What an exciting weekend! I loved hosting TGIFF! and I've so enjoyed reading all your kind comments. It's been so nice to visit blogs as a result and emailing with new friends :)

I've also enjoyed seeing all the wins people have been getting and even though I feel happy for them it's great to win something yourself otherwise that green eyed monster is a terror!
I was thrilled to discover, while going through my reader, that I had won some lovely goodies from the talented Hadley at Flying Blind On A Rocket Cycle. I was so happy, I cried. Not even joking (I can get very emotional when nice things happen!!). I was really coveting that bag (naughty me!) and was going to buy some of that fabric so I could attempt to make one myself but I don't need to!! There's an amazing bundle of goodies that she offered as a giveaway so I'm ridiculously happy I won and very grateful to her for being so generous!

In my glee I worked really hard over the weekend. You'd think I could take a break after building a robot quilt but no, I have so much still to do before Christmas!

I cracked right on and Friday afternoon I turned the pile I cut a couple of weeks ago (sitting on the piano, waiting for the robot to be done) into this:


On Saturday night it turned into this (and was basted):




And last night I got it quilted and bound:


My Terrain Lattice Quilt:



This pattern is by the wonderful Amy Smart, whose blog Diary of a Quilter I love, and you can find the tutorial here! Cutting and sewing was a breeze, the tutorial is excellent and everything is explained well. If you are a numpty like me (or Susan, hahaha!) you might make a mistake getting those setting triangles the right way round. I only had to unpick twice but I was really annoyed at myself!! Concentration is key and it's actually really obvious if you're paying attention! Also I'm just not that good with angles :( The other part that freaked me out a bit was getting the squares to match up because of the sashing - I think I did ok with this though and got better as I went along.

This is the first quilt I've free motion quilted (except for cheating on one of the half quilts). I really enjoyed it! Huge thanks to Cindy at Fluffy Sheep Quilting for encouraging me to try and getting me started with her fabulous and much missed Free Motion Friday!!  I used a tutorial from a blog dana and thread that is no longer available for some reason but I wanted to credit my inspiration. It's really just doodling hearts and it was so fun! I did one row and then realised that the hearts only looked good (or ok!!) on the charm squares and not on the sashing, so I switched to a loop in between the hearts (bottom row):


There's LOTS of room for improvement (like making them all look more heart-like!!) but it's my first try so I'm trying to go easy on myself!! The good news is it looks nice on the back (which is a gorgeous, girly, soft flannel for my niece):


I was amazed how quick this was to do, quicker than straight line quilting it. I do tend to go really quickly, my machine just works better when it's fast (it's a Toyota, it really wants to be a car!). I also think it would be SO much easier if I didn't pin baste - must get some spray but that's not going to happen until next year so I'll be suffering through for the next one! I have to rinse and repeat... I'm making one more quilt like this for my other niece. They are 3yr old and 5yr old cousins, I'm hoping this is the right balance of cute and pretty for them! It will be nice for snuggling on the sofa when it's snowing in Glasgow!!


So that everyone can tell the quilts apart I'm quilting their names on them, thanks to encouragement from Felicity after seeing her beautiful sewing on her latest fun tree quilt at Felicity Quilts. This was super easy and I think it looks pretty:


Yeah pretty not perfect! I'm ok with it just now though, first attempt excuse again!

As well as one more Terrain Lattice Quilt to do, I also prepped a stack of smaller projects ready to make this week! Mad I know!! I'm doing 2 more drawstring bags, 2 zip pouches, a lavender heart and a mobile phone holder:



Is it just me still slogging away (joke, I'm having fun really but seriously feeling the pressure!!), is everyone else done making for Christmas?

I'm linking up at Rainbow Hare Quilts and hoping to get and give lots of encouragement!!

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