Scented heart bunting

*whips the dustcovers off the furniture*
Phew, it's been a while since I've been in here, hasn't it! The sewing machine has been sitting idle over the last few weeks due to family holidays and school holidays (it's hard to get on with sewing when the children want to use the dining room table for THEIR craft work!)

Anyway, although I haven't made much recently, I did finish a comission for a birthday present before I went away, and as the birthday has now been and gone, I can safely show it!

Seven lightly padded hearts, scented with Crabtree & Evelyn's Nantucket Briar fragrance. The three plain coloured hearts have a letter on each that spell out the lady's name. Two little glittery heart shaped beads separate each fabric heart. I loved making this - I hope the lady in question was delighted with it, I was certainly impressed by her boyfriend comissioning it for her!

I made quite good progress with my quilt before the holidays, but that has also ground to a halt at present. But here it is so far. I just have the centre section (that piece running diagonally top left to bottom right) to wad, back and quilt. Then the three sections can be joined and the whole thing edged. I struggled to find a good colour for the sashing, one that would tie all the blocks together. But in the end settled on this soft blue. As the blocks are such soft colours themselves, I didn't want to overpower them, and I wanted to keep that feel of a scrap quilt made from vintage fabrics. I think it succeeds in doing that! The back of the quilt is even more vintage - I've used old and many times washed curtain linings. The old cotton is soft from washing and stained with time - definitely has a vintage look to it! Anyway, with the three sections laid out together, you get a bit of an idea how it will look!

The individual blocks were quilted using the walking foot, and a fairly regular pattern reflecting the block's individual design. The corner patches were free hand quilted in a swirly pattern to try to complement to floral fabric. Far from perfect, but a great introduction to quilting and very good practice!