The long and short of it: March 2011

It has been a long time between posts. it has also been a long time between projects. Between blizzards, floods, birthdays and growing babies (inside babies and outside ones) I haven't had much time to spend in my spare room or in the blogsphere. I have also felt decidedly uncreative...until this little man arrived in the world.

Hugo Gilbert Tomkins

If that fresh little being wasn't going to get me back in a sewing mood then nothing was. I was given this book for my birthday in December and the quilt I made is from it. I changed the dimensions to make it bigger but generally I stuck to the pattern. Here it is...

The fabric is mostly a Bird Textile scrap pack with a few scraps of Anna Maria Horner (the deep blue) and Tula Pink (the deep red) thrown in. The binding is also Bird Textile who now sell pre made binding (yay).

This was a quilt of firsts for me. Most importantly it is the first time I have tried applique and free motion quilting

Each little bird's body is appliqued on to the fabric with a fusible papery thingy then I free motion quilted around each body (to help secure it) and then added plumes and tail feathers etc. The style is supposed to be 'sketchy' looking and let me tell you there is no way it wasn't going to look sketchy!!! It is going to be a while before I try to free motion quilt a whole quilt.

The back of the quilt and a close up of the little owl

Hugo is a Brisbane baby and I wanted to be able to give the quilt to his Mum in person during my recent trip. I was no where near finished when I boarded the plane in Sydney but the amazing Melissa Fox lent me her machine and expertise for a day in Brisbane to finish it off. I have known Melissa for about 10 years now and we had a big laugh about the fact that 10 years ago we could never have imagined that our kids would be playing together while we sat and quilted together!! Melissa taught me how to machine bind the quilt which I have never done before and also lent me some lovely multi coloured thread (it is a special kind with a special name but I have forgotten, I'll find out if anyone is interested).