Birds and chairs

A bit of a random title for this post, but there we are.  We have had a new visitor to the bird feeder recently.  While a goldfinch may not be unusual for many of you, it is for us.  We have mainly sparrows, the occasional blue tit and I think there may have been a great tit once.  However, not a goldfinch!  

I have been really excited each time I have spied him/her! (apologies for the washing line cutting straight through the photo - I was taking this from the sitting room window and had to zoom in). I hope I continue to see him/her.

In other news, I have eventually finished a major sewing project.  A few months ago, I was looking for a large patchwork blanket or something similar to cover my very boring brown chair.  I am not a 'brown chair' person - I like colour.  I couldn't find anything that appealed to me, so thought I would make a patchwork blanket myself, using my large stash of fat quarters and other material.  This has turned into a major project, requiring many hours of work, quite a bit of unpicking and the use of my sister-in-law's kitchen table and her floor on several occasions as it required a big space when I was sewing it together and then quilting it. It is the biggest sewing thing I have attempted!  It also turned into a chair cover, rather than a blanket, and this necessitated looking up how to bind inner corners. (It would probably have been easier to make a big quilt blanket, but that would have been even more difficult to manage!) 

It has also turned into quite an expensive cover as I had to buy the wadding and a bigger piece for the backing.  However, it is finished!  The inner corners didn't work that well as my cutting and sewing was not as precise as it should have been, but as I am the only one judging it and the 'Quilt Police' are not going to call round any time soon, I think I can live with it! 

It has lots of lovely colours and patterns and makes me much happier than the brown cover.  Of course, it is now somewhat obscured by the cat blanket (as he has decided this is his chair - rude!), but I know it is there.  It will cover any chairs I may have in the future too, so all my hard work was worth it!