My baby's fourth birthday and finished quilt

Hurray!! I finally finished Freya's quilt last night, and very pretty too, if I don't say so myself!  She was so happy with it and snuggled up straight to sleep with it on her bed.  Not so sure about the white with a six year old after the felt pen incident with her younger sister's quilt, but we shall see!

The pattern is garden trellis and I machine quilted with a stipple all over.

Detail of the stippling

My youngest, Audrey was four over the weekend.  I can't believe how time has flown, she still feels like my little baby!  We had been out the day before to choose a party dress for her and this was the outfit she chose (very pink and frilly - not necessarily what I would have chosen) but she did look so cute.  We held a build a bear party for her and as she went to bed she said she had had the loveliest birthday ever.  What a cutie, I do love her so.

Here she is on her new High School Musical bed sheets (note - missing the quilt that mummy has made! which has had to be put away for while until felt tip pen's can be kept away from it - we had a bit of an incident)

In action - opening pressies

Lap Quilt

Another day of being snowed in, the kids had another day off after going back to school yesterday, but somehow I got loads done today.

We made cakes, had fun decorating them, played in the snow and somehow managed to piece together this lap quilt!  It is made entirely from sample fabrics from a friend and works beautifully with the colours in the living room.  The fabrics are all very heavy velvets and brocades and I have ordered some Minky fleece to put on the back, I will be so snuggly!  The design is from the 'Quilt Yourself gorgeous' book by Mandy Shaw, really simple and very very quick to put together.  I love it!

There was a square left over to make a cushion with so that is nearly done too!  What a brilliant day.

Table runners tomorrow I think.....

Linus Quilt

Over Christmas I finally finished off my quilt for Project Linus.  They are an amazing charity donating quilts to children in need.  I found out about them at the Festival of Quilts and signed up then to make a quilt, just need to get it delivered now.

Here is some information that I took from their site...

About Project Linus

WE are a 100% volunteer organisation whose aims are:

• To provide a sense of security and comfort to sick and traumatised babies, children and teenagers through the provision of new home made patchwork quilts and knitted / crocheted blankets;
• To give an opportunity for needlewomen across to UK to contribute to their local community.

Project Linus originated in America, December 1995 when Karen Loucks saw a newspaper article showing how much a comfort blanket had helped a child cancer victim and decided to organise blankets for her local children’s cancer unit and started spreading the word. Since that time over 2,300,000 blankets and quilts have been delivered worldwide.(www.projectlinus.org)
Project Linus started in the UK. March 2000 as a result of a quilter’s desire to help children in need. It has now spread to cover most of the UK. To date we have delivered over 96,000 quilts and blankets. We always try to get the blankets delivered to children who are local to the makers.

Quillow

My next project was to make a quillow which I completed September 2009.

I really like checks and ginghams so incorporated them using log cabin. The quilt top was done on the machine and it is hand quilted.

Looking at it now it looks very Christmassy so I will have it out on display this year.

Detail of a block

As a pillow

Audrey's Quilt

I started this quilt in June 2009 for my youngest daughter using a jelly roll, it is lovely and bright and she loves it, although it has now been confiscated until she stops wetting her bed!

The quilt is hand quilted with hearts over the blocks and flowers around the edge.

Play Mat

This is just a quick play mat made from a charm pack I had bought a few years ago - nothing fancy.

Sampler Quilt

In September 2008 I started a block a month workshop so I could learn some quilting skills. This is the resulting sampler quilt. I was intending to use it as a lap quilt but after using such expensive Japanese fabric it is now displayed as a wall hanging. I just couldn't bear the thought of the children destroying it!

I love the colours and textures of the fabric and was so pleased with the end result.

The quilt uses lots of different techniques; applique, paper piecing etc done by both hand and machine.

The quilt is hand quilted, although not as heavily as the cot quilt.

My First Quilt

I started this cot quilt 9 years ago when I was pregnant with my son, it sat unfinished for seven years. Once the children had grown up a bit I decided I really wanted to start quilting properly, so I finished it off.

The sashing was done on the machine but everything else was done by hand.

The hand quilting was quite intricate and took forever!!