Better late than never I hope!

I have finally finished my doll quilt and it is ready to send out tomorrow.  After my quilt going awol for nearly two months in the first swap, this one is going to be upgraded so it is tracked!  I hope I will be forgiven for being a bit late.

One of the things I love about quilting is all the little decisions you have to make.  First the pattern, then the fabrics, then whether or not to have a border, what backing you want, the quilting pattern, the quilting thread, the binding - the list goes on.  The only thing is, it gets very frustrating when you have a deadline to work to as sometimes it feels you have endless decisions to make.  Thank you for the helpful comments on the last post.  I stayed with this idea and went with the patterned fabric and it looked good, but needed more detail in the background and foreground of the scene.  I decided to do some tie quilting in the foreground to look like grass which I am happy with, but had problems with the background.  I tried birds which didn't look right, then clouds which also didn't look right.  After watching me muttering words the children are forbidden from saying, my husband suggested a sun.  I put that in and then added a few rays and it looked just right. (I don't know about you, but my poor husband quite often gets projects shoved under his nose for an opinion - along the same lines of "does my bum look big in this").

The backing is cotton poplin.  It has an intresting weight to it and I have bought a big piece so I can use it again.  It is heavier than cotton and slides around quite well when I am free machine quilting.  The only downside I have found is that it isn't very forgiving of unpicking - the pin holes take a bit of rubbing to hide.  I was going to do a chunky binding, but then thought a quarter inch looked better, so it is wider on the back.  Rather than chop down the excess I embroidered the label details onto it.  I love the way this looks and will do this again.  Choosing pink for the binding was a controversial decision as my co-worker on this project (he's suddenly an expert!) didn't like it.  I do though, and feel it frames it just right.

I really hope my partner likes it.  I feel like I should have done a traditional pattern, but this just felt a bit more exciting.  I am going to put a "credit note" in the parcel saying I am more than happy to exchange for the quilt for another one if she doesn't like it.  The pictures aren't really showing the colours very well, so I may try and take another few before going to post office in the morning. 

I received this quilt yesterday morning.  We absolutely love it, thank you Kristy.  The link shows far better photos than I can take today, but I did take ones of the lovely ribbon and tissue paper it was wrapped in.

The weather is still dominating the news here, but yesterday and today have been really sunny - perfect for dog walking and visiting my parents allotment to say hello and come away with loads of fresh produce!  More rain is forecast this week, just in time for the holidays, but as long as it isn't like the downpour we had on Friday I won't mind too much! 

Tonight's project - tissue holders for Mister J's teachers as a thank you gift - pictures tomorrow (hopefully).

x

Comments

[Paula]

What an adorable quilt. I'm sure your partner will like it.

[Kristy]

So glad it arrived safely.
I love your quilt such a great idea.

[Lemon Tree Tales]

Liz I absolutely love my little clothesline quilt! I just picked it up from the post office this morning and couldn't wait to take pictures of it. :-) Thank you!!!!

--Tami