In the meantime

I should have posted this earlier as it was a draft.

ST block from 
Angela

Current quilt
pattern I am doing

Siblings together blocks

Here are three blocks which arrived in the post.

 From Georgina

From Caroll

From Claire

Surprise in the post

Lyn made two

I received lovely right blocks from Siblings Together Bee 3 members today. There are more to come - it will be lovely to sew these up into a quilt for a young person in care.

From Jane

From Jo

All together

Return

Rows forming on the floor

This was the third lockdown quilt I embarked on but got stymied because I ran out of the two main fabrics - I have loads of the tiny joining strip fabric needless to say. The brown carkai line  fabric was easy to replace but I can't find any more of the light fabric - all three fabrics are by Carolyn Friedlander, a favourite with me and with many. So the 8 "A" strips and 4 "B" strips are consistent but I'll have to substitute in the 3 "C" strips still to do. I miscut some pieces at the outset and then didn't notice a more economical approach after returning to the project until it was too late but I've learnt to be more philosophical about these lapses.

Rows pinned up ready to
sew

A's on left; B's on right

ABA sets; 3 C's still to wrangle.

Saturday

Well I've added a border to the jelly roll top but it's doubtful the border has added anything to the quilt. Designwise it would have worked better if it was wider than the sashing but I didn't want the quilt to be any bigger.
My task for today is to make the hanging sleeve for Celestial Timepiece. The jelly roll quilt will eventually land on a sales table or be donated. Another task with husband's help is to get some bags of fabric down from the loft. Having used up lots of wadding I have two spare shelves and I'm struggling with finding backing fabric and need more options.

Presents from Belinda

The post girl often brings goodies thanks to online purchases but this cornucopia of nice things came from dear friend Belinda. I keep the soft backed notebook by my bed where it's useful for jotting down all sorts of things.
And the clock in my sewing room which my parents bought with Green Shield stamps has died so I requested this one from Alan. It was just as I had hoped from the picture. Now tea might be on time.

My new clock

The weather has turned chilly so a thicker quilt was needed on the bed. It's the third bed quilt I made using Sally Schneider's "Mary's Triangles" technique. Although it uses leftovers it's very successful and we feel as if we are under the sea, a choppy sea.

Quilt on the bed

Binding cut on the bias.

Jelly Roll Crosses

I've sashed my blocks and joined the rows and today my border fabric arrived so I'm adding that at the moment.

Made with a Lewis and Irene Paracas jelly roll.

June Siblings Together block

I call this block Roman Cross. I have just finished a top using this pattern and am just sewing up a jelly roll four strip version. My source was a 1994 magazine piece by Sheila Scawen. If you trawl back through my May 2020 posts you'll see a picture of it and on the 18th more instructions for WOF strips so you can have same colour crosses. 
Here I am using fat quarters to make one block, fabrics from a rainbow colour bundle from Purple Stitches. Strips need to be 21+ usable inches by 2.5".

5 different strips: outer ones will form
the cross

Sew two pairs aligning one end

Now add fifth strip aligning with the same end, pinning but sewing from the opposite end to avoid bowing.

Once  sewn and pressed cut the strip set into two 10.5" squares
and cut these diagonally in the same direction with the same fabric at the top, either left to right or right to left.

Combine the triangles from both squares into one large block (about 14") with the long bias edges on the outside.

Sew into pairs, pressing
towards the single strip.

Finally sew into a single block.
Press carefully avoiding the bias
edges.

Another one. If you undo the stitches in the seam allowance on
either side of the long seam you can make your seams circle round in the same direction which makes for a flat centre.

Jelly Roll Roman Crosses

Pink sashing too strong

I've made and trimmed all the blocks to 11.25" and needed to audition several sashing choices before deciding on this one. Then my first choice of sashing posts threatened to overwhelm the whole thing. Kneeling on the floor to arrange them made me better acquainted with the colours in the sashing and I found a spotty grey which was just right and was the right size with one unit to spare. It's not a big piece so I'll cut out enough for the centre and use a darker grey for the outside ones. As the Paracas jelly roll was a freebie I felt entitled to order more of the green blender for a border. And I found some fabric for the backing in my stash.

Sashing choice

Sashing post choices

Backing fabrics

Grey sashing posts are better

Judi delivered a perfect present through her car window, in fact two presents, a date book which will be next year's bedside diary and a delicious charm pack featuring lots of text.

I am now making Roman Crosses using a free jelly roll I got with a magazine subscription. 

Jelly roll strips sorted into
dark, darker and lighter
mediums and lights.

One from each pile to make strip
sets of four, 8.5" unfinished size.

A mistake: I cut one 8.5" square
into four.

First two. This time I
remembered to cut two squares 
once each in the same
direction.

Next up cafe curtains and quilting it all.

Housey Housey

Oast Quilters' Facebook "challenge" this week was house blocks and many members unearthed examples. I scrambled to find some and took photos hugger mugger so the pieces are a bit rumpled.

Non=directional houses

Traditional blue one

Shows machined clasp stitch ties used in addition to outline hand quilting

 

Plaid houses quilted with Baptist fans

Favourite block.

Bits & Bobs

These are "Mrs Quilter" geraniums. One was given to me but it died but another friend gave me a plant taken from hers which stayed outside all winter. That's the large one at the back. The two front ones are cuttings I raised on my kitchen window sill. The flowers aren't up to much but the leaves change colour in an interesting way from pale green to variegated and back again.

This pile of gorgeousness is the Colour Quest rainbow colour bundle from Purple Stitches, a lockdown treat. Making my rainbow outside piece made me realise how few colours I have. I'll use many of these for Siblings Together block requests starting with my own in June.

In the sewing room I am using up the last of the Lockdown Logs and Roman Crosses on a strippy back for the Crosses top. It's taking as long or longer than the top. The stripey fabric is cheesecloth; the rough texture will help to keep the quilt on the bed.

Roman Crosses Top Done

My source in a 1994
patchwork magazine

12 blocks complete

Top done: I've always wanted to make a quilt with extra wide sashing as I've seen on some old quilts. This is 4.5".

Detail

Sunny Days

Along with the hot sunny weather a change of bedding, a summer weight duvet and a treasured lightweight vintage quilt. There are 19 "spokes" on each wheel or plate.