Easy Street, progress

I am still working on the mystery quilt called Easy Street by Bonnie Hunter. She continued to post clues over Christmas, and I knew that I couldn't keep up then. I was not in the same country as my sewing machine!

Since coming back for the New Year to England, I have worked steadily to try to catch up. It will happen eventually, because the mystery is not a secret any more. The last clue has showed us the end result, which makes it much easier to work on the quilt. I like to know what I'm doing.

Lots of cutting and sewing 

The piles of block pieces are mounting

Clue 7 was the 4 corners and 12 triangles

So I am now working on clue 8, the last one but quite consequent as it involves making all the blocks 16 of one and 9 of the other, and then putting the quilt together....I have made 2 blocks,  but I want to link up with Bonnie's blog and the deadline is tonight. At least I have made all the 4 corners and the 12 triangular blocks to set everything on point.

 This is an arrangement not definitive to show the colours.

 With extra corners ready.

My first 2 blocks, 14 more to go.

There were some points when I thought I wouldn't have enough fabric in one colour-way  but finally all my pieces were cut. It's just a question of assembling everything now.

I will hopefully be able to show you a finished top soon.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt

I am starting a mystery quilt, you can find the instructions on Bonnie Hunter's blog "Quiltville's Quilts and Snips" here for the fabric requirements, and here for Part 1.

The quilt when finished will be for DD3, who is modelling on the photo with my blocks for the first part. I have not finished the 192 4patches, but am on the right way. Over 120 are sewn and pressed already, and a lot of 2 squares are together.

My strips of grey with white and black.

On some strips, I used different fabrics.

 I followed the choice of colours suggested by Bonnie. I am not very adventurous on this one. Except I would not have taken the grey and bright colours, but I would like to have a modern quilt at the end.

 On this photo you can see my plain grey, and the white and black fabrics.

My printed instructions.

My 4patches are still attached, 10 together so I can count them quickly.

Have fun sewing, I am enjoying following somebody else's instructions.

Pascale.

Another baby quilt for the hospital

On Wednesday 16th of May we gave all the coverlets and little quilts made by the ladies from the Golden Lion Quilters to my friend Belinda L who works for the special care baby unit in our local hospital " The Great Western" in Swindon. We were so suprised there were 30 coverlets and 7 incubator covers. They were well received and are now on the beds of the babies who are getting ready to go home (fattening up very often, especially if they were born early).

 And this is my second addition to this good cause, an incubator cover. I used a fleece bought in Ikea for the back, but it wasn't as thick as the one I had for my pink quilt.
To make the pattern I was able to borrow a special ruler from my friend Kandy who blogs here (although not very much at the moment, she is busy with DGD).

I have used children or bright fabrics for this little quilt, and was very happy to find this batik blue in my stash. I made one long pleat and cut it in 3 portions plus some left over that I will use at some point I am sure. I think the cutting took the most time. The sewing was straight forward.

 These photos are to show you my exercises on the quilting. I used the design on the front to make the big feathers, then made some smaller ones freehand, and finally made one on each side with a double centre line. I think I prefer these best.
I use any excuse to practise quilting free motion.

And for the binding I had a yellow fat quarter, kept the selvedge on when I cut my 2" wide strips. My binding is double folded so the bit of selvedge is hidden inside. no problem.

And finally I put a label on the back with a bit of binding to frame it.

I hope the staff and children in the hospital will have some pleasure from having these quilts with them. It was a pleasure to make them.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale.

A quick quilt, disappearing nine patch

Sadly in July we learned that my mother in law was not well. She lives in the South of France, very far from England in a way, and had to go to hospital. They found out she had osteoporosis, and had broken a vertebrae.

We were going on holidays there so I wanted to make a quick quilt to take with us.

 An easy pattern is the disappearing 9 patch. You sew your squares together 9 by 9, as on these 2 photos. I had some pre-cut squares and used these.

One 9 patch block

 Then you cut right through the middle in both directions.

 Finally shuffle your blocks and choose your favorite design.

 This is how I put my blocks together. I find it difficult to capture the right colour of the fabrics.

 A photo of the back, in the garden of the house we rented in South of France in August. I did some very simple quilting as I was rushed for time. The back is made with 2 pieces of small pink flowers fabric.
The folds are nothing to worry about, just the consequence of travelling a long way.

With a corner of the back.

I added a small border to make this lap quilt a bit bigger, and it's a nice finishing touch.

DD3 is showing it fully, she has growned a lot, nearly my size.

My MIL really appreciated the quilt. She said it was the first she had. I explained that I haven't made many, especially outside the close family. DD2 is still waiting for me to finish hers. It's in the work in progress pile.

I'm sorry I didn't show this before. it's only from looking through the past posts that I realised I had forgotten to show you  the photos.
I have more projects to illustrate, just need to find time to blog.

Enjoy your sewing.

Pascale

Our challenge finished in a quilt

As a challenge, all the members of the Golden Lion Quilters were given 2 fabrics at Christmas to be used in a project with squares and rectangles. There was this japanese inspired fabric on the left, with a blue background. I liked that one.

And then there was this pale pink and green fabric , in a completely different style and colours.

They didn't go together and that was the challenge.

I managed to find some fabrics from my stash that went with the blue, but the pink was more difficult.

But at the end I think the number of fabrics mean that they blend together, so the result is not too bad.

  I kept the blocks pretty big so the quilt would be made quickly. It's a lap size and will be used in the family.

 It has been given to Frances who leads our group as I will miss the meeting when all members bring their production. That's a shame but my brother is coming next week with his family and I'm really looking forward to having them all here.
And because we cleaned the house a lot to put it on the market, I am not too worried about last minute tidying up. It will be easy.
Moving in a month though will be a different matter.
Enjoy your sewing.