Sighs of relief! (17)

Hooray! The birthday quilt is finished. It just shows how inexperienced I am: I decided just six weeks ago that I would make a queen sized quilt for our bed for my husband's birthday! Little did I know that (a) I would be feeling so rotten for so much of the time and (b) that DH, who only works three days a week anyway, would sometimes decide to work two days a week as he was owed so much time. So I had to get the quilting done pretty quickly. I decided to freehand machine quilt using zig-zags, wavy lines, triangles. It won't win any awards, but I'm pleased with the end result and I'm sure that DH will be delighted. I couldn't wash it and dry it without him seeing it, so spent about an hour going over it with a sticky roller. I was so pleased to have it finished and so keen to get it wrapped up before any more cat hair got on it that I forgot to sew the label on!

My next project is a cushion for my mother-in-law's birthday (underway) and a lap quilt to use up some of the hundreds of spare 4patch blocks I made (also underway). Who knew that I would become so keen on quilting? My family make jokes ("where's the quilted toilet roll cover?") but they are also pleased to see me enjoying my retirement. And I'm the first family member to start blogging!