A hiccup, a cushion and score!

After a hiccup, my Sunny Joy quilt is now coming along nicely. I'd made a pieced backing, but it just wasn't sitting right. I persisted and basted the whole thing and even quilted a couple of ditches, but was really annoyed with how puckered it was looking. 

I went back to it yesterday and unpicked the quilting I'd done, removed all of pins and chose a new backing fabric. It's actually an old flat sheet that was from my daughters bed when she was little. It's a single (twin) bed size sheet and is perfect for this quilt.
Round two of basting saw me add about 4 times as many pins as the first time. Generally I free motion quilt and so don't need a whole of pins as it all pretty much quilts out, but with straight lines, there's nowhere to hide, so I pin, pin and pinned some more.


I'm much happier with this result and all of the main block ditches have been quilted. I'm now sewing the binding to the back and it'll be ready for a full picture as soon as we actually have a little bit of sunshine out there.

I will eventually go back to this quilt and add lots of big stitch quilting - just for fun.

How often do you clean your sewing machine? I don't think I'm super slack when it comes to my machine and generally clean it after each big quilt project. This was the pile of fluffy fluffs which I removed yesterday. 


This week, I also completed a custom cushion for a little boy called Alexander who turns 1. The lady who ordered it wasn't exactly sure what she wanted for the cushion, but wanted something that her little nephew would like as he grows up. She loved the airplane fabric, so we went with that. I remember back about a decade, using some of this same print to make a quilt for my son (who is still very much into airplanes and aviation).


Cold weather means that the slow cooker has been getting a workout. I don't often buy lamb as it's quite expensive, but I found a lamb shoulder at the supermarket the other day which was about half price. I'm not sure if it was labelled by mistake, but it still had lots of days before the use-by date. Score!

Lamb shoulder with heaps of onion, crushed garlic, fresh rosemary, worchester sauce and a splash of red wine (it was all that was left in the bottle).



19 comments

  1. The lamb roast made my mouth water! I love lamb but sadly, my husband doesn't. That's probably because we raised sheep on the farm I grew up on while my husband's family didn't. He never ate anything lamb until after we were married. I can't wait to see the final picture of Sunny Joy, she really is a joyful quilt. Alexander's pillow is very cute. Have a great weekend with lots of happy stitching!

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  2. Yes, I do a quickie clean after each bobbin change, but last bobbin change the fluff was equally epic (I could have stuffed a pillow!)
    I might take the vacuum at the bottom today
    The quilt and the pillow are beauties.
    The meal looks great, but I HATE lamb, my hubbs will get lamb sometimes if we go out, but even then I cannot stand the smell.
    Funny how that is.
    My mum made a meal with lamb (100 years ago, we were kids) and all sat at the table and picked at it. My daddy very politely asked mom, Let's nevver have this again. hahahaha

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  3. I have never cooked lamb as my husband refuses to try it! yours looks wonderful though, I never see it on sale here. I might have to try to find it sometime and not tell him what it is LOL

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  4. The pillow is darling & I can't wait to see the quilt.

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  5. reading the comments I see lamb is not popular..........OMG I love lamb.......glad you are not happy with the quilt and looking forward to the pics.......

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  6. Your lamb sounds amazing. We don't buy it often as it is way too expensive and the price keeps on climbing, nearly $50 a kilo here.
    Looking forward to seeing your Sunny Joy all completed.

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  7. I am the same...if something annoys me it has to be fixed before going any further. Nice work on the cushion.

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  8. Such a lot of work to unstitch and re baste that quilt but I am sure will be worth it. So annoying though. Lovely cushion and your lamb sounds delicious. xx

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  9. Looking forward to seeing your Sunny Joy quilt finished! I also just recently needed to unpick my quilting because of puckers in the back. It is annoying but so necessary!

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  10. Pleased you sorted the backing for the Sunny Joy Quilt. Lovely cushion for Alexander.
    I service my machine regularly but it’s surprising how much fluff builds up.
    I love a lamb roast….

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  11. That nasty backing was giving you trouble but you prevailed. Kudos to you. I am sure Sunny Joy will be a burst of beauty and joy. Amidst all that frustration you found time to cooking a fancy lamb dish. Oh my, you are a domestic goddess!!!

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  12. I'm glad for you to have worked-out how to make your cushion "right." I've had flubs too, where I thought something would work, it didn't, and I let it go rather than fix it. You did the correct thing, making sure your fabric and quilting suited you. What a great effort! I admired the pillow when I saw it on Instagram. You do lovely work, and it's great that you can create for others like this. As for lamb... I never ate it until I was in Australia, in 2009, visiting a friend in Sydney. Can't say I loved it, but maybe I would if I'd been introduced to it when I was a child. I even ate kangaroo while I was visiting Oz, so you gotta give me credit for at least trying! Hope your family enjoyed your meal.

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  13. Your Sunny Joy quilt is gorgeous ... and perfectly named!

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  14. That's a beautiful quilt! I've never seen that block before - what a great design it makes. I'll enjoy seeing your finish!

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  15. Such a pretty quilt and I'm glad that you are much happier with the quilting! Cute pillow for Alexander. What a score on the lamb roast. I hope it was delicious!

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  16. I tend to clean my machine on the 13th of every month and put in a new needle. Some months my dust pile looks like yours and some months it doesn't. Love that cute pillow. Hope you have some sunny days soon to take photos of Sunny Joy. It's looking terrific.

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  17. Can't WAIT to see the full view of your new quilt!! It looks so cheerful. Of course, you had me at the name of it! :o))

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  18. Hi! Just wondering when you think your quilt pattern "Sunny Joy" will be ready to purchase. I keep looking for it but haven't seen it available. I also don't get your blog posts on a consistent basis. I can't wait to make it! Thanks!

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