A Return and a New Hobby

I've had a bit of an unexpected hiatus from the blog the past few months. In all honesty I haven't really found my rhythm with it yet - it took me a while to get into a comfortable pattern with my book blog when I first started, and there's been a lot going on with everything else in my life at the moment, so I'm not going to feel too bad, but 2014 will be the year I will start trying to run this blog properly.

In keeping with that, I have a new hobby to blog about! As you may or may not know, I am already a knitter and delight in making cool and quirky toys, homewares and other bits and bobs, but I've also always been a lover of fabric. I don't buy an awful lot of it because it's quite pricey, but I've been (very slowly) making a patchwork quilt since the age of about 11, and this Christmas my aunty gave my baby son a quilt she has made which is just so beautiful it's inspired me.

Horrendous photography skills, I know. I really need to work on those next year, but the quilt itself is beautiful isn't it? And so warm :-) Quilts like this are the reason I've always wanted to be able to quilt, it's such a useful and beautiful skill to have. This morning we just lay the quilt across the middle of the living room and Benji played on it and he kept snuggling into it and lying down, it was the cutest. It brightened up the whole room! 

The second reason to choose now as the moment to start quilting is some of the Christmas presents I received. 

My parents and grandparents are responsible for the quilting kit, which contains a cutting mat, a rotary cutter and a ruler, and The Quilters Bible because they know me well and know that I will never attempt a new skill without having a book or two on the subject. It's difficult to know where to start, though, so I've also been browsing the internet for some simple quilt patterns and some inspiring blogs to read. So far I've found Diary of a Quilter, which I love and am finding really useful, and I like the look of this Lightning Fast Mini Quilt and also this Summer Breeze Steps Quilt, but I've only just started to look so I'm sure I'll find loads more! If anybody has any blog, book or pattern recommendations, all would be gratefully received!