TGIFF Debut

Tonight I'm linking up with TGIFF (Thank God It's Finished Friday!).  It was suggested to me by my lovely friend Gemma, from Pretty Bobbins.  You see, over the last few weeks I undertook something I never had done before - a real quilt.  Yeh sure, I'd made a few rag quilts, and cot quilt for a friend's baby (which was gorgeous, but I took the easy way out and didn't bind it!).  But never before had I actually taken the time and more importantly, the patience, to make a real quilt.  And as soon as I had finished it - Gemma told me I was now a quilter!  Hooray for me!

So this quilt began as a humble little "jelly roll".  For those of you who have no idea what that is, it's a roll made up of strips of fabric from any chosen fabric range.  I got this one for an absolute steal during a sale, so thought it perfect for my first go.

Source

I had seen a friend's jelly roll quilt many months before, so took to Google to find how to make one.  I found this fabulous video tutorial which lead me successfully through each and every step.  I had the whole quilt top finished in approximately one hour!  My kind of quilt!  

I then pulled out some plain white Homespun for the back, but realised I was short only about one to two inches.  So I referred back to some other ideas I had seen on my trips through the web, and got all the scrappy pieces and came up with this:

I was extremely proud of myself, as I do not do fiddly!!!

For the next two weeks I patiently awaited the arrival of my order of yardage to make the binding.  In this time, I also wondered how on earth I was going to do the binding!  But Google helped me once again!  And last Saturday, I spent the whole day (broken up in to bits and pieces due to kid's basketball matches and other odds and ends) making binding, basting the quilt (I even bought real quilting safety pins!) and then quilting the top.  I do believe I finished binding it at 11pm that night!

I can honestly say I have never been so proud of myself for something I had made!  And I cannot wait to see the recipient's face when they receive it for Christmas!

The front

The back, with pieced section

The binding with mitred corners!!!

Love it!

So there you go!  Thank God it's finished!!  I have lots of things on the go at present, as I'm giving a whole lot of handmade love for Christmas this year.  So I will no doubt be back sharing with TGIFF.