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Sunday 3 November 2013

A quilt for every day of the week!

Over the last 12 months, I have made quite a number of quilts as presents for friends and family - I think that there is nothing better than making something home made for special people in your life! 

Quilts are really good for little and big people, and although I have often been frustrated with them, the joy that they have brought to the giftees has made the suffering worth it every time! 

I've actually only ever complete one quilt for myself (you will see why if you look at the post below!) and I was really pleased with it for a first bash. I made it about four years ago and ever since it's been my go-to quilt for cozy nights in the Winter or for really warm nights in the Summer when I still need a cover to help me sleep.  

My first ever patch work quilt!
For all of the quilts that I've made, I've taken inspiration from the person that I am making for, or in some cases, the family of that person.  

The next quilt that I made was for Martha, a very special lady who is Andy's best friend's 3 year old daughter. We don't get to see them much so I wanted to make something that would remind them of us. I used Aneela Hoey's Little Apples as the little girl hula hooping is the cartoon version of Martha with her little light brown bob! I cut up each layer cake piece into 6 bricks (apart from a couple of cute larger pieces) and was slightly astounded by the size when I laid them all out!
Martha's quilt laid out
Obviously the quilt ended up being shorter than this once I'd sewn it altogether, but I also took a row off at each end so that it could be the same size as Martha's brother Emlyn's quilt (more about that later...). I used really thick wadding so it was a bit like taming a beast when it came to sewing it altogether! I also struggled with sewing the bias binding round the edge, which seemed to take ages. I'm also not very good at remembering to take photos of the finished article so unfortunately I don't have one of the final product!  

Now to Emlyn's quilt because of course he had to have one too. As a quick aside, Emlyn was born the day after our wedding, which means that Andy was best man-less on the day because this little man was already on his way! Emlyn was less than 6 months old when I was making his quilt so I took inspiration from his mum and dad, Kat & Martin. Kat is a really talented photographer and they both love to travel. I picked 8 different fat quarters from Birch Fabric's Next Stop and Commute as the cityscapes and bikes are so curt.  I decided to go for a square pattern instead of bricks. 

Emlyn's quilt all cut and ready to go
I have been told frequently that the quilts are a hit! When I get the chance I will be back soon to talk about more quilts for more people.


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