The Quilt Takes Shape at last!

I have achieved quite a bit today on the old quilt front. I am quite proud of myself actually! Below you can see the initial stages. I cut the different fabrics into strips of varying width and sewed then together (badly). I believe the wonky lines give it a certain je ne sais quoi though. I used my super duper new spangly grid ruler thingy to square it up ready for cutting into tiles.

Here are the tiles ready for sewing together.

And here it is all sewn up with a pretty border added.

I then cut out the paper pattern for the applique portrait of Livvie. Each piece is to be from a different fabric.

Here's the finished basic quilt ready for embellishment. I shall have fun tomorrow with that!

And a close-up detail.

Tomorrow I shall do some free-motion machine embroidery. I actually need a feed plate cover for my machine which is a little plastic cover that goes over the serrated feet things that push the fabric backwards. Have I explained myself well? Some machines are able to drop the feed dogs, but not mine. The idea is that you grip the fabric in an embroidery hoop, take the foot off the machine and then you can freely embroider backwards and forward at will without the feed dogs pushing the fabric in the wrong direction. Anyway, without a cover I was going to be stumped. I have been trying for a week to purchase one, but can't find one anywhere. So Gary came up with the idea of sellotaping a credit card over the feed dogs. He made a hole in it for the needle to pass through and it works very well. So tomorrow I shall do smashing things. :0)