More Quilts

Inspired by my trip to the V & A quilt exhibition I've finally finished a quilt! My first ever quilt! I bought this roll of washed and worn fabrics at the Festival of Quilts last August. To be fair I stitched the pieces together fairly quickly and even got it layered up and tacked together with wadding and a backing. And there it stopped...

But over the last week I've been spending my evenings hand quilting with rows of running stitch, enjoying the gentle rhythm of hand stitching.

And it is finally finished. The stitching is a bit uneven and wonky and if I'm honest it's not exactly square but I'm feeling very pleased with myself.

I found a shirt in a charity shop which made a perfect binding and I even learned how to make mitred corners!

A certain member of my household made the mistake of asking what it was for... I shut him up by telling him it was "for" the pleasure of making it... because I'm not sure what I'll do with it now.

Other than look at it and stroke it at regular intervals!

Lest you think it is all tales of quilting success in my house I'll share with you another quilt started about thirty years ago. Newly wed and feeling very pleased with my newly decorated Laura Ashley bedroom I thought a hand stitched hexagon quilt would be the finishing touch. I stitched endless hexagons together with tiny little stitches... but it took forever and by the time it had grown to half the size of a double bed we moved house and I'd completely grown out of Laura Ashley florals!

And it has languished in a bag at the back of a cupboard ever since, along with the hundreds of unstitched hexagons. I really should throw it out but can't quite bring myself to do it, although I know I will never finish it... the colours and design are ghastly!

The back is interesting though... I haven't a clue who Roger, Judith, Mark and Sarah might be! But it hasn't put me off and having finished one quilt I might just return to some other unfinished projects... such as this red and green quilt started a mere three years ago

Inspired by this table cover from Kaffe Fassett's first Patchwork book, it is rather large and somewhat ambitious but the top is half put together so who knows I might get it finished in the next three years!

And of course there are the fabrics that are still waiting to be cut out. I bought this book recently... not with the intention of making anything but just for the beautiful photographs.

But somehow I seemed to have bought some fabrics too...

And then there is this "Layer Cake" that I bought because I liked the old looking fabrics... and someone assured me it wouldn't take long to put together... but as you can see it remains unopened!

In fact... this is the only layer cake* I understand...

Much easier to put together than a quilt!

* made this afternoon as a diversionary tactic... I didn't want to put the zip in a bridesmaid dress!