Finishes for January

YD or her hubby try to visit at least once a week so their boys, two large dogs, can have a good run on the farm. When she arrived this morning she told me that while they were here we would be bib making for young Odie. Apparently his current bib situation doesn't keep up with his messy food habits and dribbly-ness.
After a quick search through my stash she found a few suitable fabrics.  While she was turning The Palace upside down and inside out I hunted out some towelling and the pattern I'd made by drawing around his bib on Christmas day.
Gandad took the boy for a few minutes and before long we had a bib. 

Modelled and in use —

After they had gone, I made another one. (YD had left a wee pile of suitable fabrics for me to work through!)

My goal for the month was to finish Odie's Lorax quilt, and here it is, ready to gift for his birthday next week —

I do tend to custom quilt my quilts, rather than all-over designs so that does mean a few thread changes. Aurifil #50 is my thread of choice. I like how the thread has a nice sheen but doesn't take over the quilt. As well, the spools are a useful size for the amount of quilting I do. Just as well I've built up a good selection of colours over the years!

I started with a foundation pieced centre. The Lorax came from Fathom in Stitches. A great site for this sort of design. 

I quilted simple circles in the Truffala Trees and then more Truffala Trees in the background.

As a nod to Odie's Ngati Kahunganu heritage I also added some stylised Koru as fillers in the background.

Finding the border fabric really helped me to cement my design as I wasn't sure what I was doing until then, apart from the central Lorax! In it I quilted 'meandering squares' - I'm not sure what the design is called,  if it actually has a name, and is one inspired by what I've seen Suzanne using on her blog in the past. I think it was just right for this border and sewed up really quickly!

The cornerstones in the outer border are probably the most densely quilted areas in the whole quilt, but I believe they work really well!

I left it too late in the day to take my photos and there were too many shadows. In the end I discovered the swing frame was the best place!

And I have one more make to report. Lily's Paw Patrol cap went missing at daycare. It was the only one she would wear. Luckily Ganma happened to have some Paw Patrol fabric in the Palace, so I got to work.
I used the Twig and Tale Sunny Hat pattern; this is a fabulous site for practical and stylish clothes - with great instructions too.

Lined with ladybugs. It can be reversible if she tires of Paw Patrol.

I fussy cut the pink fabric as it would have looked silly with a whole lot of puppies cut in half —

And ended up with a rather impressive crown!!

'til next time,

happy stitches,