A finish plus some lovely things!

I'm having a great week and it's only Monday!  (I think it's going to be another long post!)

This morning I met my friend's baby for the first time (this is the baby that I made the crocheted blanket and squares quilt for and which they use a lot which is always lovely to hear!) - she's such an adorable baby and quite happy to be held by (and dribble over!) a complete stranger.  I'm seeing them again on Wednesday, I hope she's as happy to be out and about as she was today!

Then I visited the Post Office to post my Pillow Fight cushion.  I put the final stitch in the label at about half past two yesterday afternoon and went straight upstairs to put the pad in and take some photos.  Before I share the 'ta da!' photo I'm going to tease you with some in-progress photos!  (Hope you don't mind seeing some of them for the second time on here!)

My colour inspiration (as well, of course, as my partner's likes and dislikes!)

The fabrics - yes, they are batiks *wink*

Centres finished!

And to give you an idea of the size this is one of the triangles ready to be attached...

I know the seam allowances aren't a perfect 1/4" but in hand piecing it's the stitching line that's important!

And then this...

...became this...

...and finally became this...

Spot the sea fret rolling in!

The label is on the back of the buttonhole band

I've had such a lovely time making this cushion - I do hope my partner likes it.

And that if she washes it she remembers to use a colour catcher sheet or two!

Cushion stats:
Size - 15"x15"  (to fit a 16" cushion pad and be nice and plump!)
Fabrics - Moda Bella white and batiks (probably Hoffman)
Block - snowball/shoo fly variation
Block size - 3" (finished)
Wadding - Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 bleached (so it should crinkle nicely after washing!)
Hand pieced and quilted

This was my first Flickr swap and if anyone out there is wondering whether they are brave enough to dive in...do it!!  It's great fun and you get to meet lots of wonderful quilters!  I hope there's going to be another round of Brit Quilt Swap at some point as I'd love to join in!

Now, a sensible blogger might finish the post there and leave the 'lovely things part' for another post but I'm afraid I'm so excited that there's no way I can wait to tell you about the next two things so you'll have to bear with me! 

As if finishing my cushion wasn't exciting enough, this afternoon I got an email from the lovely Fiona (who is featured in the new edition of Fat Quarterly!) telling me that I'd won her cushion give away!  I was able to choose which of the two fabulous cushions I wanted and I chose this one...

Pinched from Fiona's blog - thank you!

Isn't she a beauty?!  I love everything about this cushion - the fabrics, the colours, the scrappy border - and she's going to be mine!!  I'm so excited!  When I opened the email I squeaked with excitement and then did my Mutley impression/happy jig amalgamation and almost fell off my stool!  Thank you so much, Fiona, I can't find the words to express how excited and grateful I am!

And as if that wasn't excitement enough (I know, it just gets better and better!) I picked up a parcel from the depot- it tried to arrive on Saturday and once again I had to wait until the depot reopened on Monday.  This time I had an inkling of what was in it and the wait nearly killed me!

A squishy parcel is always exciting but wait until you see what's inside!

Eeek!!

Double eek and cue another Mutley impersonation/happy jig!

Yes, they would be 'scraps' of the highly talented Aneela Hoey's new fabric 'a walk in the woods'.  Aneela emailed me to ask if I could 'help her out' with the huge box of scraps that had arrived?  Help her out?  You bet I could!!  Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she thinks I'm a little touched/completely doolally as I emailed her in the height of my excitement and I'm not sure I made much sense!  Now, 'scraps' doesn't give quite the right impression of just how precious these strips are - if there was a fire I think I'd save these second...straight after Archie (and his bone quilt, obviously!).  This photo also doesn't do justice to how generous Aneela has been with her wonderful fabric and neither does it show you just how fabulous the designs are.  Honestly, every one makes my heart sing and the colours are fabulous, that's some talent she's got!  I already have plans for some of it and some of the others will be going in existing projects...the rest will be admired and sighed over until I can bring myself to cut it up.  I may decide to make a whole 'a walk in the woods' quilt or I may decide to eek it out over years of projects - a little bit here and a little bit there!  If this little taster has whetted your appetite for the fabric I think it's out in March.  Oh, and I think I'm going to frame the little drawing/note she sent with the fabric!  Again, I can't find the words to say thank you properly and express just how grateful and excited I am but...thank you, Aneela!  If, for some reason, you've never visited Aneela's blog please go there now (well, maybe wait until you've left me a comment!) and tell her how fabulous she is!

So, now you've caught up!  I'll save telling you about the regional day until another time as I don't know about you but I'm hungry (I had a scone at about 10:30 and forgot to have any dinner) and it's teatime!

I can't leave without sharing a photo of Archie though (it doesn't feel right and I might get lynched!) so here's a photo to prove he'll do anything for a biscuit.  It's not the best photo in the world but I had to take it quickly before he backed out!

Let me at it!

I've often admired Cathi's headless (or nearly headless) cat photos of the dearly departed Smudge (I'm not sure Lester went in for that sort of carry on and I don't think her kitten Baxter stays still long enough!) - I think this could count as a headless dog photo!

Thanks for sticking with me through such a long post - I'll be back in a few days, unless something else exciting happens in the meantime!

Happy stitching!

Edited to add (hopefully before anyone has read the post!) :  Judith over at Needles and Lemons has a fabulous giveaway of five half yards of Kona solids and a reel of Aurifil courtesy of River Fabrics!  Visit Judith's blog to enter!