This was made for my middle daughter for her birthday. I designed and pieced it then took the plunge and quilted it myself – my first ever quilt! Brave of me, wasn’t it?

Then, because I was instantly hooked, I had to make two mug rugs to go along with it. I had some scraps of the borders left over and it was as if they were just crying out “Make me into something! Make me into something!”

I got a bit adventurous (again) and tried some different quilting on one – stipple stitch between puffy tentacles leading into the middle… I will try that effect again as I absolutely loved it!

I used Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% wool batting on this quilt. It made the puffy bits stand out nicely, which is the effect I wanted. So far I have  used:

• Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% wool batting
• 100% cotton batting
• 60% cotton/40% bamboo batting

but the Hobbs Tuscany Collection 100% wool batting is my preferred batting so far. It is smooth, feels lovely, gives your quilt a nice drape, has  very little shrinkage and quilts like a dream. There was no bearding on this batting, but there was with the cotton/bamboo blend.