I actually finished a top today, first one for months. It just needed borders, and I was sick of moving it and the border fabric from place to place in the sewing room. Now it can be folded up and stored with all the other completed tops. It was meant to be a large single bed size, and the thing grew until it fits my QS bed easily. I still can't work out how it expanded to such a size without me realising it. I've had quilts do that before, but I had an inkling that they were larger than I planned. I guess I just got enthusiastic on this one, and didn't add up any of the measurements. I was trying to use up a swag of blue and green prints that I didn't want in the stash anymore, but liked too much to throw away; I must have just kept cutting until the fabric was gone. But I like it, and it will go nicely in our blue spare room.

The pink quilt is one I gave to Mum for her 80th birthday 4 years ago, and was on her bed until she went to hospital in July. Mum really felt the cold, so I made the quilt out of vintage flannel, with a wool batting. The flannel came from her dressmaking stash, and included some strange 70's fabric called Cesarella, which had an open weave. The batting doesn't seem to be migrating through, which is good. The colours are a bit garish, but that's what we wore back then, and Mum couldn't complain since she'd bought it all originally! If the fabric had been made into clothing back then, it would all have been worn out and thrown away by now; this quilt will last another 50 years, and keep me warm with memories too. Oh the struggle I had getting her to part with that material!!! But it was worth it.

I quilted it with freehand feathers and fillers, and it was great fun. The flannel material shows the stitches beautifully and it's very rich and tactile. I had a lot of fun with the quilting, and used variegated threads to add more interest. I'd recommend every beginner machine quilter do a small flannel quilt. The flannel is forgiving of crooked and uneven stitches, and the end result is so cuddly that no-one notices that the quilting may not be perfect.

I wandered into a sewing shop this afternoon and found that they now stock hundreds of bolts of fabrics, some as cheap as $7 a metre, which is amazing . Of course I had to buy a few pieces, especially my favourite madder print. I think I will go back next week and see what else they have; there were tables full of bolts that hadn't been priced yet. How callous of them to make it so affordable; there goes my resolve to not buy anything more. It was never going to be a no-buy month, but I have a feeling that I will be bringing home a lot more of that fabric before the end of September.

I have12 blocks made for my mourning quilt; I can't find the name of that block, but there is a similar one called Lost Ships. I know I've seen it in a magazine, so I will go through my collection and see if I can identify it. It's nice to piece, and I'm enjoying the way they come together. I cut out another 12, and I think 25 blocks will make a useful size quilt. I don't want to end up with another monster quilt that's too big, because I'd like to hand quilt this one.

Hopefully the next post will show a few blocks put together with the plain alternate blocks; I enjoy the process of joining the blocks into a top, very satisfying.