Sewing Therapy

This week has been something of a blur for me, so I decided I needed some sewing therapy today! We were supposed to be away, at the wedding of one of my best friends, and for some quality time with my family up the country. But life, in the way of chicken pox, got in the way and sadly we ended up home all week minding our very sick little lady. Not only did she have a horrible dose of the pox, but she also developed a nasty little complication - nothing too serious, but incredibly sore - and she needed lots of TLC for the last few days. The only upside to dancing attendance on her was that most of her (and therefore my) time was spent on the sofa watching cartoons, so I got my hand quilting finished on my Skittles quilt, and  last night I got the binding sewn on. It's been washed and dried and photographed, so pop back tomorrow to see that!

By happy coincidence I found myself this afternoon with a couple of free hours - child no 1 was off playing at a  friend's house, and child 2 was out with her dad in the garden. I've been feeling guilty about not getting a handle on my doll quilt swap quilt, so out came my partners info, out came my fabric and I spent a very pleasant couple of hours putting together the top of it. Isn't it amazing how much better you feel after a few hours of making something with beautiful fabric? Or am I the only one who finds it totally therapeutic?

My partner's info told me she liked bright colours, so this is what I chose for her:

I had a silver grey solid that I picked up locally during the week - its very close to Ash but slightly lighter I think. This round of DQS has some requirements - you have to incorporate at least 6 of a choice of blocks, and you have to use a non-white solid in your quilt. There's lots to choose from in the blocks and I have been mulling over whether to go with flying geese, log cabins or drunkard's path, but in the end I decided to pull out my Accuquilt Go! Baby and cut some drunkard's path blocks.

I had a browse through some layouts on Flickr and loved this one - it reminds me of a flower. It came together really quickly and, thanks to Leanne's perfect curves tutorial, I am super happy with how my blocks lined up. This is the second time I've used her tutorial, and this time I didn't make the mistakes I did last time by ironing my perfect curves out of shape - these were pressed very carefully and it made all the difference. I took it out the back and got a great stained glass effect picture which I love!

This little baby is 16 x 16", and I just need to piece the back - a central circle in the solid, plus add a label (my first time doing one).  I am going to hand quilt it tonight on the sofa while watching tv - hand quilting is my new favourite thing, I am addicted! And here's why... a sneaky peak of the finished Skittles quilt!

I see lots more hand quilting in my future!