I spy quilt complete

 

I finished piecing this quilt top at retreat, so it was a priority to quilt it on my return. The quilt is for a Christmas challenge for the Wednesday group that I attend, but it's good to get ahead.

I used the digital pantograph Malachite and a multicoloured thread to quilt the top. I used the backing that was already loaded on my long arm from the Tula Pink Roar which I quilted with car interlining instead of Bosal in the middle for Lizzie. There was no black or white in the quilt top, but a black and white stripe for the binding is often a good choice.

I even remembered to add a small rainbow label on the back of the quilt and there is a rainbow block in the quit top.

Frida dress

Do you end up with lots of off cuts of dressmaking fabrics? I made the Aspen dress in a seersucker from Fabric Godmother in March 20205. I parceled the leftover fabric neatly in an Ikea Ziploc bag and it has lurked with many other off cuts. 

Last week I used the Frida dress pattern from two stitches to make this pretty dress in size T2 as a gift for a friend whose daughter is having a second baby this summer. I am surprised how much fabric that I have left and can probably make at least one, if not two dresses more. I think that these dresses could be a good retreat make if precut ready to sew. 

Retreat purchases

Just a few purchases from retreat. I bought the two stitches girls dress pattern as I thought that it would be a good way to use up scraps from the clothes I've made. The Oliver + S pattern was my raffle prize with the same thought in mind.

From A Beautiful Thing I bought two charm packs and a strawberry print to add to my strawberry stash. I also bought some magic pins which I left behind with my daughter, Lizzie. I left some other things that I didn't immediately need as my husband, Nick will collect my goodies when he visits the children and his family at the end of the month.

Also not pictured is the small stripology ruler that I bought to try out. I will report back.

I spy quilt progress

 

On the Saturday of my retreat weekend at Gomersal Park, I pieced the 81 5" blocks into a quilt top. Fortunately, I had a large bed in my room, so I laid all of the blocks out and then stacked them ready to piece together. This is now ready to quilt and perhaps bind, this weekend.