Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs

I can finally reveal the dinosaur quilt in all its glory.

It is for my nephew's top bunk bed so it is really long and skinny. It measures 39" by 72".

I tried to quilt big dinosaur feet on it, which if you stare closely you may be able to see in the close up shot. I was a bit disappointed with the overall effect. I think I should have done it in a contrasting colour to stand out on the back.

However I was much more pleased with the pocket up top. I used "The Bag Making Bible" by Lisa Lam which I received in December for my birthday from my sister (hint hint). Okay - I did ask for it but it is even better than I thought it would be. It has all different sections for each part of a bag. So I took this from the pockets chapter. It is designed to be a more 3D pouch so that you can fit bulkier things in. A good first attempt I think.

It is of course for a torch - because what do 4 year old boys really rather have - a hand made quilted in love or a piece of plastic that lights up!?

If you want to see more of Lisa's ideas check out her amazing blog here.

One final picture of the quilt as it has gone home to England already ( I apologise for the quality of the pictures, I waited all week to take them but it is so dark and wet and windy that in the end I had to just take them indoors.)

Sewing machine love

Since I have absolutely no finishes or even progress to show you I thought I would share this really cool photo.

I was in Manchester, England recently and spied this shop full of old machines. It's just a trendy clothes shop, not anything related to sewing per se.

Yes I am the only one in the street who is vaguely impressed with this display of sewing power and taking photos of it!

A Christmas WIP

I'm glad to have started one of my Christmas presents. This is a quilt for my nephew's "big boy" bed. He is mad for dinosaurs. Here it is all cut out and ready to piece.

The layout is going to be 3 panels across by 8 panels down of alternate colours. The large dinosaurs panel was meant to be fussy cut but I realised I don't have enough material for that. Too late to order more from the States. It means that some of the squares are a bit random in the placement of the dinos as can be seen below with 4 random heads.

But once it's complete I think it will give the overall impression of material. I hope anyway!

The material is of course the gorgeous Oh Boy Dino Print by David Walker for Free Spirit.

I may post a tutorial for this quilt if I get round to it - or get a lot of requests - or any requests really as I am hardly pulling a crowd... yet! ?We'll see how the Christmas shopping goes first.