Simple Patchwork...

I made a quilt.  Yes a whole one, in two days. I needed to do something constructive, something heartfelt, something for a dear family friend, so I did.

100 unique six inch finished squares, an IKEA and solids backing, simple diagonal quilting and solid binding…

I love the simplicity of patchwork, no fuss, no pretence just beautiful fabrics.  I hope the recipient loves it too.

It finished at 60" square, pieced with 50wt 2021 Aurifil, and quilted with 40wt 2310; all fabrics came from stash.  I only had to buy the wadding, which was from the bolt at a sewing shop in town; I am not sure what make it is, but it was a quality 80/20 cotton blend and washed up really nicely.

I actually started with the backing fabric as my colour palette inspiration for this quilt, which I think worked out to be a beautiful combination.

xxx

"...lots of old things we don't know."

Just in case you have been in hibernation during this glorious 'summer' and have not noticed the emergence of a 'new craze in town', then you need to get yourself over to Lily's Quilts and check out the Hexalong!

Now, I had a foray into hexagons pentagons (happy now Angela!) with my 'ball-making' back in March...

... and I decided then that I would try again, properly, another day.  Maybe that day has come!

Lynne and Gayle are rallying the troops for a paper-piecing revolution.  OK I exagerate, but it looks like bloody good fun!

In pondering my approach, I remembered that a while ago my Mum had given me a bag of all the old bits she had gathered in a failed attempt to make a 'patchwork something' back in the 1970s - so imagine my joy, when a quick forage uncovered these...

How fantastic, original 1977 patterns for 2 blocks,  'Fish' and 'Corn & Beans'!  I think I might have to have a play with these and see if I can get some groovy '70s style fabric to complete the project.

"There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know,"  Ambrose Bierce, the old quilter.

Thank you for all your comments and kind blogiversary congratulations; I am loving hearing all your favourite colour combos.  If you missed yesterday's post, there's still plenty of time to enter my Blind Faith Giveaway, and I will keep nagging until you do!

Ideal Home Show... part 2

So here are the freebies I collected on my day out yesterday; not as much as last year - that's probably just a sign of the times, but a good haul none-the-less (there was a dark chocolate KitKat too, but I seem to have eaten that!).

The ribbon, ric-rac and pom-poms I bought at £10 for the 5, which I thought was fantastic.  No plans for them as yet - the pom-poms aren't as big as I am planning for the HUG and KISS, but I have plenty of time to practice with these before they are finished!

Oh, and there's the small pot of edible glitter!

As promised here's a picture of the patchwork ball so far - on looking now, without train-motion, I think I could have done a whole lot better - so I may be doing a lot of unpicking and stitching on the wrong-side, or using embroidery thread, I'm still undecided.

Today has been the lazy day I probably should have had yesterday - a bit of HUGing, grey skies and family time.

A little something for the weekend...

I know I am a little early, but on Saturday I am going up to the Ideal Home Show, (I know I don't need a selection of novelty vegetable peelers or a Sunseeker yacht, but hey!).  This will involve over an hour each way on the train and after the frustration of my wait at Pease Pottage the other week, I figured a bit of prior preparation and planning was in order.

So back to my trusty Quilting In No Time, and I thought I'd try some real, paper-pieced stitchery!  There's a cute baby's ball that, with 12 pieces, I figure I can't go too wrong with!  I totally fell for the quilts at the V&A that still had those old papers attached, but I have never actually tried any real patchwork before.

This afternoon I got busy with my pieces and iron, (my new one, finally rescued from a box in the garage at the weekend), and created a little pile of 'spots' to happily stitch together on my journey.  I will even take 2 needles just in case!

I had toyed with the idea (well, for about 3 seconds) of taking the HUG - but could you imagine if I left it on the train!!!