Much Ado About Nothing

Well really, no ado about nothing.  That about sums up the extent of my patchwork endeavors and lack of blog worthy news.  I can't believe I didn't even have one post for the whole of April!

I did however get my magazine quilt finished and packed off to the appropriate people on time!  And then spent a week or so finishing up the instructions and getting them emailed away too.  Then was a week of doing nothing... cause I needed a rest.  But really, just didn't feel like doing too much.

I did get my Country Yard Mystery Medallion centre block completed the day before it was due... and showed it off to get my second lot of instructions.

The first block instructions were for an applique block on a background that used more than one fabric, with a narrow border.   I went for a star block as my background, with two different text prints as the fabrics.  Then a mix of blue, green, grey and brown fabrics for the applique elements.  The fabric for the twirls is the provided fabric that needs to be used in every round.

The instructions also stated that the next lot of instructions would set this block on point - so it was important to select a block and applique pattern that would suit.  I liked this applique pattern as it is asymmetrical as well as non directional - you could just about use it any way you liked, although I do think it probably does have a top and a bottom somewhere.  Because you just never know what's going to happen, I also wanted a centre block that I liked both square and on point, and these designs just fit my requirements perfectly.

Making the block the day before it was due meant that some of the finer details... like blanket stitch ,were not completed.  Luckily I didn't receive a penalty! I also may not have pointed this out at the time :o)

Catch up time and today has been all about the blanket stitch.  As the next round is due on Tuesday coming, I wanted to get the first block completed properly before any additional bulk was added to the centre.  I'm using a neutral beige thread for a narrow blanket stitch - it really does finish off the design.

While I have done very little sewing or sewing related shopping (gasp!) I have picked up some fun things on my shopping travels.

I think everyone needs a pair of monster feet slippers... for you know, when you need to stomp around...

And I couldn't resist these cups... cow cups...

Complete with boobies...

The other major occurance over the past month or so was receiving my quilt back from the long arm quilter!  This is the first quilt I have had quilted by someone else, and it really did stretch my Scottish short arm/long pocket syndrome.  However, I knew that the Swoon quilt deserved the best, and I really wanted the Baptist Fan pattern to be quilted on it.  This is almost impossible to quilt on a domestic machine, trust me, I've tried, and the other option would be by hand, and even I'm not that crazy.  I just had to bite the bullet and invited my friend and long arm quilter Leeanne from Quilt Me Kiwi to do the honours... she did a terrific job.

You can probably see it best from the back...

And from the front

And so you can actually see the quilting!  

I love how it turned out, the mix of traditional block pattern and quilting design with the more modern fabric choices - Leeanne, thank you so much.  Now to get onto the binding... one day.  First up I need to finish the rest of the blanket stitch and get that second round completed by Tuesday.  And I promise to not be so slack about blogging (and checking emails) in the future!