The week so far...

So the week started off like this...

...my fat arse crushed my 24" omnigrid ruler. At least the biggest piece was still long enough to be useful! It needed to be useful as I've signed up to this rather lovely Block of the Month. This is the first month of 6 and there were a staggering 13 blocks to make! Lots of strip piecing so super quick but heavily reliant on my ruler.

 Oh, and I almost forgot to mention flying geese...56 of them! It's a good job I'd had a bit of a break from them after the Marcelle Medallion.

This is going to be a monster 102" square quilt! Even though I have treated myself to a very indulgent new machine, to improve my mood when quilting anything bigger than a lap quilt, I still won't be quilting this sucker myself!! See how I snuck that in there ;) I'm expecting delivery of the new beast on Monday...literally cannot wait! Catch you soon x

If I never see another...

... flying geese block it will be too soon! In the last 5 days I have made 80 of the sodding things and I'm sick to the back teeth of them now! Rant over ;-) In their defense, they do look very pretty but they are so tedious to make. First up was this block for Rachel in the HipBees. Rachel entrusted us with some of her Liberty stash and asked us to make this Puss in the corner block. So that's 8 flying geese right off the bat.

Next up I got round to making the October block from the Fat Quarter Shop BOM. As I've mentioned before I'm rather behind on this one. I received the tenth block today and the one I'm showing you is only block number 5. It's a rather lovely block with another 8 flying geese, taking my total to 16.

The remainder of the flying geese blocks were for my Marcelle Medallion. Before I show you the flying geese I need to show you the other borders. I'm not giving you any close-ups as frankly my piecing is pretty dire. I'm definitely applying Sheila's 20mph rule to this one. The equilateral triangle border should have been a breeze but somehow it finished up too long to line up with the previous border, as I said shoddy piecing. I love the overall effect of the fabrics that I've used and if I don't stare at all the triangles that are missing their points or the ones that actually have four angles then I'm happy with it.

 The next border went on with no problem as there was minimal piecing involved :)

Then it was onto the dreaded flying geese, 64 of the buggers! Again the piecing is shocking, there are points missing all over the place and again the border ended up too long to match with the previous border but the fabrics make it so pretty that I need to give myself a break.  

I had intended to keep track of all the different fabrics that I used in this quilt but that went out the window fairly quickly. I know that I added Tula Pink and Anna Maria Horner to the mix but beyond that I'm past caring ;) I'm sure I won't hold a grudge against the flying geese for too long but I'm steering clear of them for at least a week! Hope all is good where you are. Catch you soon x

Whoops

Well I didn't fall off the face of the planet but I do appear to have been rather lax in my blogging again. February went by in a blur and there was very little sewing going on. During that time our gorgeous Jess turned 16! I seriously can't believe how quickly life seems to be flying by. When I finally managed to venture into my sewing room the passage of time was demonstrated to me by the number of unopened white packages from the USA. The Fat Quarter Shop BOM that started in June last year has been dropping through my letterbox as regular as clockwork. How hard could it be to make one block a month? Well, in my initial excitement I got 2 blocks done on time...

June 2012 FQS BOM

July 2012 FQS BOM

and since then...not so much...Here are the packages from August up to February.

FQS BOM pile of shame

I've managed to make up 2 blocks from the pile of shame.

August FQS BOM

September 2012 FQS BOM

 I've still a way to go to catch up but I don't feel quite so bad about myself now that I've got 4 blocks made ;) Thankfully I haven't fallen behind in my HipBee commitments! This rather lovely flying geese block is for February's Queen bee, Di. Obviously I mean the fabric and the pattern are lovely and not my execution of it ;) Di trusted us with her precious stash of Ruby by Bonnie and Camille. It's going to be one pretty quilt!

Today I sneaked back into the sewing room to start a secret project which I should be able to show you next week. I think it's safe to say it'll be fab...Oakshotts + Shelburne Falls + Pillow Pop = win!!

Catch you soon x

A twist on the tile

The day started well with deliveries of Summersville by Lucie Summers and...

Layer cake of Summersville!!

Tula Pink's book! I pre-ordered this book in December so was not impressed when I didn't receive it when it was released. I gave up waiting in the end and re-ordered it from elsewhere. I'm a happy bunny now :)

Tula Pink's book

After browsing through the book and petting the fabric I thought I'd tackle a Tile block. I've re-coloured the original block so that it corresponds with the fabrics I used.

Adaptation of the Tile block

It's a super easy block to make, hooray! I supersized this so the finished block will be turned into an 18" cushion. All you need is 9 - 6 1/2" squares and 6 - 4" squares.

Ruby Star and Echino :) 

I've used Ruby Star Rising, Ruby Star Shining and Echino to create this very funky cushion top. I think I'll hand quilt this one :)  I've taken a few process shots for Catherine and anyone else who might be interested in how I made the block up. The blocks represented by brown in the diagram are essentially flying geese blocks. I marked points half way along 3 sides then joined them up to create the lines to cut on.

I cut all the 4" squares into 2 right angled HSTs to make the flying geese. I'm sure there are more clever and accurate ways of doing this but this is what worked for me. I lined the long edge of the HST up with one of the angled edges of the brown block making sure I had little ears either side like below.

Don't forget the little dog ears :) 

 Sew a 1/4" inch seam then press open.

Repeat on the opposite side to complete the unit. I trimmed the finished blocks as necessary to 6 1/2" square.

Repeat to complete the unit. 

I pressed all the seams open to try and cut down on some the bulkiness. There are four units like this with different rotations as shown in the block diagram.

Finished geese unit

For the central unit the process is exactly the same except all four sides will have HSTs sewn to them to create the finished 6 1/2" unit.

Central block.

 The rest is self-explanatory really :) If you have any questions Catherine just drop me a line and I'll help if I can. I love, love, love the finished block!!! When I have more time I definitely see a quilt using this block in my future! Catch you soon x