Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

I have the unusual occurrence of having more things to blog about than I  have written blog posts.

My small laptop has lost its internet connection, again.  My laptop won't connect, I have tried everything in my small computer knowledge. Basically undo the last update and turn the wi fi on and off again! This really is a first world problem isn't it? In fact not even a first world problem but a millenial problem. My grandparents would never have had this problem. I contradict myself, any millenials I know, would tweek something, problem solved. Now where do I find somebody to do that? So. I am typing this on the "big computer" and then adding the photos to the draft on my phone. I don't think my quilting photos scattered here there and everywhere in the files of the big computer would go down well. And my phone, it is permanently full and I am convinced the volume isn't working right. Or maybe that is my ears. But you are not here to listen to my technological woes. I have a finish! I have quilts!

First up  is my Little Red Riding Hood quilt for Feet Claire. Claire if you remember is my podiatrist, and also the daughter of one of my Scrapbooking chums. Claire recently had her first baby and I felt a strong need to make her a quilt.

I had some Little Red Riding Hood fabric left from a swap I took part in a few years ago. It was a Schnitzel and Boo Swap blogged about in February 2015. My small quilt went winging to off to Sydney, and currently hangs in a home office, and is loved by the little girls in the house.

Next up I made some blocks for a bee I was in at the time. This was to be a story quilt, each block told a story and had a colour theme. I thought that was a lovely idea.

There was still some fabric left, I thought perfect for this little one. I didn't have enough of the original red to surround all the blocks, so the central block has a different red. Works quite well doesn't it? This Little Red Riding Hood seems to be mostly picking apples to take to her grandmother. Well, I suppose they can hardly have the Wolf chasing the girl, or the girl hitting the Wolf with her basket. Actually, in these days of the Me Too movement, that's not a bad idea. Fabric with Little Red Riding Hood hitting the Big Bad Wolf (or Woooluf) with her basket!

Next up were the filler squares. The planning of these took ages. I was going to make pinwheel blocks or spider web blocks. I wasn't feeling the love. Eight months passed by and I still wasn't feeling the love. I started thinking about the story, and it hit me. Trees! A wood of trees that Little Red Riding Hood passed through going to visit her grandmother. Now it became a real story quilt. I passed a very pleasant couple of afternoons making impromptu trees. A whole forest of them. I just used the off cuts from the central squares and made them up to size. A sort of sew, flip and add a bit more to make up the size. I love the spontaneity of the trees, the randomness of them.

I had enough of the red zig zag for the backing, but I thought it would be more fun to make a pieced backing. I used the off cuts from my Strawberry Jam and Red Lemonade picnic quilts and added in the rest of the bits and pieces.

Quilting was simple. The fabric pictures are so delicate, I couldn't use heavy quilting to drown them out. So simple straight line quilting it is, with some added definition around the trees. It works well on the front, if I was to do this again, I think I would try a top white thread and a bottom red thread  I bound it with a red and white spot. My tried and tested Rose and Hubble spot.

The quilt dimensions? About 34" square after a wash and tumble. It is now beautifully crinkly.  I do like a square quilt for a small child. In my experience, they like to tuck it in around them, and it is not so long that they will trip over it. All being well, it will be handed over tomorrow night. Another ticked off my Finish A Long list!

Helen x