Maverick Stars quilt top completed.

This was finished a few days ago but no time to post as we have been away at two very wet car rallies this weekend. After being promised a lovely summer by the weather people July has been a very wet month particularly the weekends. There have been record sales of camping equipment this year with the credit crunch but after the last couple of weeks I suspect some of it has ended up in the wheelie bin or at the charity shop!
Anyway, back to the quilt! I finished it with a random border which I always wanted to try plus its a great way to use up leftover scraps. Also I think using the three fabrics in the border help to finish the quilt off properly and balance the different fabrics.

Here are closer views of a corner.

The plan now is to use this top as a practise piece for machine quilting - I want to try some different techniques and experiment with echo quilting.
Over the weekend I have done some stitchery for a birthday block and a Noah's Ark block which I hope to be able to show soon.

Two more Black & White Log Cabin Blocks.

I am pleased to report that I have two new log cabin blocks from the Birthday Block Swap. The first is from Libby who lives in Buffalo NY.

This second one is from Sue who isn't a member of the Block Swap but who kindly said that I couldn't just have 11 blocks so she made me this one! Thanks Sue!

Sue is a friend from blogland who has now become a 'real' friend. I read on her blog that she had just moved to Yorkshire and wanted to join an embroidery/patchwork group. I invited her to visit ours and she decided to join!
I still have a couple of blocks to come in to make up my 12 - fingers crossed they will arrive soon.

Next border on Maverick Stars Quilt

This morning I completed the next border on Maverick Stars. I have used the same zig zag border that I used on the Laura Ashley quilt. I really like the framing effect of this border but of course you do need to get your measurements correct to get the triangles to fit.

Here is a closer view of the corner. One of the things that stands out to me is the randomness of the stripes on the white zig zags. At one time I would have hated this and tried to get the stripes to match but now I think it adds to the scrappiness and the design as a whole.
I do want to look into working with stripes more as this accounts for most of the recycled shirts that I love to use!

There will only be one more border which will be scrappy bricks in the blue fabrics. I hope that this will frame the quilt nicely and help to use up all the bits of blue I have left over. I have decided that there is enough black and white spot fabric in the quilt now.

I took this photo a couple of days ago. Most of my sons' clothing is black and this shows what happens if you wash a couple of hundred red charm squares in with your dark wash!

Colourful antique quilts.

Not much quilting has occurred in the last few days so no progress reports at the moment. This week is the last week of school here in England so I am busy with last minute stuff, not least help with GCSE Art coursework which I should be able to show soon.
Anyway I still have loads of stuff to blog from our recent trip to the US.
When we were in Paducah we went to a smaller show in a church hall which had a small display of antique quilts mostly from the 19th century. I was particularly taken with the brightly coloured, pieced ones as these are my favourite type of quilts.

This is a traditional Double Wedding Ring done in the 1940s but it is so modern! I love the rainbow placement of colours in the curved piecing.

This one is Goose Tracks from the 1880s, I love the use of the yellow and the hand quilting in the plain squares.

A lovely example of Trip Around the World. A bit more pastel than some of the Typical Amish ones but the colour placement is superb and gives it real 'movement'.

This one is an unusual colour combination but so refreshingly different. Again I love the yellow!

Electronic patchwork!

Last Thursday Geoff and I went to an exhibition here in Barnsley of the work of Walter Giers who makes electronic art.

Most of it was not to my taste apart from this one piece.

I shall call it electronic patchwork! Here is the grid with no lights.

And then as it lights up different patchwork patterns appear.

How fantastic would that be on a wall in your house?

Maverick Stars Quilt

This quilt was started in February this year and is another that was abandoned, partly due to time and partly due to being undecided about the next border.
I was really pleased with it when I first made it so I do really want to get it to the quilting stage as it will be great for practising my machine quilting and also it will make a great quilt for a child. It would be lovely to have some quilts 'in hand' for when a gift is needed.

The stars are a Bonnie Hunter design from quiltville.com, they are made from a selection of 2 inch squares.

This was where I had got to in February and stopped. This was 25 inches square. First I decided I wanted a rectangular quilt not a square.

So I have added sections to each end, this now measures approx 25 x 33 inches. Next border coming soon! Luckily I have found all the fabrics I was using!

Birthday Block Swap - May Blocks

May was 'my' month in this swap and I thought I would share photos of the blocks I have received.
My theme was black and white log cabin with red centres. I did not give any instructions about the sizes of logs or centres because I wanted the scrappy effect.
There are 12 of us in the group so I was expecting 11 blocks. So far I have received 9, although one lady made two and one block was made for me by Sue who was in a different group from me. 4 members of the group have not sent a block although 2 have been in touch to say that they are still intending to make my block.

I really love the blocks I have received - the advantage of swapping is that you get a much scrappier effect than you could just using your own fabrics (unless you had a mega stash!). What I have decided to do is to use 8 of the blocks as the central panel of the quilt and then add more panels to the sides. The first will be flying geese. I think this could make a really attractive quilt.

Here are some close up photos.

The block I have left over will be made into a cushion for DS2's girlfriend for her birthday next week.

Noahs Ark BOM

A few months ago I started Lynette Anderson's Noahs Ark free Block of the Month. I completed three blocks which can be viewed in previous posts and then had to put them to one side when I was doing my C&G pieces. Anyway they have come out again this week as part of the 'Free Summer of Quilting' and 'Finish Up Project'. There are a couple of blocks I am going to leave out and one I have changed but I am now on track to get this done.
When I looked in the bag I found that this lion block had been completed but never posted. I really enjoyed stitching this and I love the lioness with the heart on her chest!

When I showed these blocks to my friends on the City & Guilds course Anthea was really taken with them and has decided to make them as one of her summer projects. So we have challenged each other to get this completed by September and I promised I would post my progress on my blog!
While I am on the subject of Anthea, she does not have a blog (Yet!) but she is a follower of this one, so I am taking the liberty of showing two of her pieces which were on show in our end of year exhibition. She is a very talented and creative quilter and if you want to comment, feel free because she will read this!

This is Anthea's kite quilt - all the fabrics were dyed by her and she came up with this lovely way of grading the colours in her flying geese.

Her fish cushion is all hand stitched with clam shells, Anthea loves hand stitching and applique and I think her creativity really shines through in this piece.

Crumb Blocks.

I have always fancied having a go at crumb blocks and now I have the perfect opportunity. Because I did so much fussy cutting on the Laura Ashley quilt I have a big pile of oddly shaped scraps. They were just asking to be made into crumb blocks.

So this pile of fabric turned into these little beauties!

I have made 30 so far and they measure 3.5 inches square. I need at least 80 to make the quilt I have in mind. It is a good feeling though to use up all those pieces although they don't seem to be going down much!

BQL June challenge quilt.

This was made on June 30th - very close to the deadline!
I was not sure whether I would have the time to do it at all as last month was so busy but I was so glad I made the time as it is a lovely little quilt.

One of the reasons that I like to do the BQL challenge quilts is that they make great little samples. Also this was a great 3D technique that I had never tried before.
As usual I used my hand dyed fabrics which are some of my favourite fabrics to use. I will have to dye more soon!

I made it using the quilt as you go method as it would be impossible to quilt between the pleats after they had been twisted. The border has been FMQed with my favourite variegated thread.

What I did yesterday whilst watching the tennis!

I am a big fan of tennis and for me Wimbledon is the best tennis tournament. So most afternoons and evenings I have been glued to the TV. I have also been planning my 'free summer of quilting' which I can enjoy until the end of September when I go back to college to start another City & Guilds certificate.
Over the last couple of days I have been planning more Laura Ashley quilts and I currently have 3 in the planning stages - a more traditional Welsh medallion quilt, a quilt using crumb blocks and a Bonnie Hunter scrap quilt using my large 4.5 inch square collection.
This collection increased earlier this week due to my excellent swap with my quilting buddy, Mary. I decided that I would wash these squares as really I do prefer to work with washed fabric. I put the 'light' squares into a pillowcase and put them in the washing machine. Even though I tied the top into a knot this is what came out of the washer!

It took the entire ladies final at Wimbledon to turn the top photo into the photo below!

Sorry this photo is on its side but as you can see it is a tall pile - there are a few hundred squares here! The main problem with washing such small squares are all those frayed edges!

I have four light patterns as you can see - note the lovely Cath Kidston ironing board cover I got for my birthday!

And here is a photo of Chumley, the least shy of Mary's two handsome tuxedo cats.

Just a quick note to those of you who have read down to the end of this post - I did post some more photos of my Laura Ashley quilt yesterday but because I had saved them as a draft they were posted below my last post. If you want to see them just scroll down a bit!

Hope all my American readers had a great 4th July - I will be hoping 'your boy' Andy wins this afternoon!