Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Farm animals wall hanging

I have been quite busy over the last couple of weeks making a present for our next door neighbours' new baby who was born last Thursday.  I decided that I would not make a quilt but something a bit different.  I applied my usual rule for presents of making as much as possible of it from fabric that was already in my stash.  I did very well because I also found I had wadding and backing fabric so no shopping required.  Here it is:


The design is by Margaret Rolfe from her book 'A Quilter's Ark'.  This book was published in 1997 and I made one or two things from it then.  I was surprised to see that it is still available but I can see why people might want to make the designs as they are rather fun.  The blocks are foundation pieced.


I found it quite fiddly as it was a long time since I had worked this way and the blocks are quite small.  They are finished with hand embroidery.




In the past I have enlarged the pattern to make larger blocks that can be used on their own. The book includes a wonderful Noah's Ark which would be great for a really special child but after doing this hanging, I realise it would also be quite a large piece of work as each animal appears twice.