All Good Things . . .

But at the laste, as every thing hath ende, She took hir leve, and nedes wolde wende.
(source for All good things must come to an end)
— Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde

It lasted for a long time, I believe.
A very long time. It was a great success, but even great successes come to a natural end.
― Isaac Asimov, Robots and Empire

All good things come to an end and the pain of some endings isn't worth the good things.
― Emilyann Allen

Well . . . I’m back. Albeit a little reluctantly. It was nice to have a bit of a break from blogging, but I figured if I took the month of August off as well I might never get back to it, so here I am. :-)

Unlike other times where I’ve needed a mental break, I’m happy to report I didn’t just dive into a reading binge. I did some reading, yes, but not constantly. And I was able to stay away from Nora Roberts. LOL

I managed to get out of the house a few times – lunch or coffee with friends, poetry gatherings, stitchery gatherings, early morning walks. And I’ve been spending time with my granddaughter while her parents are at work, which is always a good time. But the main way I found to relax was with my crafts, mostly stitchery/sewing.

As you know, I usually have several projects on the go. I picked the one that needed to be done the soonest, and worked steadily on it until it was done. In this case, it was the baby quilt for my great-niece (who’s due this month).

I like baby quilts because they’re something I can work on a bit at a time. I usually start with solid coloured squares, then trace pictures from colouring books onto them to embroider. When I’m done I find a print fabric to go in between the squares, then flannel to back it with. Then it’s just a matter of sewing it together. I don’t actually quilt my baby quilts, I use embroidery floss to tie them. It makes the quilt a little puffier, but I think it looks just as nice.

For this quilt, I’d chosen a medium violet colour and traced cartoon animals onto them. Then I used bright colours for the embroidery. Then, of course, I had to find material to go between the squares, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds. But I did find a print that was more green and white than purple, used light green flannelette for the back, and then couldn’t remember how I used to bind them – it’s been a long time since I’ve done a baby quilt.

I had a vague recollection of putting a ruffle on them, but I didn’t have enough material left for that and there was no time to go to a fabric store, which would mean a trip out of town. So I used satin blanket binding, which turned out well enough that I think that’s what I’ll be using from now on.

Anyway, here’s a picture of the finished quilt (click on it to see a bigger version):

Next week I’ll be talking about my second project, the ballgown I made my granddaughter for the Father/Daughter ball.