One last thing

The amount of posts revolving around the Anna Maria Horner 'Square Dance' fabric panels is now bordering on the obscene - if the panels were a person they would feel stalked and almost certainly overwhelmed by the amount of sewing time I have given over to them. I have several remaining squares, but they are now carefully folded and stored away at the back of my fabric drawers and I'm not allowing myself to use them again until next year. So this quilt is something of a Square Dance finale for me!

It is horribly difficult to photograph this quilt in today's gloom, but even in bright sunlight its size doesn't seem to be easily accommodated by my camera screen. It is bigger than a standard single quilt as I made it long enough to cover the pillow at the head of the bed (due to my strange feelings about pillows being on view discussed in this post). The batting is Quilter's Dream Puff - I used this when I made our own double quilt and it is so warm and light that I'm a committed convert. Gone are my Hobbs Heirloom days.

The only difficulty I found with this quilt was the use of squares - which would be so much better on a double quilt (which is also square). Using a central square on a single rectangular quilt means that the subsequent bands of fabric surrounding the square have to be cut at double the width for all bands going across the quilt, so that the quilt can become longer and thinner, while still allowing the central square to look normal (does that make sense?).

You may remember that this quilt is the first one I'd planned using my computer - I think I'd try it that way again, but I'd go one step further and install a grid on the screen to represent the size - this would have meant that I could have worked around the above problem before cutting into my fabric. As I made the quilt I fell in love with the fabrics all over again and so started started self-imposed rationing of their use, thinking of the summer dresses I might make with them next year: each fabric has been used very sparingly.

As always, creating the quilt patch is one of my favourite things. I have it in my head to also make some new cushions for Zebra-girl's room too, but that can wait for a while as with all the birthday gifts now sewn up I have a couple of patterns that I'd like to write, as well as some winter clothes that I can't wait to make.

It has finally been cold enough to wear the autumn jacket that I made in mid-August (what was I thinking?) and it's making me think of all the other lovely wintry things I'd like to make. I'm wondering if anyone has come across a tutorial for drafting and installing a coat lining - I'd love to make a proper lined winter coat, but the lining (which will be a different shape to that of the coat if one wants proper facings) is foxing me whenever I think about it...I'm thinking that I may like to hand-sew it in afterwards, but there's still the shape to negotiate.

Florence x