Quiltology 02

Since doing  my "corners" demonstration on special rulers I have had the idea of using one of the shapes - the Bi-Rangle -  as sashing; so to liven up my Quiltology quilt this is what I decided to try. The first decision I had to make was whether to have yellow star shapes between the blocks or yellow framing pieces. I opted for the latter as otherwise the blocks would have set off the stars rather than the other way round which didn't seem fair after the work we'd put into piecing them. My ruler wasn't big enough to make pieces to go round a 12" block so I resorted to cardboard templates and the quilter's wheel. I marked the sewing lines and, with a dot, the angle points so that putting the shapes together was quite easy. I think everyone should learn how to draft and to make and use templates! I've completed the inner sashing pieces and have a bit more cutting out before making the ouside border.

Quiltology 01

Last year was Crab & Winkle's 10th anniversary and after some discussion we decided to mark the occasion by making parts of a piece for each other. I called mine Quiltology and handed my five co-members a bag of various shades of neutral and asked them to choose a block to complete the phrase "If I were a quilt block I would be . . . " and make the block to go with it. I made a Snail's Trail as my 6th block.  The other participants chose to dodge my analytical tendencies by choosing blocks with no particular personal significance so I 've decided to rectify this  by making 6 more, one for each of us and including some yellow as I had few of the darker fabrics left and the quilt was in danger of looking insipid rather than pale and interesting. Here they are - I'll reveal the names once I shown them to the others. One is missing as I'm hand stitching it.

Crab & Winkle

We had a lovely sewing day led by Maggie making quite large hexagons either strip or foundation pieced. Maggie's completed quilt uses her own fairtrade fabrics and is embellished with rick rack while her second work in progress is a masterpiece of simplicity. So effective. I had already planned to make a similar quilt and on my US trip last Autumn had collected lots of fabrics, especially modern large scale West minster type prints. Maggie with her artist's eye arranged them into various sequences for me. Meanwhile Melanie used recycled shirts which also worked well with this pattern. Pam was undoing and restitching blue English paper pieced hexagons. Mary worked on various projects during the day and last thing in the afternoon completed  a bright log cabin type cot quilt for an about to arrive young relative.

V&A Show

I haven't posted much about quilting activities as the project I am now binding is yet another version of a pattern I hope is going to be published in a patchwork magazine so I am holding my horses with posting photos for the time being. Meanwhile the weekend's big excitement was the members' preview at the Victoria and Albert Quilt Show. This was the first of several visits. I think there are only 42 quilts on display but all merit such close attention that by the time I reached the fifth section I was visually exhausted and will make that my starting point on my return visit. I have bought the catalogue to study further and some of the lovely limited edition Liberty fabrics created to accompany the show.

Back from Madeira

I have been away in Madeira, a lovely island with a wonderful self reliant population who have done a great job of clearing up after the floods. The scenery was varied and different flowers were coming into bloom, Calla lilies and mimosa during our stay and lots of patchwork and quilting inspiration in the elegant streets and historic buildings.
I came back on Wednesday evening and since then have attended 3 quilt groups and taught a charity workshop. I shall enjoy my Mothers Day tomorrow.