Shortest day, last quilt of 2010

 Love hate love hate love love love ♥ ♥ ♥

 - is how my relationship with this quilt has been-finally finished, hurrah!  And I admit to being very pleased with it, although not as pleased as Lula is which the best thing as it is for her.  She refused to let me drape it artfully over a snowy fence, that can wait for another time, so bedroom pics for the moment.  

The germ of this quilt started last year when Manda McGregory included a little Urban Chiks Swell Moda charm pack baby quilt in an early edition of Sewhip, and I bought the charm packs and a jelly roll from USA after searching for them feverishly online.  I mixed with a little Cath Kidston, Katie Jump Rope, Old Laura Ashley fabrics (the Cath Kidston figure of  1970s and 1980s), vintage prints and the placement of large applique motifs inspired by this quilt (Material Obsession)

Lula chose her favourite themes- ice cream, cup cake etc and I made these the feature blocks.  She helped me layout the charm squares to avoid repetition.  The quilt was made in six sections, each is quilted and then joined to the next section with narrow strips- quilt-as-you-go style.  This Happy Zombie tutorial shows the technique but I machined instead of hand sewing when finshing the back strips.  The binding- attaching this was driving me nuts this morning, it took forever- is pieced red and pink strips from the jelly roll.  I use Rita- Red Pepper Quilts machine binding method but I start attaching on the back and so my final line of stitching on the front.

You can see her pillow case and a bit of wall paper- both Cath Kidston, that the same print is repeated in the quilt here and there.

Each time I embark on a quilt I forget how long it takes me to finish one, I refilled the bobbin four times this morning.

Quick view of the back- not too exciting, all old Laura Ashley prints, the largest part form an enormous circular table cloth I picked up at the boot sale.  

A little stamped label.  I asked if she would prefer 'Mum' or 'Mummy'- you can see her choice x

You can see another proud mummy quilt at Leila's blog Where the Orchid's Grow.  She beat me and finished yesterday!  It made me laugh when I saw her pic, I felt the same need to get mine done for Christmas, and the extra cold weather driving me on.  I made 4 quilts this year, it seems paltry compared to some amazing mosaics I've seen recently but I made a whole load of smaller stuff and each quilt is a labour of love and a labour of plain old hard work.

1. D quilt, 2. Quilt for Lula, 3. I have heard the mermaids... baby quilt, 4. Moda Nest Quilt

I love making clothes and small stuff but the quilting is intensely rewarding, especially when finished!   My next biggish project- a baby quilt for a friend- baby due Feb.

 This is my last entry before Christmas so a vintage pic of seasonal good wishes on the shortest day of the year and a big thank you to all of you who read,  comment and email- I am truly touched when you do so!

Have a lovely Christmas, wherever you are and however you choose to celebrate x