A Patchwork Blanket

This is my patchwork blanket. It's taken me awhile but here it is
finally all quilted and finished!

It was back in February when I started piecing together my fabric squares. I used two Moda charm packs called 'Marmalade' by Bonnie
and Camille. This was the part that I enjoyed most. It was easy and
relaxing to do and it didn't take me long to stitch them all together.

The next step was basting the quilt top, batting and backing material together. I used normal safety pins for this and didn't have much
trouble doing it. Now I can start hand-quilting but this stage didn't
go as smoothly and as problem-free as the previous two.

Quilting is basically just running stitch worked through all three
layers to keep them together. But even with a no.9 quilting needle,
the longest in the set of six that I got, I really struggled to do this.
I thought the batting, which was leftover from other projects, was
perfectly all right to use. I didn't expect that it would be a little too
thick for quilting. I didn't want to change it though so I had to find
 an alternative to the (useless) quilting needle.

I tried a curved one. It went through the layers easily but it was very awkward to hold, making it difficult to make even and straight stitches.
I gave up on this too. Then at the suggestion of a lovely old lady who
 runs a haberdashery in Whitby I decided to use an embroidery needle.
It's as thin and as sharp as the ones for quilting but it is longer so can
 be held easily while working through the layers. This time it worked! Finally I was able to make progress with the quilting. Hallelujah!

 My stitches are not small, even and perfectly straight as quilting
 stitches are supposed to be but they are neat and effective enough.
And after all that kerffuffle I was just relieved that finally I managed
to get the quilting done.

When it came to adding the binding, I found I didn't have enough
blue bias binding to go round the blanket. It was Markie's brilliant
idea to use two colours instead: dark pink and blue. Well, why not?
It's a bit unusual but again it worked. One of the many things I've
learned from this project is that sometimes you have to think outside
the box or in this case, outside the square!

Despite the quilting hiccups, I'm still glad I kept going and didn't
give up on this blanket. It's actually not very big but just perfect
for covering my lap or both girls' laps when they're watching tv.
The backing material is vintage brushed cotton. It is super soft
and cozy, I'm very sure this blanket will be very popular around
here when the colder months come.

 One other thing that pleases me about this project is that once again
 I made something from materials I already have. It is always so
satisfying to be able to do this. Plus the fabrics are just gorgeous.
I'm actually really happy with this blanket. I love it!