Archie The Wonder Dog

We're now at the end of the second quarter of the 2016FAL (and hence halfway through the year) and it's time to link up your finishes. As you know, the 2016 FAL is now global and a community of bloggers across the world are jointly hosting the FAL. Our hosts are: Debbie - A Quilter's Table, USA Jess - Elven Garden Quilts, Australia Stacey - SLO Studio, Canada Jennie - Clover & Violet, USA Helen - Archie the Wonder Dog, UK Nicky - Mrs. Sew and Sow, UK Cindy - Fluffy Sheep Quilting, Ireland Rhonda - Rhonda's Ramblings, USA Leanne - She Can Quilt, Canada Before we get down to the linking business, let's say a big thank you to our fantastic sponsors: Oakshott Fabrics - £75 (75 Pounds) gift certificate The Tartankiwi - choice of 3 patterns The Intrepid Thread - $50 gift certificate Happy Quilting - choice of 3 patterns Green Fairy Quilts - $25 gift certificate Blossom Hea

My current FAL list is, well, laughable, but I'm plodding away and have a finished project to show you! At the start of the quarter I set out to make an EPP pin cushion using some of my Japanese import fabrics and I'd chosen these fabrics: After my Oakshott table runner was (finally!) pieced, I needed some hand sewing to replace it and this was the perfect choice! I did a bit of planning and then cut out my papers (from 5mm squared paper so I didn't have to faff with rulers!) and got tacking.  I also use a line of Pritt Stick along the centre of the paper to hold the fabric in place while I centre it. I then got to work stitching.  The black dotty fabric isn't shiny, it's just the paper inside catching the flash! And after a couple of nights, I was ready to add the bottom.  That piece was supposed to be the top, but as it's reversible and there's no real bottom to a pin cushion, it was fine! I took my usual two attempts to stuff it.

The last time you saw this project ( in my tutorial for the blog hop ), it looked like this: and I hadn't managed to get it completely finished in time for my turn on the blog hop.  Over the last few weeks I've managed to claw back enough energy to tackle the quilting and I have some more photos to share: I use a  teaspoon to help close the safety pins - it helps avoid drawing/safety pin thumb! I quilted in the same mid grey (Aurifil 50wt 5004) that I used for most of the piecing. I eyeballed most of the lines, and used masking tape for sections which were difficult to eyeball.  I used a pin to mark the position of the tips of the segments so they weren't chopped off when I added the binding. I'm really rather pleased with how it's turned out! The back A closer look at the quilting. And if that wasn't an exciting enough thing (did I mention that this is a finish from my 2016 Q2 FAL list ?!), there's a new member of the trib