I worked on 5 different sewing projects while I was in France, and three of them are now finished (that's not too bad a ratio is it?). The three that are done are all mini-quilts for mini-people. Now that I've sent the first one off I can share the pictures - I'm pretty sure the other recipients aren't blog readers, so we're quite safe.
The first two are really straightforward little mini-quilts made from some super-lush Japanese fabric from Millie Moon in Frome (give them a ring if you want some for yourself!). They have the same linen-cotton print fabric on both sides, with a plain red binding (made with my fabulous binding contraption). I've free-motion quilted them, and it makes me think of robots whizzing round when they have a short circuit or something like that! This one has gone to my little nephew, who needs some cheering up at the moment. And the second one is awaiting the arrival of its owner.
Isn't that fabric excellent? I really couldn't resist it!
And the third quilt is something that started as an opportunity to use up some older fabric bits and pieces in my stash... But projects rarely end that way, do they?
The first quilt I ever made was on a 6-week course at Millie Moon (fantastic course - totally inspiring). Here's a little picture of it...
And there were quite a few of the triangle pieces left over, so I thought I would use them up in a new quilt for the newly arrived daughter of some friends. I combined strips of triangles with some sashing pieces, also hanging around in the stash. So far so stash-bustingly-good. But then I realised that I was going to need a bigger piece for backing as well as something to make the quilt a bit wider. So... what a shame! I had to make a trip down to Millie Moon on my return, and picked out the perfect fabrics to complete the project.
Rachel helped me to choose (both she and Becki are brilliant at helping you to pick combinations for projects) some gorgeous brand-new Riley Blake fabrics - a stripe to complete the top, and some mouth-wateringly lovely flowery blue fabric for the backing. I might just have some left-overs too. So these might make it into a project for me, as they really are pretty.
I quilted them by simply working rectangles round each of the panels, about a machine-foot's width away from the gutter. Then I folded over the backing to make the binding. And even if I do say so myself, I'm really quite chuffed with this one!
See the binding? I LOVE this fabric!
You can get a better look at the backing if I fold it over, right?
Isn't that adorable? And because I haven't quilted this one too much, the whole thing has retained a lovely soft drapiness. I really hope that it will go down a treat with its new owners as I'm quite tempted to steal it for myself!
Hopefully over the weekend I might even finish up the other two sewing projects from France. There's a bigger quilt made from a whole heap of Liberty left-overs as well as a cushion cover from two previous quilt pieces. I made some serious fabric stash-busting progress while I was away. There's still plenty to do though.
