Some more swapsies

My friend Geraldine and I decided back in August to do a little private swap, for a little fun. She made a doll quilt for my little lady, and I made some placemats for her kitchen table.

Geraldine went for a pink theme for my pink-mad little girl. When this arrived in the post, E was utterly thrilled. She never let it go all day and went to bed with it that evening. It gets used the whole time in her games and is never far from her. While she loves its colours and the fact that it has her name on it, I love the clean lines, bright colours and the beautiful stitching - the pebble quilting is fab and its just gorgeous as a mini quilt. It really appeals to my taste in design and colour! So thank you Geraldine, it really was and is a big hit!

In return, I made some placemats for Geraldine. I mused over what to go with design wise - I knew brights would be a hit, and I wanted 2 pieces that were complimentary but not the same. I found some linen/cotton mix in my stash and decided to piece it in alternate strips with some colourful prints, one warm colours and the other cool. I used paper to piece the linen in a similar manner to piecing a string block as I was afraid it would distort too much with all the pressing and it worked great.

In addition to light machine quilting in the linen, I did a row of hand quilting in matching perle cotton in it too and felt that it really lifted the whole thing.

I backed them in some complimentary prints and used Kona solids for the binding. I love the backs as well to be honest, I think they could be used this side up too!

These have gone off to their new home where I think they are very happy :-)

"Flower Path" mini - Doll Quilt Swap 12

Last night I finished off my binding on my "Flower Path" mini quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 12. I love this little Doll Quilt! I used the Drunkard's Path die on my Go! Baby to cut the pieces and I love how this arrangement works.

I hand quilted it with perle cotton, matching the threads to the colours for each quarter, although the quilting in the centre is unique to each side, inside the circle on the front, and outside it on the back.
Even though I used very bright and vibrant fabrics in this, the overall effect is a little bit muted against the silver grey solid I used...but this was a pleasant surprise. I think if I had used Coal it would have popped much more, but this has a delicate feel that I adore.

I made a little label using one of the leftover pieces of fabric from the cutting, using a laundry pen to write the details, and securing with some Bondaweb and a blanket stitch.

The binding is a dark grey dotty poplin, I love how it frames it. I auditioned about 10 different fabrics for the binding and wasn't happy with any of them, and then this fell out of the back of a box of fabric yesterday and solved my problem!

This little mini measures 16" x 16", so it really is a smallie. This is all ready to go in tomorrow's post with some chocolate and some scraps. I really hope my partner will like it.

And that will leave me all done with the DQS, as I received my gorgeous quilt during the week all the way from Sharon of Lilabelle Lane in Australia! I can't tell you how much I love it! It's just perfect - fab colours and eye catching design! I also got some choccie all the way from Down Under, which has since vanished!!

Thanks so much Sharon, I really love it :-)

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!