Finished!

I posted some photos of Fiona's quilt last year when it was a WIP.  I actually got it finished a while ago now but didn't get round to photographing it until today so here it is together with the cat that spends a lot of time on it.  Today she is surveying the world from the shed roof but I digress!   The quilt is  two sided which made me think long and hard about how to quilt it particularly as many of my quilting friends thought I should make two separate quilts (but I couldn't face that as I desperately wanted it finished).  In the end I used a varigated thread to machine quilt freestyle leaves on one side but used an invisible thread in the bobbin so the quilting pattern did not interfere with the crazy log cabin on the reverse.  I prefer the reverse (log cabin) but Fiona still likes the animals so we are both happy!  I found the strippy border in a brilliant book called "Sensational Sets & Borders" Rodale's Successful Quilting Library which has lots of excellent ideas for borders.

Fiona's Quilt

At last, here is the promised photo of Fiona's quilt. This was started, over two years ago, after a visit to the Knitting and Stitching Show when she bought a book called A Quilters Ark by Margaret Rolfe and persuaded me to make her a quilt featuring animal blocks. The ones in the book are foundation pieced but that is not one of my favourite techniques so I have done them my own way using freezer paper. The blocks are not all the same size so it took me a little while to decide how to link them and also a while to find a fabric that went with them all. That is always the problem when you let quilts 'evolve' isn't it? Anyway, the top is now finished except for a final border and I am anxious that as she is now 16 she may not want a quilt featuring cute animals for much longer. As I do not want it to end up in cupboard (or the cat's basket!) I have decided to make it reversible and so far have done 4 blocks (it will need 20) using a twisted log cabin block. Each block features 33 different fabrics so it is great for using up small amounts and fat quarters. I am aiming to get it finished in the next two weeks. Each block takes about an hour so I should manage it - only 16 to go!

Does anyone else buy too many fat quarters? I can't resist those beautiful colour themed packs and glorious feature fabrics but then find a problem using them as I never have enough of one fabric. I must resolve to buy half metres instead!!