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Nearly the end of May

How time flies when you are having fun!

It is nearly two weeks since I last posted and I haven't finished much in that time. I have been getting on with a lot of different projects.... but not really finishing any.

The Vignette quilt continues. I have done over half of the embroidery on the first block and it is looking gorgeous and I have started piecing the second and third blocks - I have another 6 Shoo Fly blocks to make, then it will be fully pieced, ready for transferring the embroidery designs. I hope to get it ready for the embroidery this weekend, as it will be ideal for my holiday stitching.

I have embroidered all of the June Calendar Girls and mostly made up the mini quilts, but I still have the hand finishing to go.

Last weekend we were back at the Fat Quarters for out Nikki Tikler sampler quilt class: we made up the Wedding Ring design. I decided to stitch mine together backwards (it was choice not mistake!) and the end result looks like a flower. I have also started the Dresden Plate design, which I will stitch by hand.

Last Friday, Jane announced that she would like an "intimate island blanket" - she works in a nursery and wants a blanket that she can use when she is having one-to-one time with a child. She picked out some kiddy fabric and Linda and I bought some more fabric, then we stitched together 8 1/2inch blocks in a five by five grid. We added a border of blue, then a border of yellow with green corner blocks, embroidered the words "intimate island blanket". We then backed it with a fleece blanket and I quilted it: we decided on quilting 1/4 inch away from each seam line on each side. The end result was lovely. It's still not finished - we have to bind it.

In doing the quilting of the intimate island blanket I had an idea about the quilting of mum's yellow tablecloth. Instead of using zig-zag along the seams, we could quilt 1/4" inside each block. I made up a three by three block as a sample and tried it out. I'll send it down to Mum and see what she thinks.

And Jane would like three pink and black stuffed elephants for her birthday. At least tomorrow is a bank holiday - may be I'll have more to show for myself by the end fo it!

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