Signed, sealed, delivered!

It's oficial! My very first mini quilt from the Christmas Twinkle Collection has been delivered!

But it's still October you say. I know it's October, but bare with me. If you offer something Christmassy on Christmas Day, people won't be able to enjoy it for long or as intensely, because for me Christmas builds up to that particular day and then it kind of dies down, Except if your spanish and open your presents on January 6th ;)
So for everybody whose birthdays are from October on, it makes sense to offer somtehing they will be able to enjoy in the first cold winter days as well as during the Christmas Season.
Also this quilt is not heavily themed, just some splashes here and there.

As I've been ranting, it's been a really difficult task, not for the task itself but due to the lack of time I've been having. It was the first time I hand quilted and I was really insecure about it. Also, it didn't help I lacked a proper method before starting it.
By Saturday night it was in the washer, by Sunday morning it was dried. Had a bit of problem with the purple fabric which bled a bit (amazingly enough the small part bled, the large one didn't!). By dinner time it was delivered and greatly appreciated as all quilts should ;)


Here it is, ready for ironing

 So it's a 40" by 56" mini quilt. I mixed a lot of fabrics, from Amy Butler and Moda to some lovely Ikea fabrics,like the backing and the lovely purple, which is from a pillow casing I fell in love with. The binding is solid red cotton.  For the hand quilting I used Gütermann beige thread which works really wonderfully even for such an amateur like myself. If only my stiching matched the quality of its thread ;)
I just love this quilting pattern. I was really disapointed when I realised that I wouldn't be able to machine quilt with this batting (which deflated a lot with the washing, don't really know why, but it was still really fluffy and more comfy looking than with my usual batting)
In the end, I loved hand quilting it, I think it looks much better than the cold looking machine stitch (my machine stiches at least) and was much happier once it was done. This quilting pattern for me looks really luxurious, don't really know why, so I'm guessing I'll be playing with it for a while for the next quilts.


Mushi loved it and wouldn't actually get off it

My cats love every single quilt I make, in every single stage of it. I really don't know why! It's pratically impossible to take a picture of a quilt without a cat standing or sleeping on it. Particularly my Mushi.In this particular picture you have a mini quilt straight out of the drier so she was in kitty heaven!

Here you can see the backing, all in Ikea fabric

I've had this idea a while back of how to incorporate buttons in my work, because I am obsessed with them. Also I was thinking of the best way of storing the mini quilt. So I thought why not find a way to fold it so it almost looks like a pillow you can just set it aside on the couch and always have it close. So this is what I came up with. I even tried laying my head on it and it really makes a great pillow! Also, it looks perfect on my white couch and with the most delicate side hidden, I'm guessing it will be better kept this way. I know it looks like a sleeping bag, but it's much smaller than it looks because I folded both sides in :)


Ready for delivery!

I must confess I felt kind of nostalgic to let this one go, also a bit nervous about how it would be received. I tried finishing it a day early so I could gift it before hand and thus avoid the public display, but I couldn't as you know, so it was indeed displayed for all to see and people seemed to like it :)

Delivered at last :) One down. Six to go!