Gracious Recipient

Having been so relieved almost to the point of misguided aggressiveness, I can report that my mother in law called last night, wanting to thank me again for the lovely quilt. She uses it every day as a blanket when she rests on her sofa after lunch. It's so light yet so snugly and warm, she says.

I must have really impressed and surprised her. And it pleases me that I can make her happy with a home-made gift. It makes me feel good about my craft and makes me want to move ahead with projects. Which I will on WED, I swear.

And while I don't post much at the moment, I am today wearing my first Chevron scarf and working on my second, with my dad wanting one for himself as well. He will have to take a number and get in line because both girls want one too ... and they always come first!

So done!

Since late October I have been busying myself with presents for other people, sometimes enjoying myself more, sometimes less so. Now that both Christmas and Grandma Birthday Season are over, I am glad to not be under that much pressure to produce.

My latest output:







Top is 100% cotton by Bassetti, backing is fleece, machine assembled, hand quilted. My MIL was quite thrown by this present though I doubt she knows how many hours went into it (despite her son reiterating something about "months and months ...").

It's done and I am relieved and can now move on to other things. Secretly, I am amazed at the relief I feel from having completed this one. Usually, I dread finishing quilts because they have grown to be such a constant part of my evenings and a great challenge as well. It must have something to do with the simplicity of the job (not so much of the result), the recipient and the time pressure. Commission work must feel akin to this.

But with all those projects out of my way, I'm hoping to be more positive about my crafting and more regular at quilting.

Hard at work - seven days from delivery deadline

Carola took this with my mobile phone, hence the bad quality: This is me with Paula in my parents' lounge, six days before departure and seven days before delivery of the MIL-Quilt.

Very busy and bad at posting

Since my husband took a flat closer to work and is absent from home four nights of the week (out of pure necessity and to safe him the stress of 2.5 hours of commuting per day after a ten to twelve hour job), I have been tremendously busy. I also have been really bad at posting ...

The first 4 evenings, I worked on the 2007 photo album for my mother in law. The ordered photos had not arrived in time for Christmas, it took them 17 days to find their way from the lab to my doorstep. All I need to do is add some writing ...

The other 3 evenings, I worked on a lab quilt of sorts for her. It's her 75th birthday next month and she isn't a very gracious recipient of gifts. Furthermore, it is incredibly hard to find something for the Woman Who Has Everything and Will Afford Everything on a Whim. So I went into my stash, whipped out a Bassetti Gran Foulard panel that I bought in an ebay frenzy in May 2005 (and as People.com would say: not pictured), cut some fleece to size, added my label. I will now quilt the central bit of the panel to add more interest.

The colours in this shot are off ... but at least I have something to show (off with) for a week's worth of work:



And I might add that the tip with taping down the top as well as excessive use of pins have thus far kept wrinkling down to a minimum!

All dots present

and vlieseline ordered ... we are making good progress here!



The fuzziness is awful but you can see the creature with all its spots.

Meanwhile I have made plans for a birthday quilt for my mother-in-law who turns 75 next February. I'll use one of my many Bassetti panels - see UFOs No 10 - and a jewel coloured fleece blanket. Easy and quick enough. With maximum effect hopefully, as my housewife sister-in-law will no doubt purchase a gift (insert evil grin here).