60" square.
So, a lap quilt or sofa throw, not a full sized bad quilt.
I'm pleased with this finish, and hope that the intended recipient likes it too. It will be later in the year that we actually hand it over, so for now, it can be washed and stored away.
Eight of the star centres have my best attempts at a sunshine motif. I know, not perfect,, but stitched with love!
Outside of that I quilted a meander. I think that it's going to be soft and cosy.
Next week I'll be able to show you the finished article!
Now this blue 'echo' version gets put to one side, so that I can concentrate on the green 'echo' shown below.
(Look closely and you can see that they are different, really they are! This one uses Kona 'Breeze', and the one below uses Kona 'Sea Foam').
At 60" square it means moving some of the furniture, but I'm pleased that it is now ready for quilting, once DD2 has finished revising for exams this week. Although it's slightly on the larger side of what I truly enjoy quilting, I've been having fun deciding how to quilt it for the recipient.
It's going to be a busy week!
The very lovely Benta (who blogs HERE) made and gave me this lovely kit for Christmas - and permission to open it early!
Of course, if I had actually ordered the wadding I wanted, rather than just thinking about it, I might be further along with double project. As it is, I'm sure that I have plenty of time to finish the stars and join them, and make two backings large enough for them, before the wadding arrives which will allow me to sandwich them!
A good start to the New Year, though, with a little stitching every day.
I'm pleased to say that I finished the year with a completed quilt 'flimsy'! The first of the star quilts is put together.
Not a great photo - but it was enough to show me that I'd made an error - oops! Can you see that the left hand side of the right hand middle star is wrong? I made a mistake and didn't pick it up when I made the single star, only when it was sewn into the top.
Don't worry, I've fixed the problem now.
Just waiting for the wadding and thinking about what fabric(s) to use for the backing.
In the meantime, enjoy the remains of the festivities, and if you feel the need to make resolutions, remember to include something lovely and crafty or arty in there. Good for you, good for your mental health. Take care in 2022 everyone!
Isn't that great?
I've kept the rest of the triangles from the 'covered corner' method that was used in this pattern to use in more tiny stitching silliness - although they wouldn't usually meet my standards for keeping, as I can't cut a 1.5" square out of them....lucky these tiny ornaments can rescue them!
When I lay them out together like this, you can see how the secondary stars appear in the background.
Isn't it lovely?
The finished size that I am going to make is 9 blocks.
Onwards and upwards - I still need to make another 2 stars to make my total for this first of two quilts that I've planned.
I need to make nine stars for each quilt (60" square finished).
I have cut out all the pieces and make block 'kits' for all of them.
I've decided that I'd better not try and stick to my original idea - of a quilt top being finished in a week - as it seems like that might be unrealistic, with the rest of real life needing to happen too!
So you might be seeing more of these appearing in my blog over some weeks yet!
S
I'm pleased with how it's turned out.
The binding was the same printed fabric that I used for the insert strips on the front to make everything fit.
It was this coverlet! Made by an unknown maker, but associated with the marriage of John and Elizabeth Chapman. This part of it was made in England in about 1829 (with printed borders not shown here added some decades later). It was displayed at the V&A museum at their quilt exhibition several years ago. Much more detail about it here on their web site. Makes me laugh that the story of it says that the papers used in the 'jockey cap' blocks were supposed (by tales in family history) to be the couple's love letters, but when looked at, they were random ledger sheets, adverts or anything else that came to hand! Far more prosaic, but it really doesn't detract from the quilt, does it?
Off to pull some fabrics for another quilt now. Maybe I should add a secret to it, or just start rumours about it. The chances for fun are endless, aren't they?!
Two things strike me.
1) I was relaxed enough with the improv to accept that I needed infill strips to make the border blocks fit the centre medallion.
2) The border blocks aren't quite 'improv' enough - they are all too similar to one another.
All good to learn about it in practical ways!
This flimsy is approximately 50" square. I need to make a backing, cut the batting and get this basted!
With 80 small blocks to make, it's going to take me a little while, as I'm still a bit tired after half term last week. Slow processes are still enjoyable though!
I had to lose a couple that didn't fit the colour scheme, and raid the scrap box for a few more squares and strips, but I was able to make a dozen squares. All pretty random, but it does the job!
Sashed with some purple polka dot from my stash, and then bound with the same fabric.
It was great fun! If you have any interest in sewing improv circles then I recommend it. Brenda was entertaining, knowledgeable and well prepared fro the workshop, and she made making these circles (well, some more squircles!) great fun!
These class samples were the outcome of the three hour workshop. They were made with 10" squares as a start point.
Of course, I didn't leave it there.....
.....after all, if you can make them big, perhaps you can make them small?
I started with 2.5" squares for this little mini, which has finished at just over 5" square.
I should have either made a narrow binding, or perhaps used the facing technique that Brenda gave us notes on. Never mind! Lessons to learn for another time.
I haven't decided how to complete the larger piece. I might do 'drunkards path' style improv blocks to create a border and see where I go from there.
A work in progress!
I'd hope to take them to Project Linus last year, but, you know, Covid. The pile for donation kept growing.......
You know what Project Linus is, right? An organisation that gives quilts and blankets to those who need them, named after the character in the Charlie Brown cartoons who dragged a comfort blanket with him everywhere he went.
I'm so proud of Georgie too, for carrying on this style of giving with her scraps.
Still faithfully stuck to it was this motley collection of blocks. Some were experimental disappearing blocks, a couple were left over from a quilt that I'd made, and the others I can't remember about!
Things got messy for a while!
Eventually they became this set of 12 blocks - you can see them here laid out with the short sashing lengths sewn on, ready for the final sashing and border strips.
Always good to make something useful out of these play blocks - and somehow even better when they had just been found!
A selection of nice bright Fat Quarters and some cutting followed.
The whole thing could be a little more accurate, but it's nice and cheerful, and I liked the use of different threads (different colour and weight) in alternate stitched lines.
You can also see how I was trying to stitch in the ditch for the major block edges, and how wobbly that made the lines! Never mind, I don't spend time looking at the back!
