Tidy Up Tuesday

I actually left work on time today, and that gave me an afternoon of empty house, and therefore sewing.

I wanted to start a new quick project, so I made myself get a bit further along with two that needed a bit of tidying up:

I trimmed and machine stitched the binding to a basic I-Spy Quilt: a very good friend of Lisa's has just become an Auntie, so Lisa wanted to give the baby a quilt

And one of six Horrible Hexi tops has finally been hand quilted in front of the TV

And so was ready to be trimmed and have its binding stitched too

Having done those I gave myself permission to start something new.  There is an I Spy Brick top that I pieced by hand last summer.  The brick arrangement takes a bit more time and fabric than the one above, but is a lovely effect, so I decided to make one for a teacher at school who will be going on maternity leave soon: The bricks and the vertical 'mortar' have been pieced and pressed

I also had a go at blocking the Northern Lights Project, as the stitching had caused the bottom section to pull in and it was now about an inch narrower than the top.

I washed it and hung it out sideways to dry: I wanted to weight the bottom to stretch it:  It's a bit Heath Robinson, but with the aid of some curtain hooks, some mini bungee clips, a wooden stick and some mugs, I think it is being pulled!