Forest Poppy

We are just back from a lovely week 'up north'.  I think we actually had it drier than a lot of the rest of the UK - it wasn't exactly bone dry, or warm and sunny, but we managed to get out and about lots and enjoyed time with family.  In the next day or two I need to upload my photos and see if any are worth sharing.  I do hope so!

In the meantime I thought I'd share some of the commissions I have been working on over the last few weeks.  These two baby blankets were ordered as a gift for twins and their parents in the hope that the blankets may provide a touch of love and comfort in some desperately sad times.  The story isn't mine to share but I put my heart and soul into making these blankets as beautiful as possible and hope that some of this reaches the family they are intended for.

Next up is another baby blanket.  This one was a more 'normal' order, intended for a new little baby boy.  I do always work to make things with every care and attention possible, it is just that the first order was particularly special and I felt very honoured to be asked to make the blankets.

I always feel really delighted to be asked to sew for someone and love to try to match their particular requests.  I'm not sure I will ever get over the shock, and pleasure, of being trusted to make something.  I enjoy it so much.  I haven't had anything listed on my folksy shop since Katie was born and have just been picking up the odd bit of work here and there by word of mouth.  I'm really excited by an exciting new development which I should be able to share later in the summer.  I'm hopeful it will be a good way of testing the waters and getting more of a feel for where to go next.

One thing that I won't be in a hurry to make again is Aga lid covers.  I was asked to make a couple and, naively, believed it would be a straightforward piece of work............I won't be saying that again!

All went well until it came time to baste and quilt the layers together.  There's the top and bottom - obviously - and then insulbright plus normal wadding in between.  For some reason I just could not get the layers to hold together, they slipped and slid and generally wandered all over the place.  In the end I used huge amounts of spray starch, which I bought specially, and basting spray too.  The, now fairly rigid, layers co-operated a bit better after this rather brutal treatment and I managed to beat them into submission with some wavy line quilting.  Bindings were hand-sewn and then I breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Hopefully I'll be back soon-ish with some snippets from our holiday.  How are you getting on with the rain?  It has been pouring down here for the last few days and the river at the end of our street is extremely high.  Fingers crossed we'll all get something closer to summer soon.