A Finish! I actually finished a quilt!

I took all of your advice on my FAL post and decided to concentrate on just one quilt until it was finished and guess what? It worked!

I finished my St Louis 16 Patch quilt and I'm delighted with it :) The fabric is mostly Bari J's LillyBelle with some other bits and bobs mixed in. I had originally made it square but have discovered I don't really like square quilts so I added an extra row.

I decided to practice my FMQ and went for a large scroll pattern. The quilting is very wobbly and uneven in places but I'm fine with that. Hopefully with practice I will get better and it's soft and snuggly and that's what matters. The back is a Tanya Whelan print I've had for ages.

My oldest son has declared it his new favourite quilt and has asked for one in "boy colours" for his bed, but he's going to have to wait because I've got rather a large FAL list to get through. For now he can share this one with Murphy, who decided it was his new bed late last night when I pulled it out of the dryer. Here he is all snuggled up with his teddy :)

I'm getting close to another finish on my list too. It's a hand quilting one that I've been working on slowly but steadily in the evenings. Hopefully I'll be able to show that soon.

Fiona x

On the 16 patch bandwagon

So I did it again. I somehow accidentally started a new quilt.

I kind of deserved it, sort of. I managed to get (almost) caught up on Bee blocks and other things that had a deadline and once the decks were (almost) clear, I figured it was just fine to add another project to the teetering pile of half-done, almost-finished, barely started projects that clutter my house!

A while back I treated myself to a bundle of Bari J's beautiful LillyBelle line, and it has been sitting patiently waiting to play.

I love the 16 patch block and wrote a little tutorial for a 12" version for our do.Good Stitches group to make a 16 patch quilt a few months back (another unfinished quilt that is at the top of the pile!) 

But I decided to follow Steffani's great tutorial, as recommended by the lovely Katy so it makes better use of the FQs that I have. It seems like everybody who has made one of these has marveled at how fast they come together, and it's true!

I really needed some mindless sewing today, something fast and easy so I could ignore my lovely, beautiful, but extremely annoying squabbling children. Our school holidays started 4 weeks ago and they are getting a bit sick of the sight of each other! 

Anyway, I now have 20 blocks which will make a 56" x 70" quilt but I'm thinking I might want to go a bit bigger. I might pour myself a glass of wine, play at arranging my blocks, and raid my stash for a few more FQs.

Happy Wednesday!

Fiona x