Kindred Spirits - Week 6

 

So, my final catch up block was the mighty Dresden.  It's huge! But it's beautiful, don't you think?

This photo doesn't do my fabric colours justice.  Much prettier IRL.

Then the Dresden was joined with a little sashing strip to the Week 5 Garden Baskets block and another little section of the quilt top comes together!

Encouraged by my catching up and by the small sections that are building, I wanted to see the 'story so far', so I laid my Kindred Spirits QAL blocks out on the kitchen tiles.  Coming along nicely, I'd say.

Happy Days BOM - Finishing Month 4 and Month 5

In May, I left you hanging with my unfinished Hawaiian applique block from Month 4 of Sarah Fielke's Happy Days BOM.

I was very slow sewing this block and there are quite a few angles in them there curves but from a distance it's a passable first effort at Hawaiian appliqué.  Not sure I could ever have the patience for one of those large Hawaiian appliqué quilts but I wouldn't be put off the odd block here and there as it wasn't really as scary as I had thought initially.

In Month 5 Sarah introduced a dresden plate block (Block 6) alongside another appliqué block.  It wasn't my first attempt at a whole dresden circle but it has been my most successful-ish.

I say -ish because I had a little drama in my making of this block.  When all 20 of my petal were stitched together they didn't quite meet up.  See that gap?  Ahem!  I checked my seam allowances, re-read the pattern, scratched my head and felt my lower lip wobble like Gretel from The Sound of Music.  I had carved out precious time to sew that day and I'd gotten it so horribly wrong!!

But I stiffened my upper lip and, determined not to have to start again from scratch or to bin this pretty partial circle, I puzzled my puzzler, laid a ruler on top of the dresden-so-far and discovered that although it didn't have the require 5 petals per quarter, 6 petals were fitting a quarter perfectly.  Phew!  Bacon saved or what?!

So, I unpicked just enough seams to add in another coloured petal to each quarter (4 in total) and hey presto - one dresden flower, just not as originally intended.

It has 24 petals instead of the regulation 20, they probably result in a bigger flower overall and I had to re-cut my centre circle to fit the new plan.  But hey, I didn't have to waste the afternoon's sewing and my flower petal points will just about survive the quarter inch seam of the block when it's stitched in to the quilt eventually.  Job's a good'un! And, just in case you were wondering, turns out I must not have scaled my templates properly when printing - doh!

Block 9 is some hexagon flowers on a circular wreath.  All nice and straightforward really.  This photograph makes the fabric choices look a bit washed out, but they are better in real life, honest.  Not sure if choosing those two patterned prints for the flowers was the best decision though.  Maybe they're a bit busy?

Well, that allows me to tick off Month 5's blocks. Months 6 and 7 are waiting in the wings for a little attention - hopefully soon. I really don't want to fall any further behind, especially as I have my eye on some new sew-a-longs coming soon - *cheesy grin*


Sarah x

Quilt Now BOM - Issue 11

Getting ever closer to the finish of this BOM methinks, and it's very exciting.  I've even seen that Reene has sent her finished top off to be quilted, but spoilsports that she and Quilt Now are the pic snippet was enough to tell it was the quilt, but not enough to actually see anything properly - sigh (patience not being much of a virtue here lately).

So, issue 11 presented me with a little EPP dresden quarters stitching which was just perfect for Sunday evening stitching on the sofa.

I wasn't as speedy as I'd hoped and had to wait until yesterday to applique the last two dresden quarters to their low volume backgrounds.

Looking pretty and summery in those fabrics I think.

Playing detective a little, I'm guessing these will be for the corners of the quilt top's final borders.  At least I hope so because I cut directional lv fabrics for two of my backgrounds without thinking and have tried to arrange the layout to keep them right way up!  I'm sure I can remedy it if my Miss Marple skills are a bit off kilter.

Once again this was a fun month's skill in the Mystery BOM.  I'm not a stranger to EPP but I do love my hexies and don't often try other shapes - I really should get out more!