Now I can show you.....

Now that the Big Day is past (Season's Greetings, by the way!) I can show you this little mini that I made and gifted to Benta.

I used a Bernina free pattern as the start point, which you can find here  but made the bird houses with different Christmas fabrics, and added the other motifs to fit the theme.

The quilting was a simple free motion meander, shown here on the back (which was pale green, rather than the white that it looks here!).

Neatly rolled into a sausage shape around it's hanging pole (I'd added triangles to hang it by when I put on the binding, no photo of them though), I had a scrap of fabric to make the perfect sized fabric bag for it.

I hope you like it, Benta!

And to everyone who reads this, Happy New Year!

I wish you all the best for a happy and healthy 2023.
 

Finished is better than Perfect!

I sewed the eight parts of my mariners compass together, then inserted them into a dark grey background.

The insertion wasn't too bad, but some of the bits inside the compass weren't quite perfect!  Not to worry - I'm still quite proud of the overall effect!

My DD2 spotted it and quite fancied it for her room.  In a blink of an eye it had a border (to make it match the size of a spare cushion that I had!), some very simple quilting (shown on the back of it here), and then a envelope back added.

 Finished!  One more cushion cover, happily received into DD2's room!

I'm pleased that I don't have it as an unfinished project, she's pleased that she has an additional cushion.  Happiness all round!

Tis the Season!

Another Zoom date with my Miniature Quilt Group (special interest group of the Quilters Guild of the British Isles)!

This one, led by Corinne Curtis (thank you Corrinne!).  You can see more of her work here.

She encouraged us to make a small quilt sandwich, and either 'quilt as you go' with strips (I used decorative stitches, but needed plainer fabric for them to show up better) or free motion quilt mini pictures on them.  She also told us how to partly cut the shape to insert a ribbon loop before doing all the stitching, which was a fab tip!

We all had fun!

And this was the result of a talk by Joy Harber (nee Salvage) about her amazing quilts, when she also described making log cabin blocks using a chain pieced strip method.  No foundation, just using strips 3/4" wide and working round the central square.

I loved making this, but can't imagine making the quantities that Joy does to make large quilts.  This is a coaster size and that suits me just fine!

 My final festive flourish was to make a couple of hot water bottle covers, ready for the chilliness of winter!  I think that they are going to be well used this season!