Anthea's quilting journey

IT'S OFFICIAL, I'M A COMPLETER FINISHER; WEY HEY GET THE FLAGS OUT!!!!!!!

After looking at my ever growing pile of UFO's for an increasingly long amount of time I decided that for my own sanity, the several years overdue birthday prezzies and promised quilts had to be finished and passed onto their new owners... get this people... before I started anymore projects.

Well I almost stuck to my word, I did manage to slip a few small projects into the mix but here are some of the main things that I got round to. I'll try and get round to adding the other smaller stuff in due course.

The first one you see here is one I slipped in, its a Leanne's House BOM and I've called it Annie's Garden. This is because I stitched some of it at my Grandma Annie's bedside this summer in the days before she passed away. She would have really loved it. Only the top is complete so far but as its not promised to anyone except me the rest can wait.

This quilt is the first one that I ever machine pieced and is a pattern I found in a book called Great American quilts, it was designed by Mary Anne Keathley. If you look closely it is an optical illusion, the flat squares look like 3D cubes. I made it for my dad it took me 5 years to make and was only 3 years late for a significant birthday. If anyone from the quilt police is reading this I would like to unashamedly admit that absolutely nothing is perfect on it but I am wonderfully proud of it... so there!

The next one is a Lynette Anderson design called 'Christmas Friend's' I made it this year for myself and it was surprise surprise ready for Christmas. Since this photo was taken I unpicked the quilting in the snowman block and replaced it with a lighter vermacelli which looks much nicer. I also embroidered a nose on the snowman. Loads of people have commented on it so I am really pleased with it.

The next one is not really a favourite of mine. I did it for my niece's baby, it was only 5 months late but then I don't think that 6 months was really enough notice to knock out a masterpiece was it? She wanted something beige and brown, as all the trendy mums seem to want nowadays. This was my attempt at introducing colour into the poor child's monotone nursery. The lesson I learned from this quilt was don't tell people your making them a quilt then a)they don't know when its late and b) they don't get any creative in put.

This next one is a favourite of mine though the photo doesn't do the colours any justice in reality it looks a lot fresher. It is a design by my old teacher Sue Taylor Propst who has since moved to Colorado USA. It is my first attempt at using all plain fabrics and I really like it. I presented it to my mother in law in October, a mere 2 years late for her significant birthday. It is called 'Madeira Wine' because all the 3D grapes were made and stuffed individually by the pool on holiday in Madeira. The centre block is a design by the Tinney family from Alabama in the same Great American Quilts book as my dad's quilt.

The next two quilts were made in a sampler class taught by Lesley Johnson at the Immanuel Hall in Oswaldtwistle. We were supposed to be making a double quilt but mine was for my Grandma's 90th birthday; so as we weren't sure if she'd get there or not I made her an oversized lap quilt and a matching single quilt for my mum's significant birthday (also this year.) Both were completed in plenty of time and Grandma's was given to her rather early which was a good call as sadly she didn't quite make it to 90, we lost her in June. Both quilts now belong to my mum.

This one is in the same fabric as the one above but photographed in

a different light it looks rather different.

In March I went to a workshop run by my friend at the shop where she worked. It is a design by Jenny Reyment. I enjoyed doing this wall hanging and really boosted my confidence in doing folded patchwork.