On the boil at the moment.............

I thought I'd give you a little insight into what I'm working on at present

Those of you who drop in regularly will have noticed that I've not been particularly chatty or productive of late - one of my New Years Resolutions is to try and rectify that - we'll see how long I can keep it up :o)

However the baby quilts for the twins I mentioned a few posts ago have been finished this afternoon - the final stitches for the labels went in today to complete the job

I shall leave photographic evidence of this completion until another day as I want to photograph them in good light tomorrow morning but I can reassure you all that their recipients, Amy and Libby, arrived safely five days before Christmas weighing in at a respectable 5lb 15ozs and 5lb 12ozs and mum and girlies are doing very well indeed

I'd like to think that all the good wishes you sent helped with their safe arrival

We're hoping to try and pop down to deliver the quilts tomorrow

As for current projects, once Sarah's Uni quilt was finished her little sister insisted it was time she got a look in and asked for a little number in green and cream as green is her absolute favourite colour

Initially I thought about doing a Jewel Box but didn't fancy the HSTs at the moment so plumped for 4patches interspersed with other squares using a diagonal layout

This is probably getting towards the top half of the centre of the quilt assembled - I now need to cut more green and cream 2" strips to construct a whole load more 4patches to keep the process rolling - I just keep chipping away at the process when I get a few spare minutes here and there

The pattern is simple but effective - I do love the scrappy effect - once the centre is completed I may well border it in a plain green border and then I think I shall quilt it diagonally - lines of leaves across the green stripes, one leaf per square and then intersect those with big single flowers in each cream box heading at right angles to the leaves - then we'll see what the border throws up for quilting inspiration after that

Louise has recently been bitten by the crafty bug - but she's not into fabric - it's beads for her

The most exciting Christmas present for her this year was a box containing one whole kilogramme (about 2.2lbs) of assorted coloured random glass lampwork beads - she could hardly contain her delight! She spent the best part of an hour on Christmas morning sorting them into her various colour coded boxes

This is one of her latest creations - she picked up the charm bracelet (its made of a large chain threaded onto strong jewellers elastic) at the local chainstore for a few pounds and then personalised it adding all the beads in Sarah's favourite colours for her sister's Christmas present

I'm considering buying a selection of different coloured and sized pearls to give her the raw materials to make one for me soon - after all fair exchange is no robbery