Sunday, August 15, 2010

On Productivity, Puppies and Pinkness

A few weekends ago I headed up north a short distance to a wonderful craft retreat centre with some like minded guild members. There we sewed up a storm, gossiped, got fed and looked after and helped one another out on various projects.
As a result, it was a very Productive weekend. I started with two quilts with the tops cut and went home with both completely finished even to the binding (although one I had to hand stitch that night), a smaller baby floor quilt, and a new teacosy and pot mit set.
The quilt I want to show in this post is all about Puppies and Pinkness. Two extremely important qualities to its five year old destination. As she knows that she is getting something pink and puppy covered but not what, the heat is on to get it to her! :)
Here are the lovely Jacqui and Shirley pinning it out for me on the floor. Watching these two I learnt a lot about pinning out a quilt! For those who don't quilt, pinning out is where you lay out the three layers (back, batting and top) and pin them through with safety pins so they can be quilted.
And here it is, completed. Pinned, incidentally, to the huge design wall in my new studio. :) Instead of an inset inner border, I went with a 3cm wide chocolate satin ribbon. It's even mitred!
This is the back. I have recently got my head around the idea of 'using things up', especially extras left over from the front and bits of fabric. The only fabric I had to add to what I already had was the pink marble at each end. A gorgeous pieced back, and me not having yet another bundle of fabric left over. Yay!!
Detail. I love every one of these fabrics. All dogs and puppies. I love the chocolate with the pink too.
So there you have it, one pretty, pink, poodly and puppy strewn quilt. :)