Shirts

I alluded to a project I'd been busy with at the end of my last post. I am calling it 'Shirts' - this brings a smile to my face as it reminds me of a song by the 'Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band' also entitled 'Shirts'. I blame my husband entirely for this - his father's eclectic taste in music has filtered through, not only to him, but now also myself.

This project is nothing musical but rather another quilt top! It has been made from a 'Washed & Worn' bundle. Basically the bundle consists of reclaimed and recycled fabrics which are washed and worn! The selection in my bundle seemed to be from mainly shirts, and possibly pajamas!

I've sewn them together in strips to from the quilt top which I hope will be for the Baby Boy - I've another bundle to crack open for the Big Girl. My hope, after backing and basting, is to hand quilt the blanket (arrgghh!!). I've not hand quilted for a long time and I've always struggled with maintaining even stitches, but I think it will add to the lovely homespun feel.

Snowball blocks

I am having a lot of fun making my snowball blocks for my 'wintery' quilt. Spring seems to have sprung here and it is no longer winter, but I SHALL complete this quilt before the season changes again!

I love the fact that a simpe technique can look so good and can't wait to see the blocks joined up. You may recall that I'm using a layer cake for this quilt top from the Moda 'Sherbet Pips' range. I've trimmed each 10" square down to 9.5" and the corner triangles are made from 3.5" squares. The little squares are placed in each corner, right sides together, of the big 9.5" square and then sewn on the diagonal to form the corner triangles - the excess fabric is trimmed, leaving a quarter inch seam and the little scraps find a happy home in the scrap basket! The spotty red fabric is from the 'Teatime' range by Makower.

I've managed quite a bit of sewing in the evenings of late so predict good progress with this quilt top this week - I also have been busy with something else which will be unveiled once photographed!

Cake!

I made a wedding cake last week for a dear friend. It was the most wonderful day and I cried lots of happy tears.

My husband informs me that this is the last wedding cake I'm likely to make as he can't cope with how stressed and moody I become - worryingly I think he may be correct! Don't get me wrong, I love the finished product, but it is such a responsibility and hard work. This cake in particular had the added stress of time pressure as it was all madeira cake thus could not be made well in advance. I did gain some time by ensuring the top tier was a dummy one - at least it was iced well in advance and the sugarpaste models the bride requested were then modelled on top at my leisure. The models were great fun - especially making my own sugarpaste tartan.

The pics aren't the greatest as I snapped them quickly, but it gives an idea of the overall effect.