Quilt as you go 03 done

Although I haven't posted anything this week I have been really busy as I have had the house to myself and set up tables in the spare bedroom to get down to some machine quilting. I am really trying to finish those many projects in a partial stage of completion so I can get back to where I was when I first started quilting with just a couple of projects at different stages  on the go. One of my problems in this respect is belonging to groups which generate projects and also attending workshops though I have cut down on these and try to stick to ones which generate samples rather than projects. Also there is the spot of teaching and demonstrating I do for which I make things and also complete charity projects started in the class. This Twisted Sisters is one of these. Quayquilters made the blocks and I'm putting them together. Now it's done but I haven't taken a photo yet.  Here it is with two of the purple inner borders added and two more to go. Quay Quilters member Ruby sewed all the offcuts into two 4" wide strips which I've cut in half and placed all round. They make a very effective finish.

Quiltology QAYG 01

I'm constructing Quiltology in quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) fashion. I lay the block on backing and wadding and tack and there are dots of glue baste here and there too. The extra backing and wadding is to accommodate sashing added later. Then I quilt the block. It's easy to quilt in the ditch round all the shapes when the piece is small. Next I lay out the sashing and then flip over and pin and stitch the seams. Once done and pressed I trim the wadding but not the backing. This isn't a quicker way but is very suitable for sampler blocks like this which involve lots of maneuvring when quilting. I like handling the quilted pieces

Houston Stars: bordering

The quilt as you go border is composed of triangles, the outer ones larger than the inner ones so there's no need to worry about points and quarter inches when adding the binding. I thought I was going to use a dark red joining strip but didn't want this to stretch to the outer edges of the quilt. I thought I would stop short of the end of the border and add a triangular piece to the corner but on reflection changed my mind and added the borders in rectangular strips but log cabin style and partially pieced so that I could ensure the corner squares were correctly aligned to aid accuracy I also sewed from the centre out to the edges. I saved the dark red for the binding, no photos yet.
I am feeling so much better today after my surgery visit. It seems I am not going to be crippled for life after all. This news alone made me feel a hundred times better. The strong anti-inflammatory pills seem to be helping too. No need to bother with hot water bottles, alternative practitioners etc and yes it's a good idea to keep moving so I'm OK for my quilty activities this week and trip to Norwich next week. Alan took me and I found his car very comfy to travel in.

Houston stars

Gwenfai Rees Griffiths' pattern for Houston Stars came out in the British Patchwork and Quilting magazine over several months in 2002. I began it then but there was a mistake in the first month's instructions and, discouraged, I laid it aside only to take it up again when four of us Log Cabin Quilters decided to make it our project and all of us needed the encouragement and urging of the others to get on and keep up. At last the end is in sight. I have pieced my centre, just borders to add. I have used Christmas colours but show Mavis's blocks in lovely pinks. The blocks have been joined using quilt as you go techniques and I'll show some photos of this process in forthcoming posts.