Yet more bobbin blocks

 My next four blocks completed - Fire (difficult to see the flames sewn in orange cotton, but they are there!), Water, Air and Stone.

I'm pleased with my 'stacked stones'.  Makes me want to head to the beach and stack some in real life!

I've now finished 20 of the required 35.  It's very tempting to start putting them together in their long strip, but I think that it would probably be better to wait until I can do all the blocks at once, or I won't get the settings exactly the same (I'm intending to use a zig sag to join them, and my machine is adjusted manually, no digital accuracy for me!).

Interleave Mini Quilt

I am a happy member of the Quilters Guild UK Miniatures Group.  They have fab organisers, who keep us well supplied with online workshops and challenges.

As part of their offering, I had the pleasure of an online workshop with Sue Battley last week, who taught us how to go about making interleave quilts.

This was, of course, a mini one - making something perfect for a mug rug, with strips cut at 3/4" and finished at 1/4" - so cute!

I used a piece of fabric over my wadding, that I'd marked with 1/4" lines on, just to give myself a fighting chance of the stitched lines coming out parallel to each other.  Sue taught me the value of a central 'spine' line to arrange the strips on.

After marking the central lines on the back of the triangle blocks too, it was time to cut them into the 3/4" strips, and lay them out with gaps between them.  The blocks started off at roughly 8" wide and 10" high.

I laid them out on a large ruler so I could move them around when I needed to, without disturbing the layout.

Then the second triangle block was cut and interleaved between the first set of strips on the layout ruler.

After that the fun began!  Quilt as you go, but in small scale.  

You can see that I didn't always get my centre lines quite right.  I struggled to see my markings on some of them - I need to find my chalk marker if I do this again with dark colours!

So, not perfect (and, not quite finished, it still needs to be bound), but as a demonstration piece, very effective.

Thanks Sue!  Lots to think about there, and perhaps time to experiment with some larger shapes and different colour layouts too!

The finished piece is roughly 6" tall by 7" wide, once trimmed.  All those seams eat fabric!!
 

More Bobbin Blocks

My next four blocks on my bobbin project.  These represent coffee, wine, time and jade.

I love working on these little 4" blocks, even if sometimes I'd be better off having the idea and doing the sewing before trimming and finishing the block (like the jade one, where I made the block and then 'quilted' it, which has pulled it out of shape.....)

Never mind, I'm still having fun, playing with these!
 

Jacks Chain

Jacks Chain is a lovely design - in theory - but I'm in no hurry to make another one of these, despite loving the 'dancing circles' of the nine patch blocks! In many ways it was a car crash from start to almost the finish!

The start was fine.  I wanted a fun way to use my 'leaders and enders' which I piece when I'm using the sewing machine, so I don't have trailing threads.

I wasn't best pleased with the number of partial seams that the hexagons, nine patches and triangles needed in order to go together, and I'm not that good at them, either, really.

Then I didn't do a great job of applying it to some straight strips to make the size up and to straighten the edges, so it was all a bit baggy.  Then came the basting.  I ran out of masking tape (which I use to keep the back taut whilst I'm spray basting), so it was going to be a bit wrinkled - but I carried on, as I wasn't really in love with it.  I quilted it - but the wrinkle turned into a couple of tucks on the back of the quilt.  All my own fault, but annoying!

I squared up, put on the binding, and sewed it down, and almost became happy with it again.  By the time I'd sewn down the tucks, they hardly showed on the busy paisley backing fabric - so I've finished with something that I'm not exactly proud of, but that will keep someone warm when they need it, without me being embarrassed to put my name to it!