I feel like a proud parent

First of all I must say a massive THANK YOU to everybody who commented after my last post and gave me such great advice over my problem QAYG project. Yes, the grey will definitely be going! And you all had such sensible suggestions that I know I will come up with the best solution soon.

Meanwhile I thought you might like to see some of the results from my first 'Beginners Patchwork and Quilting' evening class. 

We have been making Log Cabin Cot Quilts.

 
I am so proud of my students! They all did so well and totally exceeded my expectations.
This first quilt was made by Eleonore and I think it is so gorgeous, especially the fussy-cut owl centres, which, before you ask, were all Eleonore's idea! Eleonore is expecting her second child in 5 weeks and this cot quilt is for her new baby. Eleonore really impressed me by scanning in her chosen fabrics (after we had decided which ones she would be using in the first class) and playing around with layout and design of the log cabin on her computer and turning up to the second class with full colour print-outs of the design she wanted to achieve! I had never thought of scanning fabric before, but if you find it difficult to visualise a whole quilt then this is a great tip.
I also love the hand quilting with perle 8's. Didn't she do well for a beginner?!
 
This next cot quilt was made by Arielle and it is just waiting for a black binding here. I absolutely love Arielle's dramatic, purple, black and white, palette and that fabric with the skulls. In fact, even the design she chose makes the quilt look a little like a skull. She definitely has a bit of a goth thing going on! The centre square is an embroidered black fabric and Arielle chose to machine quilt and is planning on adding some hand quilting with perle cotton, once she finds the right shade of purple!
 
Natalie's sweet little cot quilt was made entirely from a scrap bag of old clothes and remnants given to her by her mother-in-law. I think it has a wonderful Vintage American feel. Natalie machine quilted in stripes and is still working on the binding here. This is just a perfect little quilt and I love the overlapping diamond effect she has achieved with the design. I am constantly amazed at how different you can make a Log Cabin quilt look!

There were 6 in the class and 3 of them decided to carry on and make a full sized quilt, so I will have to wait a while before I can show you Linda and Gill's efforts (Linda chose jewel-like, turquoise, magenta and purple with lots of Kaffe fabric, and Gill has gone for a primary, blue, red, green and yellow palette - can't wait to see these finished!).
But this next one is Helen's, who did intend to make a cot quilt with 24 small blocks similar to the demo one I made for the class. But she accidentally made 27! So, rather than waste any she made a few more and got up to 35. Now, by adding some borders, she has a good sized single bed quilt.

And I think this one is another stunner! Lovely delicate shades of pink, purple and green, and again, another different look achieved with the Log Cabin block. Here is the top finished and I am hoping Helen will bring in the finished quilt for me to see soon. Well done all 6 of you!

Just time to tell you about my new favourite tool. Now some of you may already have this, so apologies if I am 'so last year', but I think this is one of the best crafty things I have ever bought! It is a pinking blade for my rotary cutter!!

I have been dipping into my Liberty Tana Lawn stash and cutting large charm squares with my pinking cutter and putting together packs to sell in the shop!
I really do have too much fabric and so, if I sell some, then I can buy more!!

After I had parted with as much Liberty as I could stand (enough for 4 packs!) I delved into my regular stash and put together some different charm selections - 'vintage floral', 'designer', stripes and checks' and 'fun'. These are more regular 5 1/2" sized (approx.) pieces with 12 - 15 in a pack.

Hopefully they will sell well and then I won't feel guilty the next time I go fabric shopping!