Always another quilt to finish ...

The last of the binding has been attached and I finally get to call this improv quilt finished. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but making it taught me a lot about making curves in patchwork, and about applique. Also, about being brave / reckless and being prepared to do something drastic if a quilt just isn't 'working'. In this case I literally chopped the thing up and rearranged it as I wasn't satisfied with how I'd put it together. Rearranging the pieces left me with a smaller quilt than I'd originally planned, but a better quilt, for all its faults.

The material I chose for the backing fabric was a wee bit too small, so had to be patched up to make it fit.

The extra section in a similar grey isn't so noticeable, but the bright green is! I like the randomness of adding that little square.

When I wasn't occupied with sewing I managed an hour on the allotment, collecting raspberries and deadheading the calendula, and a trip to the charity shop too.

The dress is a size 10, so I'm not sure if it'll fit. My clothes seem to range from a highly improbable 8 right through to a more realistic 12, so it's pot luck when I buy something as to whether I'll get into it. The numbers on clothes labels seem pretty meaningless, don't they? It all depends on the clothing brand. Some have a generous cut, others are less so. Anyway, this secondhand dress only cost two quid, and it's lovely fabric. So if it doesn't fit I'll happily chop it up to add to my fabric stash.

The book by Elizabeth Bowen is a collection of short stories. I've read various novels of hers in the past and enjoyed them, and hopefully these stories will be equally good.

Now that improv quilt's finished I can return to this partly-completed mini quilt. It needs binding added and - this might be over optimistic - but I'd originally had the notion that I'd embroider it. Lots of leaves and flowers and hares. Yup, hares. That's because my starting point for making this, and for the colour choices, was a drawing in a childrens book about the tortoise and the hare. The book's illustrated by Brian Wildsmith, and I wanted to embroider golden coloured hares among lush foliage. However, I've only got as far as a few leaves and stems as my embroidery skills are basic.

Time to watch some YouTube videos on how to embroider, and to browse Instagram, don't you think?

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