Onto plan C

A few months ago my Mum asked if I would make her a lap-sized quilt for her living room to throw on the back of the sofa. I have already made her one which she loves but she has changed her colour scheme slightly and thought a new one would go better. She asked for green and cream - that's it - no other colours. Now as I am a scrappy quilter at heart I thought it may be a challenge. So that was her Christmas present sorted I thought.

Anyway as I had been feeling so rough with this wretched flu I was very behind on lots of things ( after 4 weeks the bloody bug is still lingering around - I can't seem to shake it off completely ). Time was moving on and so I needed a simple pattern if I had any chance of getting this done in time to give my Mum for Christmas. I decided a simple chequerboard may be just the job and so cut loads of 2 inch strips in lots of different greens. Lots of soft florals - nothing too bright. Off I went. After a few blocks I knew this was going to be possibly the most boring quilt in living history - bland, bland, bland. See what I mean. . . .This photo actually makes it look better than it really is - lol !

So onto plan B. Which was ? erm no plan B. So I made a few 9 patches hoping for inspiration.

Then added a bit more

then a bit more. This is actually a nice forest green but is showing up very dark here.

Things were starting to come together. I remembered a nice piece of green in my stash that went from light to dark across the width. Yes I liked it.

I didn't have a lot of anything suitable for borders and a quick trip tp my fabric shop came up with nothing. I had a green which would have gone but it just was too much dark and I went with the lighter option. Once borders were on the quilt just started crying out for some applique to zaz it up a bit.

Here's where I ran out of time and admitted to myself that there was no way this was going to get done it time. I decided to finish this after Christmas without rushing and making a bad job of it and so I moved onto plan C. This involved me frantically hand quilting a cushion ( pillow ) on Christmas Eve so my Mum would have something hand-made to go along with the other gifts I bought her. In my rush I forgot to take a photo but the cushion was lovely - pretty green hearts in a circle and hand quilted background. Mum liked it and is waiting patiently for her quilt to be finished.

On Monday I will be putting my swap packages in the post. These too are a bit late but as they are private swaps and Fiona and Carolyn have been so nice about it - it's not the end of the world. Something to look forward to in January at least.

In between other stuff I managed to make this little Santa from a pattern from a friend.

All my decorations have gone away now but I'll leave him out a while longer. Once Christmas is gone ( which was great despite us all feeling rubbish ) I can't bear the decorations out for too long gathering dust. My Mum always tells me I should wait til 12th night to take them down or I'll have bad luck for the coming year. So Santa will hopefully ward off any heading my way - lol !

To try and get my sewing motivation back in I am planning Bonnies new mystery quilt. She is hopefully posting the first clue today so I am off to check if it's there yet. With the time difference I may not get very far today but I am very excited about this.

Just remains to wish you all a wonderful 2009 and to thank you all for continuing to visit my blog and being such all-round lovely people.

Happy New Year !!!!!!