Friday 12 November 2021

another new arrival

The second of the next generation of children in my husband's family has arrived recently. Another earlier than expected event, she entered the world on his birthday. Very fortuitous, since she is his first great grandchild. He was, as you might imagine, overwhelmed with delight. 

I had been working on a quilt for her, and took my trusty old Bernina and other necessaries on our Lakes pilgrimage at the end of September. We knew she was a she, and we knew she was an autumn baby so I thought autumn stars would be appropriate and, on the advice of a quilting friend, chose a square format, making a floor quilt for her to roll about on. The quilt is backed with a lovely soft brushed cotton which I have brought to the front using the self binding method.


There are a selection of little animals for her to tell herself stories about; a deer and her fawn in the autumn woods, some butterflies, a hedgehog and friend, and a pair of lovebirds which also appeared on "Flopsy's" quilt. 


Then there are a mother fox and her cub snuggled in their den and a very vibrant cat


Another pair of cats (we do have two after all) and a wise old owl


And a proud dog fox with his mates. We had five youngsters in the garden this year!


This was the block which started it all, one I made pre lockdown when I was doing a second patchwork course with Naomi (remember that hand made one from 2018?). For the rest I assembled some autumnal fabrics and was given a very valuable lesson by Christine on which ones of the great selection to choose, and how to check whether I had enough of each colour to make the blocks. There is a huge amount of calculating and counting when doing this, so I was deeply grateful for her wise advice. The majority of creatures are from great grandad's garden. We are a little too urban for deer though and, with badgers, there are never going to be any hedgehogs here, but I couldn't find any suitable badger fabric.

Great grandad is travelling up to Yorkshire to meet his great granddaughter at the beginning of December, so has volunteered to be the quilt courier. I do hope that her parents like it and that, in time, it will be a source of pleasure to her and will feed her imagination. I have so enjoyed making it.

With apologies for my long absence, I am still here, honest!