Saturday morning sunshine

Today is a good day! Why you ask? Well because:

* I've finished work (phew)
* the weather in Auckland today is uh-mazing (after last summer's dismal effort, I think we deserve it); and
* the little baby quilt is all done, tied up, and ready to go to its new home.

Of course now I really, really wish I had gotten around to ordering some quilt labels on Etsy - but that's the sort of thing I can do as a lady of leisure in the brief moments before no 2 arrives.

I did a much better effort on my machine binding this time. After sewing the binding on the front (there are masses of tutorials on this - Crazy Mom Quilts has a really good one), I ironed it before I pinned it around the edge of the quilt. This meant I had a cleaner line for my "stitch in the ditch" for sewing the back of the binding down. I also pinned the binding down (which I havent done previously) which meant that I didn't miss the seam on the back. And finally, I slowed right down. I figured the slowest machine speed is still waaaaaay faster than hand sewing. Its not perfect, but I managed to catch all four corners properly, and didn't need to re-sew any of it. Practice makes perfect, huh.

So here's an action shot of me sewing down the back of the binding, and the finished product. Yippee.

Although now I need to get back to Mum's quilt. *sigh*

Soooo close...

Despite a complete lack of sleep (my husband's unborn child has decided to prep me early for those first 6 weeks of misery by keeping me up day and night now) the little "not really a quilt baby quilt" is nearly finished. The quilting is done, binding made and sewn on one side. I am most definitely in the machine binding camp, so I just need to machine the other side of the binding down.

And all for $24 - with 1/2 a metre of those lovely polka dots left.

I wish now I had more time to quilt it more heavily, but I still think it looks good.

And for a special treat I have some pictures of my friend's new quilt top and back as well. Don't tell her that I'm putting her photos up though, because she might get cross. It's very simple, but the fabrics are gorgeous.

She had this great idea to sash up her backing fabric to look like a window, which I think looks fantastic. I am totally going to steal that idea and pretend it was mine. Roger the cat is equally impressed.

Quilty loveliness

Roger in situ

The not really a quilt baby quilt

So I have grand plans to go back to beginning of my quilting journey and share all the exciting things I have learned since I started (including what fabrics NOT to put together for your first quilt - but that's for another day).

But already I am thwarted. Why, you ask? Because I have managed to get distracted with yet another project. Don't tell my mother though - she thinks I'm working on a quilt for her. But it's for a good cause. My hubby's friends had a wee boy a few weeks back and are having a BBQ this weekend to celebrate him reaching 6 weeks and Chinese New Year. I don't have time to make a 'real' quilt, so have a plan to make a quick and cute baby blanket. I was inspired by some baby quilts I saw in a posh Ponsonby shop over the Christmas holidays (with posh Ponsonby prices). My mother was oohing and aahhing over these quilts - which were just bound pieces of a single fabric with free motion quilting. I snorted and told her in no uncertain terms that they were not real quilts, because they weren't pieced. But they WERE cute.

Fast forward to Sunday, when I was off at Spotlight trying not to buy the entire range of $6 p metre fabrics. They had some cute Classic Nursery fabric left, and a red polka dot. I got 1.5m of each main fabric, some spots for the binding and called it a deal. At home I pieced together some scraps of low loft cotton batting (overlap by a mm or so, and zigzag the hell out of it) for the batting and used one fabric on each side of the quilt. I ended up with a basted quilt approx 1m by 1.5m. I am simply straight line quilting across the quilt to give it some texture (masking tape is my friend), and then will call it a day. My free motioning quilting skills aren't yet up to speed for anything flash, and, to be honest, I don't have time for anything more complex. Hopefully it will look cute and be useful. The idea is that it can be thrown in the washing machine regularly and used on the floor or as a cot blankie.

You can give me your verdict when it's finished. In the meantime, here's the fabric. Sweet, eh!