A Mini Quilt

A finished object! (UFO's linger round here for a depressingly long time - I obviously have a short project attention span)

I have one friend locally who also enjoys craft (yay!) and she had a big birthday last month. I really wanted to make her something, and when I saw this tutorial by Aneela Hoey I knew it was perfect. (Let's gloss over the fact that by the time I came to the end of the project I was going through an agony of indecision and had convinced myself she would hate it - does anybody else get like that about handmade gifts?). Fortunately she loved it - and she is now planning to make a first communion version for her niece.

Anyway here is the finished mini quilt:

The quilting is very very simple (by choice - I didn't want to detract from the applique) - and it is bound by a deep red and green fabric (thankfully the green isn't too obvious).

Things I would do differently - make the amount of white "border" smaller (I think...) - and also I when I make another one hopefully I will have a bigger scrap stash ( I don't have one really yet - so I had to cut into some pristine fat quarters as well) - some of the fabrics I used perhaps draw the eye more than I would have liked. Also I tried machine binding for the first time ( I had really run out of time) and it wasn't great - the front is fine, but the top stitching was too far in on the back. Fortunately it is a wall hanging, so nobody is going to see.

I can't believe how much fun it was to do. I was nervous,  but I really loved it - I now have plans for three - one depicting each of my children in their favourite pastimes. I just need that extra wednesday.......