Party in the garden...

I have been in love with Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party fabric for an age. First there was this quilt that I couldn't stop staring at and then this one by Megan of Lucy & Norman fame. I loved the boldness of the Garden Party prints and the vibrancy of the saturated colours. And from each of these quilt's points of view, the BIG patchwork choices. I started collecting my fabric years ago...the range was well and truly finished by the time I discovered it and then in typical style it lay folded in my cupboard. Occasionally I would bring it out and worship its brightness and then argue with myself as to what I was going to do with it.
Then back in September I decided that the best course of action was to use it to make a quilt for my sister for Christmas. How clever and organised was I?
I cut the fabric into the biggest squares I could out of my mostly fat 1/4 collection. I then joined them into giant sized 9 patches and sliced them up to create a quilt top of very large disappearing 9 patches. And there it sat, pushed to the end of the line due to all the other sewing activity that surfaced. Then as Christmas rolled around I talked myself out of finishing it until I couldn't decide what to buy her as an alternative. So with 4 days to go I made a dash for Spotlight with my VIP 15% discount card for backing, binding and pins (due to the fact that all of my basting pins are currently sitting in other quilts ready for quilting but that's another story!).
Quilters will know how the rest of this story goes, moving all the lounge furniture to baste....not easy with a thumping big Christmas tree in the way!.....quilt through the night so you can hardly move the next day after the wrestling of  the 'anaconda' through the machine and to top it off......hand sewing on binding throughout a 35 degree day! But having said all that....we do it because we love it and we love an appreciative reaction even more! Merry Christmas!

Selling out....

Earlier this year, Clare and I participated in a twilight guerrilla craft market. We'd spent a few months whipping up baby quilts and getting ourselves organised. Our strategy was that baby quilts were quicker to produce and cheaper to sell. We were excited and our little spot looked lovely on the banks of a row boat lake in the parklands.
But guerrilla markets are based on the 'pop up' theory and rely on very fast word of mouth to drive the buyers. Sadly, the evening timeslot was an experiment and the people just didn't arrive. And this was further compounded with Adelaide's Mad March of events, so there was just too much competition for everyone's dollar and time. So after 2 hours of just one sale to Clare we packed up and spent our float money at the artists bar at the Fringe Festival.
Over the months some of my quilts had been given away for fundraisers or given to friends and family in need of a quick baby present. But most of the stock remained.
Then Clare was invited back to the next market but this time there was no secret location and lots of effort was put in by the organisers to promote the affair. I loved the idea because the location was right at the end of my street!
Clare and I decided to use the opportunity to quit the stock we had but I supplemented mine with these little Scandinavian birdies by Syko.

I spent two weeks rifling through the scrap bin determined to use only scraps of fabric and stuffing and ribbon from the stash. I ended up with 48 little birdies and as many butterflies in my stomach, worried we'd be rejected like the last market.

But I needn't have worried....(that's hindsight for you!). Those little birdies flew off the branches and all but two of my quilts remain. Clare did alright too with all of her quilts selling on the day. Admittedly we put very reasonable prices on them and were prepared to drop them a little further to secure a sale but all round, we're happy.

What did we learn? Timing is good. Pre-Christmas and buyers are looking for gifts. So this is the one to participate in. Promotion is good. Little is good. Small things go well. Bundling is very good. Offer a price for 1 and then a discounted price for four. Buyers love value for money! I did this with my birds and every sale was a batch of four.
So where am I at now? Well I anticipated that I'd have some birds left over for the kids friend's Christmas gifts....but I don't. So I'm back in the scrap bin and at the machine to turn out a few more. 'Tis the season!

Birdies....

Little bird decorations made for a forthcoming market....and maybe some gifting for friends and teachers!
Lovely inspiration here and how to link here.

A farewell....

I'm often asked why I don't have a cleaner. My response is always the same.
"I don't have a cleaner....because I have a speech therapist."
At the age of two, our son was diagnosed with a severe language disorder. Now 11 years old, his diagnoses has subsequently been altered to 'mild-moderate autism'. Never-the-less, and whatever the label, his struggle with language is ongoing and impacts day-to-day through his interaction with and understanding of the world. His need for speech therapy and supported learning is currently on-going without too much of a glimmer on the horizon of that changing in the short term. Let's just say, we're a 'speechie's' sure thing.
We've been very lucky that L's school allows a consulting speech therapist to work with him (and the numerous other boys!) during the school day. From my point of view, that saves one more 'run around mum job'. The other plus is the stability that that brings. His first 'in-school' therapist worked with him from reception through to grade 3 until her work load became too great and she had to expand her consultancy (or build a massive extension to her home...one or the other!). She handed the reigns over to her assistant and she has worked with L for the past two years. But she's leaving. She's young and decided to follow her dreams interstate. Wednesday is her last day, and whilst I've told L it's his last speech session for the year ("yay!" was the response), I haven't told him it's a big goodbye.

So at the very least a little gift is in order. I've made a notebook cover out of scraps and used the quilt as you go method to use up some batting bits. I'll get L to draw one of his very special little illustrations in the front.

X-ing and +-ing....

I've been in love with the Japanese x and + quilts, inspired by Setsuko Inagawa floating around the blogasphere of late. Most recently Ara Jane's of 'You know what I love?' and this one by Leila from 'Where the Orchids Grow' which has been on my pinterest board for an age.
For a great tutorial on how to lay out and piece the block go to Amy Gunson's badskirt site for a good explanation of the block construction. But....be warned, the sizes quoted aren't quite right. Now Amy was the first to admit in her tutorial that the blocks she designed were loose and about having fun so I'm not pointing an accuracy finger at all. It's just that when I decided to use scraps for my quilt and realised I had an abundance of 2 1/2" squares and strips, I thought that I'd prefer to use them as a whole rather than cut them down to Amy's measurement of 2". When I tried to enlarge her units for her 7.5"/8" block, the square 3.5" piece didn't come out at a 'regular' size, in fact it was something like 4.32"! The pure fact that I couldn't work out what that could possibly look like on an inch ruler called for a halt in cutting proceedings!
Then I found this post by Occasional Piece-Quilt who'd discovered the same calculation problem but had worked it out based on 2 1/2" units using a quilt block computer program....salvation!
So I've worked with her measurements:
Centre cross = 1 x 6.5"x2.5", 2 x 2 1/2" square
Edges of the cross = 4 x 2.5" square
Background triangles = 8 x 2.5" square
Branches of the x = 4 x 4.5" square
These measurements yield a 10" block which is a great size.
I've spent the last few days on these blocks. I had an initial oops and should have re-read Amy's tutorial where she specifically explains the mixing of colours for the 'branches of the x'. I didn't do this for the first three and matched mine. I swore, abandoned ship and slept on it, deciding after another look not to pull them apart.

I'm so glad I didn't pull them apart because in the mix of the now scrappier blocks, it's hard to tell which ones they are. I find it hard to contrast my fabrics and scrappy is just as hard for me but as I'm working through these blocks and the fabric choices are diminishing, I'm getting better...and as Amy suggested....having fun!

Does this match the picture?

I was recently gifted a pile of 'foodie' magazines from a friend of my sister's who has moved to Perth to pursue her career. I have gradually removed them from M-M's house, taking the last pile last Friday night. Whilst I haven't had a chance to really sit down and read them, the Delicious magazine on the top of Friday night's pile from August 2007 caught my eye. I found myself thumbing through it at breakfast on Saturday morning determining that we pretty much had the ingredients for the front cover featured recipe....'Winter pavlova with quince and cinnamon cream'.

Now I know it's not winter here...in fact the last few days have delivered hot 30+ degree days (I'm talking celcius), so we are on the trajectory for a very hot summer....but....I have a beautiful quince tree that's now about 5 years old. As my tree has matured, it's delivered more and more quince bounty. I have found that Stephanie Alexander's poached quinces freeze really well and I happened to still have some in the freezer. I also happened to have some frozen egg whites which also freeze exceptionally well and if treated carefully in the de-frost make spectacular pavlova. Game on.....!
I was making something else on Sunday that required yolks only so I had two fresh whites and a batch* of gradually defrosted whites. *I can never remember how many are in the frozen container so I use them all!
Here's my version of the Quince Pavlova. I didn't have any praline so I used a smashed up 'Cadbury Crunchy' bar! We all thought it was pretty alright.

I'm linking up with A Quilters Table, Tuesday at Table. Deb wants us to share a seasonal recipe. Whilst mine's seasonal....it's kind of a stashed season and the result of a wonderful gifted treasure.

Something for baby....

If I've said it once, I'm sure I've said it ten times. I love making baby quilts and I love giving them away just as much.
But there aren't too many babies in my immediate circle....we're currently the 'parents of teens looking for part time jobs gang'. So you can imagine my absolute delight when I learnt that there was a baby in the family! Whoo hoo!
Joe's nephew has announced their second is on the way and due in March. Well done Matt and Sylvia, you've given me purpose.
Now that side of the family seems to be a bit boy centric...they already have one beautiful boy, his brother has a boy and their girl cousins have all delivered...you guessed it...boys! Not one girl amongst them.
Not that I'm requesting a girl but I wanted to work with some lovely prints I'd purchased recently. (Selfish....I know...) So given that the gender hasn't been announced and the likelihood that it could quite more than probably be a boy...but I'm also a statistician by day....the odds as they say, might be in their favour ....so I've used pink....and some blue, red and green.

Let's not get too hung up on girl or boy for now....I'm seeing brand new baby here!
My inspiration is the very lovely Nana Company, very similar, but different!
And oh my goodness....this is my 300th post. How delightful! Thanks for visiting, reading and commenting.

Sharing the Granny love....

A few months back the 'Sew and Sews' girls decided that we would contribute a bunch of 2 1/2" scraps into an exchange pool so we could make granny squares out of different fabric to our existing scrap piles. We all agreed that we were a little jaded by some of the scraps that we'd been recycling (over and over) in our own scrappy quilting endeavors.
We had the best fun diving into the pool and playing the matching/contrasting granny game. It was hard work avoiding what you were comfortable with and trying to dodge fabric that you had actually contributed! Many a "what about this one?" shout out was heard as we begged for ongoing colour combination reviews.
I think after that first night I finished up with enough for 7 blocks. At the time I was regretting not bringing my phone to take photos of the combinations I'd concocted....even more so when my sewing bag fell off the back seat on the way home, spilling the contents over the floor of the car! Sad but true.
After stitching those initial first few blocks the lure of the granny square pulled me right in and I couldn't wait for the next catch up so I delved back into my scrap bin completing my 25.
And here she is....a Granny Square Quilt just for me!

I've made 3 grannies now and I've loved them all. The first I gave away for a fundraiser and the other was a joint gift for a friend so the whole time I had me in mind for this one.
For 'my granny' I've used cornerstones which I incorporated into the block. That worked quite well and was less stressful than matching up blocks using long sashing strips.

The backing fabric is a piece of fabric that I bought in Melbourne when we first went interstate on the first 'Sew and Sews' fabric buying extravaganza! It was in a discount basked at GJ's for about $4m! It's a bit vintagey-nanna looking so it has been kept in storage all this time for just the right project and this was certainly it.
Because of the vibrant back and the mixture of fabrics on the front, I struggled for the perfect binding. In the end I opted to go plain and chose Kona Charcoal. I love it. No....I really love it!
If you want to make a Granny Square quilt of your own head on over to Jolene's blog for her tutorial.

This quilt is 5 x 5 (25 blocks with borders) which finishes up at around 65" square and is free motioned stippled.
And for the last word. I placed my absolute favourite 'exchange' block right in the middle. It's purple...a colour I NEVER use let alone own. Thank you girls for sharing the Granny love...we should do it again!
I've linked up to Crazy Mom's Finish it up Friday!

Stained glass spools.....

I've been slowly cutting and piecing this little quilt top over the past couple of weeks.
It features some now very old Moda fabric called Snippets by American Jane. In my book, Sandy Klop is the queen of red, blue, green, yellow, orange and pink combinations in traditional, 1930sh, feed-sacky (another of my made up words!) type prints. I have always loved this line, hence keeping it all these years. This was the first ever jelly roll I purchased way back in May 2009 when the girls and I whisked off to Melbourne for a weekend on our very first 'Sew and Sews' fabric buying excursion.
But I'm on a 'use it' mission these days, so after a bit of fondling I began the hunt for a jelly roll friendly pattern. I eventually settled on a Camille Roskelley, Thimble Blossoms pattern called Spools which I've already talked about here. The pattern is pretty simple with a tonne of cutting of little bits and thin strips. I was a bit apprehensive about all the skinny sashing strips but mine has come together pretty well. Needless to say, Camille's patterns are very easy to follow.
Now the debate with myself about how to back it!

Anatomy of an occasional chair (part 1)....

I found a little occasional chair on the footpath a week or so ago.
In its found state it was pretty ugly, dusty and smelly but I've been looking for a chair like this for ages so I wasn't going to pass it up. This one has great bones. The bottom strapping needs a bit of tightening but the springs are still really good and the padding only needs a bit of plumping with new materials.
After lugging around the corner (....Joe drove off in disgust and laughed as I struggled through the front gate) it sat on my front verandah for a week, dodging a bit of stormy weather we've just encountered. But this position allowed me to contemplate it each time I walked out the front door and ensured that the research required was top of mind. If I'd stored the chair somewhere else guaranteed the whole thing would have been forgotten! (My usual trick and then I chuck it!)
I spent the week researching re-upholstery via YouTube. What a fabulous resource. I found this great series of DIY upholstery (diyupholstery.com) which has taught me the fundamentals of pulling the chair apart and removing the old fabric, staples and tacks. Essentially, it's a reverse process. What goes on last, comes off first. No brainer!

So in the sunshine yesterday afternoon, I propped my project on a makeshift trestle table and set about removing the 'unwanteds'.
I've kept the fabric cover just in case I need to make a template or two.
By late afternoon I was in good shape to strip the old polish from the external wooden arms. I actually studied french polishing many years ago, in fact before I even met Joe! So I dug the trusty stripper and steel wool out of the shed, reclaimed a tin can, donned my rubber gloves and set to with an old brush. The polish came off so easily. I'm sure its because this chair looks like it's spent most of its recent times outside...the spider webs, twigs and seed pods also attested to that fact!

I let the stripper chemicals diffuse in the night air and this morning I got stuck into vacuuming what dust I could get out of the pared back padding, wadding and strapping.
Whilst delving through my old french polishing box I also found a jar of linseed oil and pure turps. I love this combination of minerals as a wood revival, particularly after stripping. Secretly, I also love the smell! With clean cotton rag in rubber gloved hand, I smeared this concoction over the wooden arms. They've come up a treat and the oak is looking rather Danish.

And that's where I've left my chair for the moment. I'm still debating whether I'll pursue actual french polish or waxing. Decisions, decisions....but at least I have a week or so before my fabric arrives. (to be continued). 

From Swoon scrap....

...to active Spools component!
I can't stand throwing away fabric and when you work on some quilts you end up with little off-cuts that are just too precious to throw away.
We pay so much for fabric in Australia, regardless of the fact that the fabric might have been ordered online from overseas and with our current exchange rate. It might be cheaper by the metre or yard but there's still the postage to consider. So in my book, it still costs and anything that's cut off is just too, too hard to part with, particularly when a design calls for lots of trimming.
To ease my 'fabric guilt' I have zip-lock bags a-go-go, each full of bits of this and bits of that. I divide them into solids and prints and by size and they're born along the way, out of what I make.
Constructing Swoon, by Camille Roskelly was no exception. Each of those flying geese had lots of trimming and lots of discard. I have already used the coloured off-cuts in a little quilt and I popped the plain background triangles in a baggy...."for Ron". (A.K.A. 'later on'.)

Ironically (actually, tell me if it's not irony...), I'm working on another Thimble Blossoms pattern by Camille called Spools. It calls for these tiny little squares of 1 1/4" to be placed on the corners of the tops and bottoms of the 2" cotton spool strips. These squares are then trimmed to form tiny little triangles. Quite clever really.
As I was driving home the other day, I recalled that I had a bag of triangles in Kona Snow, the same fabric that I used for the background of  this quilt and the same that I'm using now. Surely I could re-use these triangles for the squares to make the triangle corners required for this pattern.

Now I realise that we're ultimately talking about 6" or so worth of width of fabric to cut down each of these 140 little squares. But width of fabric is precious. That fabric could be the make or break of a border strip. So I delved into the stash to find the zip lock with the Swoon triangle off-cuts in Snow, turned them out and cut them down to sort of 1 1/4" squares. As it happened, there was a little corner nicked off of each square. But seeing as one corner of the triangle gets cut off anyway, I didn't see this as a major problem.

It worked like a charm. I actually got my 140 x 1 1/4" squares out of 140 off-cut scrappy triangles and created my triangle corners for each of my strips.

I might have had to cut twice as many times to get my 'square' but as I said before, I've left yardage in good shape and the end result is just as grand! I didn't keep what I cut off....that would be just too thrifty....or perhaps I haven't yet devised a plan to use tiny teeny triangles....hummmm the mind boggles!

 

I can't wait to see this quilt. I'm using a jelly roll of Snippets by American Jane for Moda that I bought  oh so long ago (see my first post) ...and forgot that I owned. I'm loving the colours and I'm loving the thrift!

Instagraming.....

I've joined the instagram brigade.I haven't quite got the hang of the hash tag thing but I'm loving the images floating around the instagram-o-phere. It can be mildly addictive....but I have a 15 year old to keep me in check. You know the look, the rolling of the eyes when I pull out my phone...enough said?You can find me as 'sewandsews'.

Non gender specific....

R's English teacher is leaving at the end of the term to have her first baby. Now I've mentioned many times that my circle of friends are done with our own babies and are embroiled in the daily dealings of pre-teens and teens. I shouldn't complain too much, we'll hopefully be grandparents in next to no time if the speed at which our own babies have grown up is maintained! In any case, I jump at hearing about impending births so I have an opportunity to whip up a little quilt. Baby quilts are so satisfying in between the bigger productions. Short sharp and shiny and done with in a weekend!Ms J doesn't know the gender of her baby so I've gone with something that can go with either a girl or a boy....lots of red, blue and green. Once again I combined fabrics from my stash and went with my favourite 5" blocks. There's a healthy does of DS Quilts fabrics, some pezzy print and spots of various colours.I've also machine bound this quilt, something I'm getting better at with each attempt.

Zesty...

It's Springtime on this side of the hemisphere and there are blossoms bursting, leaves unfurling, bees buzzing furiously and today an endless blue sky all wrapped in a perfect mild 20 degrees celsius. We've had a bitterly cold winter and plenty of rain (not complaining about the rain but enough already!). The weather was so beautiful this morning I couldn't help make the most of it and took my latest quilt finish outside to finish off the loose threads.This quilt is another donation towards R's Ireland trip. The jazz ensemble has a performance on Friday night at the Royal Institute in Adelaide (RIAUS), the old Stock Exchange building and this quilt will be used as a raffle prize.I've used a similar layout to this quilt, 5" squares on the diagonal with white set in triangles. The colours are really citrus-y with a mix of hot pink, green, orange and yellow. Selecting fabrics for this quilt really took me out of my comfort zone. I'm very much a 'fabric story' quilter....so this was a very brave step forward in selecting colours and prints but I was determine to use what I had and the scrap bag is rather depleted (joy!). I know most of these prints are much the same saturated tone but it was the mix of colours I was going for in this instance.Not a huge quilt at 54" square but big enough for a lap or a picnic.
The binding is a funny little print of zany green and yellow diamonds with a hot pink dot. It reminds me of crocodile skin! I picked it up for $2 a metre at a Spotlight sale and it blends perfectly with the rest of the colours. Zesty looks right at home under the very last mandarin but only for a day or two!

Thank you for the memories....

As part of R's year 9 curriculum, she is to coordinate and participate in 8 to 10 hours of community service. After a few wild ideas on her part I suggested that she might like to spend her time back at her old day care centre. She checked with the teacher who agreed it was a worthwhile commitment. She set up her placement, recruiting three other of her classmates who were still searching for somewhere to go. Year 9 girls don't do solo, they do things in packs! Needless to say, did they luck in or what!
The first visit to the centre was an introductory session that included a tour and a meet and greet with the carers in the various rooms. Many of the carers are still at the centre and came out to meet R and remind her that they used to change her nappy and tell to her she hadn't changed a bit! Talk about 'rock-star' treatment.
Over the past 4 Fridays after school, each of the girls has spent 2 hours at the centre, rotating themselves around to the various rooms to get a taste of what the centre offers. They've loved it and I've loved hearing the stories once I pick them up to take them home. All agree that it's been a blast and not like hard work at all. For R it's been a trip down memory lane to a place that she spent her first 5 years of life once I returned to work. She is amazed at how much smaller it is than she remembered! (Of course....you're 10 years bigger!)As a thank you for accommodating the girls, I've made 4 little dolly quilts for each to give the centre. Each one is made completely of scraps and that includes the batting which I cobbled together from wider strips trimmed from the sides of quilts. It never ceases to amaze me how the smallest piece of fabric can turn into a quilt. The quilts have also given me many opportunities to try out some new techniques. This little exercise has exposed me to slab piecing, wavy line quilting using a wide zig zag (gotta love that!) and my Achilles heel....machine binding! Trying out and practicing on small quilts is brilliant....so not only has my scrap bag had a bit of a dent put into it, I've become a bit of a fan of machine binding. I'm ready to give it a go on the next big quilt.The girls will finish up next week and are all talking about returning for work experience next year! Good for them!

Another Granny....

The Granny Square quilt that Clare and I have been making for our friend is finished. It's just lovely ...even if I say so myself!
We shared the block making and it's surprising what you can find in your scrap bin to turn into a Granny block. Together we brought a bunch of random and donated bits of fabric (thank you Kay and Michelle) that stitched together into an eclectic colour mix to create nothing short of a wonderful quilt top and backing.
We had a splendid time sorting and balancing colour choices. It sure is a fun task playing with someone else's 2 1/2" pre cut squares! So much so, the girls and I have already spent another evening throwing fabric scraps into the centre of the table to cut into 2 1/2" squares for us to divvy up next time we meet. This is a great way to move around some fabric that we've pulled and used just one too many times! So stay tuned for a bit more of the Granny Power!Clare stitched this top and I quilted and bound it. The binding is a quite wide stripe of red and the palest of pinks that I've had in the cupboard for a while now. The red works with the front (we both do red...a lot!) and the pink works with the back....(which I do...a lot!) I love it....we love it, I'm sure J will love it too!

Meet Miss Polly....

...Actually, it's more like Miss Poly....Poly short for Polyester!
I saw these fabrics at our local 'super-sized' fabric/craft/habby store and fell in love with the designs and colours. Clare and I dubbed them the 'Cath Kidston knock-offs' and we both thought that we'd like to work with them. We agreed to go halves in some 1/2 metres to give ourselves a set of fat quarters.I was in the neighbourhood of the newest superstore during the recent school holidays and whizzed in to pick up a bunch. I was more concerned with grabbing a big enough bundle of rolled fabrics and lining up to be served quickly and dashing out again in the amount of time I had available.
That afternoon my Spotlight catalogue arrived in the mail and after a bit of speed reading to determine what bits I was keeping and what was going straight into the bin, I turned a page to find that what I'd just purchased was a 'poly-cotton'. O.M.G! I had committed a fabric purchase sin. I have a cupboard full of beautiful cottons and I've purchased poly-cotton and didn't even notice it beyond thinking it was a bit stiff....which I assumed was sizing and this would wash out.
I cut the fabrics up and confessed my blunder to Clare. She didn't mind. And, truth be told, I was torn. I hated the fact that these fabrics were synthetic....but I still loved the prints and colours.
We both decided to soldier on and each added some cotton sateen's to the mix.I cut my bunch up into 5" squares and set them on point to create a lap sized quilt for my mum.
After a bit of calculation I worked out how big to make the triangles to set into the corners. These are in white cotton....now we have a mixed marriage!Cutting and piecing was easy...in fact, I think the stiffness helped to keep things straight. But I did notice my needle blunted very quickly.
I've stippled the quilt and whilst I was very concerned about slippage....it's quilted quite well both front and back.The binding is scrappy and uses pretty much the last of the 'knock-off' poly's.....I didn't want them hanging around!
Having said all that, and even with this total fabric dilemma I'm suffering, I think it's probably a good thing to have fabric that's a little more robust for a lap quilt that will endure everyday use by an older person. Time will tell....at least it's pretty to look at!

Ruby +.....

I'm a bit lost for words over this one so I'll pepper this post with lots of images.
This is my Ruby Plus Quilt that I commenced back in December last year. I finally finished it last night and I'm as pleased as punch to have done so. Here goes....
Quilting started last Sunday morning. I was on a mission to get this quilt quilted before my holidays ended and even though it was the last day of our holidays and we'd headed to the country for lunch, I managed to finish it by days end. Needless to say I was a little bleary eyed once back at work!
This is such a pretty line of fabric by Bonnie and Camille. I've used the reds, greens, greys and a smattering of the pink.The binding is delicious!
This one will end up on R's bed. Those of you who know me will guess why!
It's lovely to have a quilt finished. Now onto some of the other UFO's that are calling for their finish. And here's another pic just for fun!