A Finish-Along Finish - Posy Baby Quilt

Last June Nick's cousin had a baby girl - as soon as I found out (on holiday in Devon) I knew I wanted to make a quilt for her, and as I'd been looking at Lynne's really effective quilt for Dashwood Studios on instagram as I found out I got thinking about a quilt using squares and sashing.

Once home I raided my stash and found a charm pack and a mini charm pack in Aneela Hoey's Posy range which was just perfect for this quilt - it's such a gorgeous, gentle, girly range - perfect for a baby quilt. I combined it with some Kona Snow (all fabrics from Simply Solids) and set about working out the quilt design and what pieces I needed to cut from the Kona:

Then I started sewing, firstly at Leeds MQG after we'd done our Siblings Together blocks last June:

Then at my temporary home, my dressing table in our dining room, in the middle of our bedroom redecoration: 

By the time I did my first Finish-Along list on 14th July the middle bit of the quilt and the first borders were on, and by the following week I had a finished quilt top, about 48 inches square:

I selected Ikea Rosalie in pink with red dots from the backing and tracked down some Posy yardage for the binding, did I finish it? no of course I didn't.... It sat around, took a trip to Southwold and back in October but never left the bag (I did finish 2 other quilts that week though) and sat at home waiting to be quilted, I thought I can't gift this now, it's far too late. 

Then in January we were invited to the baby's christening, which was yesterday, so I decided to finish it for that. Only being me I only pulled it out on Wednesday evening. Nick wasn't in the mood to help but I got it basted eventually and quilted very quickly on my new machine:

All quilted in Aurifil 2423, a lovely baby pink that melted into both the front and back of the quilt. 

After Guides on Thursday I made the binding but I was way too tired to try attaching it, so left that for my flexi day on Friday. I got it done, after several attempts, on my machine, and I'm pretty pleased with the result, but too late to wash.

After double checking with the lovely people of instagram, when I got my parents house on Saturday afternoon (they live about 35 minutes away from Nick's cousin and the christening location so we stayed with them) I washed and tumble dried the quilt, the tumble drying bit flooded the kitchen floor but my parents were brilliant, didn't complain, get stressed, or let us mop it up ourselves. 

So here it is - one finished quilt: Nick was rushing to get ready so no great photos, my mum didn't seem to get the 'hold it over your face' bit but never mind. 

Here are some close ups, I forgot to photograph the back so had to do a quick opening up of the wrapping to get a snap before gifting!

Gifts weren't opened at the christening so I don't know how the quilt was received, but I'm glad I made it, she's a lovely little girl (yesterday was the first time I met her) and I hope she enjoys this quilt for years to come.  Now onto the next WIP...

So two down eight to go. My list can be found here: 2015 Finish-Along Quarter 1

Linking up with Adrianne for:

So long February Fresh Sewing Day

On Sunday we had a rare day where neither of us had any plans - no work, theatre, Guiding, social, family commitments or anything else we had to do. Part of me saw a day of sewing ahead, but Nick wanted to go to the Spring Gala on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, and since he's just spent 2 weeks putting in a huge number of hours at the theatre who was I to argue. It was a lovely but long day and meant no sewing to start the month. I did take my crochet though and ploughed on with that when I could, much to the amusement of some older gentlemen on one of the trains...

Turns out in February I was not only bad at making things I was also bad at taking photos of what I had made so I had to do some snapping last night.

I did make an infinity scarf using some of Katy Jones' Priory Square Knit in Clover. Really nice to wear and got some lovely comments at work wearing it too.

I also finished this quilt top, my Leeds MQG Round Robin round 1 (it's a secret but it's in the bag I promise!) This was my first time foundation paper piecing and I see more in my future for sure.

My sewing at the Leeds MQG February meeting was rather more unplanned than I'd hoped - as in dashing round that morning before driving over to Leeds grabbing stuff from my sewing room - so I didn't achieve anything on my finish-along list. However I took a little pile of hst squares and made them into windmills (I think I'm going to mix these up with some red squares and make into something on my next finish-along list), finished one little dumpling bag that had been half done for over a year and started another.

  

Our March Leeds MQG meeting is all about making more quilts for Siblings Together and I made a start after the last meeting doing lots of fabric cutting using fabrics kindly donated by members. Looking forward to these turning into quilts in a couple of weeks.

I also made 5 blocks for Mary Emmen's quilts for Siblings Together too, I couldn't believe I found 43 different blue/green/grey/black boyish fabrics so easily in my stash - it's lovely to be able to contribute something to a project like this and why I love the online quilting community so much.

Crochet also featured heavily in February, I had to remake my square for The Patchwork Heart's community crochet blanket at Royal Mail delivered an empty envelope the first time.

Then I worked on more and more rounds of my Sophie's Universe Crochet Along I'm a little behind but loving doing something out of my comfort zone and seeing all the different stitches turn into something beautiful.

So that was February - not too shabby as it turns out. This week I need to finally get on with some quilting so I *hope* to have some big finishes to share soon.

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