Final Fairy Blocks

The project I'm concentrating on for the next couple of months is a quilt for my youngest niece; my deadline is her fourth birthday, in July.  In my last post, I showed you the first twelve (of twenty-eight) blocks (which are based on the Stained quilt by Sarah) and today I'm happy to say that I've (machine) pieced the remaining sixteen (15") blocks:

Almost two hours of crawling round sorted the arrangement:

Excuse the dire photo, it was night time and, as you can see, well past Archie's bed time!

For ease of piecing, none of the 'in block' sashing strips line up with each other and I decided that I wanted to maintain that when joining them up.  (There will be the same ½" (finished) sashing strips separating the blocks.)  I also decided that I didn't want one side of a sashing strip to need to line up with the edge of another strip (i.e. no 'steps' in the sashing) because I would have to ensure they were aligned across the strips, which would take more time; time I don't have!  All that, combined with trying to make sure no prominent fabric was next to itself, took some arranging but I got there in the end.  I decided that the prints with the white backgrounds were okay next to each other, it was the more 'obvious' prints (such as the dark pink Sketch or the polka dots) which I didn't want touching.  I've since attached all the sashing strips and hope to start joining blocks this weekend.


In between finishing the blocks and crawling round on the floor I had a couple of days off from this project (I needed it, I wore myself out piecing!) and decided that hand sewing binding would be a good way of still sewing but at a more restful pace.  One of the long term residents of my FAL list is a hand quilted panel, which was my learning-how-to-hand-quilt-with-two-thimbles-a-hoop-and-the-rocking-stitch practice piece (which is how I now do all my hand quilting).  I thought I was going to turn it into a cushion but then picked it up, remembered that it is backed with a gorgeously soft fine lawn, and thought it would make a lovely quilt for a teeny tiny baby.  I contacted Jude to see if it could be added to Bee Blessed's baby quilt pile and she said yes. I searched my yellow scrap and stash boxes and found a piece of pale lemon fabric which worked well with the pastel variegated thread I'd used for quilting and cut it into 1⅝" strips to make a narrow binding. It's around 16" square (I forgot to measure it after I'd washed it!) and the design is by Sandie Lush.

It's a little puffy around the edges (it was fine until it was washed!) but I didn't want to add any more quilting as it's so soft at the moment.  I'm sure baby won't mind a bit of puffiness, at least I hope not!

It's now on its way to Jude and will hopefully help to keep a teeny tiny baby warm and comforted in hospital.  It's also the first finish from my FAL list so I will be linking up with Adrianne when the time comes!

Archie has been enjoying some sunshine while keeping an eye on the street:

Yes, I can hear you.  No, I don't want to come inside.

He's had a bath (well, a strip wash) and then enjoyed a post-bath picnic (he's laid on a towel because I didn't want him creating and then lying in a puddle of mud!):

If you think this makes up for the indignity of a bath then you're sadly mistaken.

And he's perfected making himself look as pathetic as possible (on a side note, doesn't he look nice and white after his bath?!):

Bowl, why aren't you like the magic porridge pot?

It's the first of the month so I'm linking up with the wonderful Lynne, why not go and see what everyone else has been up to?

P.S.  A couple of months ago I won a Twitter giveaway from Sew Hot and, as I've been enjoying a run of luck lately, I thought it would be nice to share.  How does half of this bundle (i.e. ten (I think!) fat eighths) sound?  I'll have to look at postage to see if I can include people outside the UK but I hope I can.  If that sounds like something you'd be interested in then there'll be a giveaway post at some point in the next few weeks, probably when I've pieced the fairy top!

September Blue by Dashwood Studio