My finished Swoon!

So it seems I am on a bit of a roll when it comes to finishing things off :)

Drumroll........

I finished my Swoon quilt!!! Yay!

I hadn't expected to be quite so excited to be finished this, but I am and I love it!

It has actually been in use on my bed for a few weeks now with raw edges - it's getting cold in Scotland! But yesterday I managed to get the binding on and it's now washed and dried and looking very pretty if I do say so myself ;)

 I had originally decided to hand quilt this, but after I started, I realised it was just going to join the queue of quilts waiting for me to finish the hand quilting. So I left the centre block with it's perle stitches and machine quilted the rest. I quite like that the centre block looks a bit different to the rest - and it's a little reminder to me to think things through before I start something!

It shrank a little bit when I washed it, I think about 2", and ended up at 78" square. I used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 wadding and I really really love the weight and drapeyness of it. It's thinner than some other cotton wadding, but I prefer that, and it's really lovely and soft once it's washed.

The backing is my favourite print from Joel dewberry's Heirloom line and I decided to bind it in the same print as the backing (I actually made the binding from the lengths of backing I trimmed off after quilting) I stitched the binding down with my machine, using my new machine binding skills :)

I've started binding using strips that are 1 3/4" wide rather than 2 1/2" and I really like the finish of binding this way and it uses less fabric. Would any of you be interested in a tutorial on how I now do my binding?

For those interested
Pattern is Swoon by Camille Roskelley
Fabric used is Heirloom by Joel Dewberry in the citrine colourway, and a couple of Painter's Canvas by Laura Gunn.
I used white cotton poplin rather than quilting cotton for the white background and I like how crisp and fresh it feels.
I used Empress cotton thread to  quilt it - love it, it's my new favourite - thanks to Alison :)
It's quilted by me, trying out various quilting patterns a la my Angela Waters book

Now I need to tart up my bedroom curtains so the co-ordinate with the new quilt, and make my bedroom a bit prettier, but first I have promised my husband I will hard-wire ethernet cables round the downstairs today, so the internet will be faster and we can stream movies through the Sky box. Sigh...... better go get my hammer, drill and cable clips ready. I would much rather be playing with fabric!

Happy Wednesday
Fiona x

A find and a finish

I've finally finished my Across The Sea quilt!

The other day when my friend came round to pick up the wall hanging and pillow I made her, I showed her some of the things I was working on. When I showed her this quilt, which was full of basting pins, she fell in love and begged me to make a quilt for her. I said she could have this one, and it was just the motivation I needed to finish it up.

I really love the backing pattern that Sarah designed for the quilt along but I just couldn't face making it. I know that lots of people just love grey in quilts but I've discovered I really don't like cutting and sewing grey fabric. It makes me feel grey and gloomy. Especially when it's raining outside and the sky is grey. A few times I got the fabric out to make the backing but always put it away again. On a whim I pulled out one of my favourite prints, the Dandelion Print by Patty Young in Raspberry. I grabbed the leftovers from the Fat Quarters I'd used in the front and just sewed them all together.
I am so pleased with the way it turned out and I think I prefer the back of the quilt to the front!

I quilted it with random wavy lines using variegated thread and I love how on the back it looks like wind blowing the dandelion seeds :)

Fabric used is Heirloom by Joel Dewberry, Klona grey, and Patty Young's Dandelion in Raspberry.
Pattern is Across The Sea by Jennifer and Sarah

I'll be quite sad to hand this over to my friend!

Happy Thursday!

Across The Sea

My weekday mornings always follow the same pattern, chaotic hullabaloo as I get myself and 3 children ready for school, then we walk to nursery and on to school, with me hustling and chiding them along. Once they are all safely deposited at school/nursery, I hurry home, put the kettle on, make some porridge while I tidy the kitchen, get the laundry on, then I settle down at the computer and enjoy my cuppa and porridge whilst I read blogs and stuff. Very often the whole morning disappears before I know it, and it's time to pick up my youngest from nursery again.

Not this morning! Thanks to Hadley's post about her bumper-bonanza-super-sewing-day yesterday I gulped my coffee, scoffed my porridge, switched off the computer, and got out my sewing machine :)

I pulled out my Across The Sea quilt blocks and I managed to get all the blocks sewn together, and both borders on before I went to nursery! I even managed to get a couple of pictures of it before I dashed out the door :)

TaDa!!!

Edited to add:
Fabric is Heirloom by Joel Dewberry, the Ruby Palette bought from the lovely Brenda at Pink Castle Fabric
And Klona Grey bought from the lovely Alice at Backstitch


Thanks Hadley!
Fiona x