Civil War Quilt

You may be aware that 2011 was the 150th Anniversary of the start of the American Civil War.

In my Tuesday class we have been making a Civil War Quilt. We have been making blocks from Barbara Brackman's Civil War Blog Each week I have taken 2 blocks and written instructions on how to make them. By February 7th we will have made 38 of the 53 on the blog. I have decided to use 36 of the blocks for my quilt. Each block will finish at 8 inches square.

The fabric is Portobello Market by 3 Sisters for Moda

 This is the layout I have chosen - although it may change

 My design wall is a piece of thick cheap wadding from Dunelm Mill which has been tacked to the wall. Gizmo likes to have a snooze whilst contemplating the layout of the blocks!




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Here are 4 New England blocks made by some of my students a few weeks ago. I took the photo to illustrate how different a block can look depending on the fabric choices.


I am now at the stage of sashings. On Saturday I cut 84 sashing strips out of the fabric I had left, to make scrappy sashings. On Sunday I decided I didn't like it so I cut out some more strips out of a red fabric I had bought for the borders. I stitched this with green cornerstones. This morning I have decided that I don't like the cornerstones, I think the sashing will look better without them! More reverse sewing today! I always change my mind a few times as I am making a quilt!

Wonky Trees

As you may already know I love liberated quilting and improvised piecing in particular.
In November I started a new patchwork and quilting class and decided to do some improvised piecing for the first few weeks just to get everyone loosened up.
A couple of weeks before Christmas we did wonky trees and these little beauties are what they produced!

I've got some really talented ladies in this class!

Christmas!!

I wanted to share the handmade gifts I made for Christmas - but had to wait until after the big day of course, in case they were spotted on my blog.
This year I made blackwork cushions and gift tags.

These were made for friends and my great neices, Freya and Elsie.

Butterfly Quilts for Barnsley College

Earlier this year I was asked if my Embroidery and Patchwork Group would like to be involved in producing Art Work for the new building at Barnsley College. Of course I said 'Yes!'
The theme was butterflies.
We asked members to produce an embroidered butterfly block which we then joined to make this very attractive quilt.
It now hangs proudly in the Library of the new building.

We also made some Butterfly Blocks in my Tuesday patchwork class, which I joined and made into this quilt.
This now hangs in one of the corridors.

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I think it is really great to see quilts hanging in public places. I think they look really good!

Hello - I'm Back Again - With lots of quilts to show!

Hello! I'm back again!

Don't really know why I have stopped blogging recently. I have been busy with new quilt classes and lots of workshops but I suppose really that you just get out of the habit.

The first photo I am going to show is very special. This quilt top was made by my good friend Chris who sadly lost her battle with cancer and passed away on October 28th.

This is the quilt she was making for her new Gandaughter, Charlie who currently lives in California. The block comes from Quilters Cache and is called California.

I was lucky enough to meet Charlie at Chris's funeral, Chris didn't quite manage to complete this quilt before she died but me and a couple of her quilting friends will make sure that its all finished for when Charlie comes back at Christmas.

 Recently we had a show and tell at our embroidery and patchwork group and I took some photos of quilts that were made in my classes last year. This is Kath, hiding behind her 'Handbags' cushion.

 The cushion holds this quilt which Kath designed using my little handbag block.

 This is Kath's Blue Ridge Beauty which is a Bonnie Hunter design. We worked on scrap quilts and using recycled clothing last year. This quilt is made entirely from recycled shirts.

 Smruti made a baby quilt using Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Irish Chain block.

 Jean's Scrappy Irish Chain Quilt.

 Look at the back!

 And Celia's Scrappy Irish Chain.

What lovely quilts!

Pieced Quilts from Festival of Quilts 2011

More and more I am drawn to pieced quilts, preferably scrap quilts, based on traditional quilt blocks with lots of small pieces.
Somebody wrote on a blog recently that as modern quilters, we often move away from traditional piecing and would rather use applique, fabric painting or other modern techniques in our quilt designs. I suppose what she was driving at was that we go for speed of completion rather than the actual journey of piecing.
So perhaps we need to slow down sometimes and enjoy the repetitive nature of piecing lots of small pieces into blocks and quilts. There is nothing that gives me more pleasure than an uninterupted piecing session at the sewing machine, feeding through chain pieced sections and building up blocks in a lovely methodical way.
So when I go to quilt shows I love to look at pieced quilts, the scrappier the better. I love quilts with lots going on.

This morning I am going to treat you to a little quilt show of pieced quilts which were on display at Festival of Quilts. None of these won any prizes, if you think about it pieced quilts seem to be out of fashion with quilt judges in the UK.

I love the kaleioscope block and the way that the maker has substituted a blue triangle in the photo above.

A pineapple block quilt. Controlled scrappy - interesting placement of the orange scraps.

A miniature flying geese quilt - Flying Goslings by Dorian Walton. This was probably only about 8 inches square!

Following my visit to the Elegant Geometry exhibit in Nebraska I was drawn to this quilt made from elongated hexagons. and squares made in the mosaic patchwork style.

I really loved this pineapple block quilt.

I also loved this tumbling blocks variation.

Hope you enjoyed these quilts. I fancy going to do a few hours piecing now but instead it will be back to completing my book for my City & Guilds course. I will hopefully get time to baste a quilt this afternoon though.

Pictorial Quilts at Festival of Quilts 2011

I really enjoy looking at pictorial quilts. I love to look at how they are constructed and marvel how the makers manage to translate a picture or photograph into fabric.

The first quilt is called 'The Bayeux Tapestry to Quilt'. The maker isn't in the catalogue because it was a late entry but I think it was made by an Australian Quilter.

Absolutely beautiful applique and quilting.

This quilt is called 'Ab-Original' by Valerie Wheeler.

I loved this one - it is actually constructed from tiny hexagons! It is called 'Billie Joe Armstrong'

This beautiful mountain scene drew a lot of attention and looked better the further away you viewed it. It is called 'Lyngsfjord I' by Jane Ashe.

This quilt is so life like. It is called 'Dassehra' by Bette Kultorp Andresen of Norway.

I really loved this one as it was very 3 dimensional. It is called 'Loss of the French Schooner 'Jeune St Charles'' by Anne Taylor.

Finally this trio of quilts really stood out in one of the galleries. It is so clever - the piecing fascinated me. In fact I love it more because it is pieced rather than being appliqued or painted.

'My Way' by Solvi L. Krokeide of Norway.