Sad to say that I am still behind with the Birthday Block Swap but hey it is only Jan 4th today so things are not all bad! This block is for Peggy who lives in New Orleans and it will be in the post to the US tomorrow.
Peggy's theme was Mardis Gras and at first I was really stumped on this one. Luckily Peggy posted up some blocks on the same theme that she received in the last swap so that gave me some ideas. Basically she wanted blocks using the traditional Mardis Gras colours of purple, green and gold. I have used some of my hand dyed cottons for this - I have tried to photo this block twice with little sucess - but trust me the colours are much better and darker 'in the flesh'. The block is called Cheyenne from the Judy Hopkins 'Once More Around the Block'. I liked it because the central gold and purple pieces made a 'cracker' shape. Hope Peggy likes it too!
As you can see I made two other blocks as well - these are using some printed Mardis Gras fabrics I found in my stash. I was not sure if they were ok because they may have too many other colours in them. Anyway I enjoyed making them and I am sending them to you as a bonus Peggy - they will be ok for the back or for some cushions!
Since New Years Eve I have been busy with a new project. For a few months I have been reading Bonnie Hunter's blog and admiring her scrap quilts. Anyway she has started a new Mystery Quilt, Double Delight and I could not resist.
There are 120 of these units which need the other two shirting triangles added - and that only completes Step 1. However I am finding the repetitive nature of doing these little blocks very calming and enjoyable. Bonnie is a very generous quilter who has loads of free patterns on her
website along with the steps for the mystery quilt.
I have had loads of help from the cats while doing this quilt but this photo shows Maisy during one of her shifts!
This was one of my Christmas books and I decided to make one of the bags from it which was actually completed on Dec 30th - I just forgot to show it.
Unusually the pattern calls for both heavyweight and quilting cotton so I was able to use some heavier cotton that I bought for £1 per metre on Rotherham Market some time ago. I really liked it when I saw it so bought 2 metres. When I got home I discovered that it was actually a Cath Kidston fabric called Pop Flowers. The next week at the stall I asked for some more and he told me that it had all gone - someone had told him it was Cath Kidston and had bought it to sell on ebay! So now I study the Cath Kidston catalogue religiously so that if any more crops up I will recognise it straight away!
Most of the other fabrics are from repurposed shirts except the lining which is a vintage cotton curtain I bought from a car boot for 30p.
It is a bucket style bag with loads of space in it - I have put a couple of press studs on the top binding so it can be folded in when not in full use. The bottom is one of those funny folded triangles which I am not sure I really like but I do like the bag as I feel that it does capture the vintage shabby chic look I was trying to achieve.
