Friday 10 September 2010

Dolls and quilts!

I've been busy at school this week, but this evening I've really taken an evening off. I've been working all week - in the evenings, and haven't been in my sewing room at all. However - I made the most of the summer holidays by doing lots and lots - and last week I managed to finish something else. Last weekend, Dad and Liz came to visit, and saw our mansion for the first time. I was able to finish Dad's quilt in time for him to take it away. I was really pleased with how it turned out!
This photo shows Dad looking at the quilt, having taken it out from it's covering. I made it as a quillow - so that he can have it as a cushion, or have it as a quilt. He looks quite impressed with it in this photo - and loved looking at all the different aspects of the quilt. I saw the quilt kit advertised on the Lady Sew and Sew website; I contacted the makower website for their pattern, and they sent it to me. The quilt in the pattern is smaller than the one I made - that is to say - I made it bigger.

I used fleece as a backing, it has made the quilt quite cosy - it was quite warm attaching the binding. The picture on the right shows the quilt as a whole; the design was appropriate for Dad, and the pattern was quite easy to follow. The quilting was done on the sewing machine, without using the quilting frame. I tried to make the quilting echo the patterns in the quilt, and also to show the movement / shape of waves, clouds, and wind moving through the dunes.

It was lovely to get the quilt finished in time for Dad to take it with him. I don't know what the protocol is for hospitals these days, but it will certainly be useful during recuperation. I was pleased with the quilting, and it was easy to do once I put my mind to it. As soon as I had decided on the pattern, I was able to quilt it - sometimes drawing the pattern first was necessary, so that I didn't make a mistake. I think that the adaptation of the pattern has been successful.

This weekend I shall make more effort to get into my room, and get on with more projects. Look out for the next post in the blog where I shall (at least I intend to) show the rag dolls I made.