Reds under the Bed

Remember this quilt? After taking counsel from my more aesthetically competent friends on how it could be improved, I finally faced it again and set about trying to fix it.

I am pleased with it now. A few patches to break up the colour and pattern and a bit of hand quilting to add some texture and I think it mostly works. I still probably should have stippled it, or at least machine quilted it much more, and the blocks should have been smaller and the overall design is far from perfect, but I feel that I like it now. It gives me pleasure to look at, rather than just feeling like it's a failure. It's a gift for my Dad and his wife as they move into their new home. Hopefully it will warm them on the chilly Adelaide evenings - my Dad notoriously hates turning a heater on, and I don't know how he will manage with colder weather after years in the tropics of Darwin. In the sweltering Adelaide summer it can lend a bit of background colour. The bits of red are very Dad: his bright red jumpers, his famous red terry towelling hat, his political persuasion.