FAL and ALYOF finish!

Yep, that's right, not only have I finished my April goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes, I've also finished my first goal for 2014 FAL (2014 Finish Along), you can see my original, goal-setting post here.  I was #98 in the ALYOF link up.

And what is this finish?  It's the chair cushions for my dining room that I started about 2 years ago.  I made one patchwork panel which I've since lost.  It was time to start again as I'm sick of eating my dinner with my hands above my head (slight exaggeration, but they table is too high for the chairs, all second-hand).  I wanted to take some in-situ shots, but due to the privacy film on the windows, I couldn't get a decent shot.  So out to the garden we went, me and my chair.

Ta-dah!  Filled with a 2" thick foam pad which is only slightly too big for the chair (ahem!), the cushions tie onto the back rungs to keep them in place.

If I'm feeling particularly short, I can pile them all up together, and maybe put a pea underneath.  Would I feel a pea with my fat arse? No chance, I probably wouldn't feel a vegetable garden, even without the cushions.

The photo shoot caused some curiosity...

"Tiff, Tiff, what's going on Tiff?  Mum seems to have a chair and she's taking pictures of it.  Does this mean we've got to go to the vet?"

"I don't know Harry, but I'm very, very suspicious.  No, I don't like this at all..."

This was the final panel to be pieced, started and finished at the EMMQG meeting earlier this month.  I used the random HSTs left over from the other cushions.  I put the border on to make it up to size, unfortunately it got cut off later.  Why unfortunately?  Because I mitred it!  Yep, Y-seams!  You know what, they're not hard at all!

Each panel was made to 18" x 18", layered on 2 layers of fusible fleece, then quilted with random blue threads I had bits left of.  Due to the broken darning foot, all are straight line quilted.

See?  I quilted 3 of them at the meeting, and it wasn't until I started to make them up into the cushions that I realised I'd made the panels too big!  Oh dear.

I'm sure no-one will notice the cut off blocks!

I think I showed you these flying geese before?  They were quilted with a continuous square spiral.

This one doesn't look so bad with the corners missing, but I wish I hadn't put all that brown in the middle.

My favourite was these friendship stars.  I want to make a quilt out of these blocks, I love them.  

I was at a bit of a loss on how to quilt them, Mary suggested orange peel/dogwood, which I didn't realise I could do with a walking foot.  I love this quilt design!  I will be using this again.

Alas, the friendship stars did not survive the cutting process.  I'm a bit mad about this one.

And last, but not least, we have the Plus blocks, another possibility for a future quilt.  I don't seem to have taken a quilting shot of this.  I echo quilted the centre cross all the way out to the edges.

I made the construction up as I went along.  It all happened on Good Friday.  Mr CA was ill in bed and I have just discovered 24 (yes, I have been hiding under a rock), it's on Netflix and I'm hooked.  I worked all day on these, stopping only to take Mr CA cups of tea.

Not the most polished construction ever... do I care?  Not a jot!

They are all backed with this print from Lily and Will.  It seems I bought about 253 metres of this print as I've still got loads left!  It's making me think place mats... I also have a good yard or so of a blue with brown spot, I think I intended to add piping to these, that is also untouched.

So, one goal from 5 of the FAL is done, 2 others are well on their way, it may just be a successful quarter!