash for the inside. I felt more confident doing this a second time round but I feel the outside is a bit plain as I omitted the optional outer pocket. Hey ho.

I also had to make big sister a gift and as she is being kicked out of the nursery soon, I made a cushion to go in her new Minnie mouse themed big girl room.

I made the mouse template myself and used a fancy applique stitch on my machine to attach it to the background. I also fused the back to some vilene (interfacing) as I find it stops the edges from fraying so much. The bow was added in the same way and I did a simple envelope back for quickness.

Big sister shouted Minnie when she opened her present and I enjoyed a lovely cuddle from her too!