A Foxy Tale

What to give a girl for her 16th birthday? That was my recent dilemma with my daughter fast approaching that milestone.

Last year, I made her a simple quilt for the end of her bed. On an expedition
to our local quilting shop, she had fallen in love with the soft florals, and mix 
of pinks and greens which is Tilda's Apple Bloom collection, so I bought the 
quilt kit and constructed the quilt over a weekend. She was totally surprised 
and loved it!

( Since I hadn't actually taken any photos of it, I thought I'd include some
here.)

The pattern is a simple log cabin design, and is available at

 www.tildasworld.com if you'd ever like to make one :) I had it quilted with 

an overall pattern of swirls 

and flowers...it's quite stunning, actually.

 Anyhoo...this year I really struggled with what to gift her. She loves anything handmade, and she also loves nothing more than to snuggle with a good
 book under her quilt, so I decided to create a reading nook in her bedroom.
The idea was to drape her quilt over the back of a really comfy chair next to
her window, cover it with cushions and also provide some extra light for those
 late night reading sessions.

 

 I set about making her a cushion using the quilt offcuts :) I've been making
lots of Dresdens lately, so this was an obvious choice for my cushion design.
 I was a bit stuck for what to use in the centre...I was leaning towards a stitchery or a monogram, but finally settled on a fox. She adores foxes, and
has several plush versions of them sitting around her room.

I resized one of the foxes from my Foxley Village quilt, blanket stitched it in
place using the vliseofix method, and chain stitched a double border with
co-ordinating colours.

She LOVED it (phew!)

While she was at school, I cleaned and rearranged her bedroom to
accomodate her new furniture.

That was last week, and I always know where to find her now :) snuggled
 in her chair doing her homework on her laptop, or reading quietly in her
reading nook.

(Is it wrong to admit that I am very jealous? I'm thinking a stitching corner
 in the master bedroom....but I'm not sure how keen my husband would be 
on that plan!)

TTFN

Susan xxx