Winter Trees

This is the name I have decided upon for my flannel quilt.  It seemed fitting to me, as the fabric range is Shaded Oaks by Holly Taylor and I have quilted it with an all over tree design.  I finished quilting it on Friday and finally got the binding on this afternoon.  Here it is in all its snugly glory.

 I really do love these colours.  They remind me of walks in the woods on frosty mornings.  Coincidentally, today we had our first frost.  I am still hoping to fit in a stroll in the woods, but both time and daylight are starting to run out.

 This is my first attempt at an all over design, and the little trees seemed most appropriate to me.  Okay, I know they look like arrows, but I think they have a cute charm!  It wasn't the easiest to quilt, as all those layers of flannel were pretty bulky in the throat of my machine.  My neck and shoulders were definitely complaining at the end.  What are the chances of Father Christmas filling my stocking with a lovely long arm this year?

 I used the sashing fabric to back it also, just to keep things simple.  It shows the quilting up very well.  I was tempted to use a fancy thread in the bobbin, but haven't quite built up enough courage to try yet!  Maybe I'll experiment on a small quilt first...

Now I need to wash it, and I'm rather afraid it will shrink too much, or become too wrinkly.  Wish me luck!

A Time for Flannel

Whilst at my local quilt shop last week the lovely Sue showed me a layer cake of Shaded Oaks by Holly Taylor, in flannels.  Now I know that flannels are not to every one's taste, but I flipping love them!  I just can't resist their snuggly loveliness.  Needless to say, they ended up in my basket, along with a few other bits and pieces I didn't need and couldn't afford (how does that happen every single time I enter a quilt shop?)

I couldn't wait to get started using these, so abandoned my children to the care of Daddy, and spent Sunday afternoon planning what to do (I do learn from my mistakes!)  I needed this to be a quick make, so had decided on a brick wall layout.  Lots of cutting later and I was ready to start sewing properly on Monday morning.  The children were packed off to school, radio on and the sewing commenced.  Now this is where I can understand the dislike of flannel.  It certainly isn't an easy fabric to work with.  It's stretchy and open weave and sticks to itself.  I won't lie, there was a little bad language on occasion, but not so bad as to make the cat blush.

My day can probably be summed up with the phrase "just enough".  Here is what was left after cutting the sashing

 This is what was left over from each sashing strip.

My layer cake had four pale cream fabrics, that I didn't want to use, and I had just enough to avoid them.  Or so I thought!  Unfortunately I was missing one half brick, so much for my careful planning.  Still, I can live with this.  Here are the fabrics laid out.  Aren't they beautiful?

Here are the first two rows.  My photography skills aren't doing them much justice I'm afraid. 

My progress was unfortunately cut short by a call from the school to pick up my youngest.  I am hoping to get some more done today, but as he is still not quite right I am entertaining him at home again today.

Here he is snuggled in my quilt, the picture of cheekiness, even when poorly!

Meet Frosty

I'm really pleased with how he came out in the end, and am looking forward to my next design (although I will spend longer on the planning this time!)  I am also pleased that my neck coped with 2 days of sustained sewing.  Hoping it is well and truly on the mend now.

I have run out of energy, so am having some lunch in the hope it gives me some get up and go.  Wednesday afternoons are a bit manic for me, with 2 children having 2 different after school activities.  I leave the house at 2:30 and get back at 5:30, when we are all tired and grumpy.  I'm packing lots of energy bars today!

A Slight Change of Plan

I started working on my little snowman yesterday.  I was so excited to get sewing again, I felt faintly ridiculous.  I'm sure other quilters will appreciate this feeling!

I love laying out the fabrics and swapping them around to find the perfect combination.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't happening.  I love my plaids, I mean really love them.  They are my favourite fabrics bar none, but I just could not make them sing for me.  Back to my stash I went to rethink my plan of action.  I found a lone charm pack of 'Adoring' by Sandy Gervais looking very folorn on the shelf, and thought the blues and aquas might give me the touch of iciness I was hoping for.

I made so many mistakes while making this.  I guess that's what happens when you leap straight into things before planning them properly.  Lesson well and truly learnt!  I forgot to reverse my applique, which didn't matter a great deal, except I did particularly want his hat dangling to the left.  I was using the charm pack to make half square triangles, and I wasn't thinking about what size they would be.  I made four at a time using this method, which I thought would give me the least wastage.  I hadn't considered the bias edges, and they were a pain to deal with.  I'd starch them if I were to do this again.  I started sewing them together, and then realised that I didn't like the size, so had to cut them all down!  Finally, I sewed them together wrongly.  I couldn't be bothered to unpick at this stage, so I just had to make do!  Here is what I did.

He looks a bit sad with no eyes, but they are going to be buttons, so have to wait til last.  I have almost finished the quilting today, so hopefully tomorrow I will have a finish to show.