Free Motion Mavericks - Week 361 - Piecing Blocks

 

Unsurprisingly, today has not been a good day for taking photos, so the best I can do is an ironing board shot, looking all the world like the view from a model aeroplane coming in for a crash landing.  I have a definite love-hate relationship with the scrappy strips.  They take ages to make, fiddling around with dog-eared scraps, but without them the blocks would be dull and uninspiring. The narrow blue strip in the middle of the photo was made with a strip a little less than an inch wide, a bit of irregular selvedge trimmed from a piece years ago.  I keep things for years, wondering why I bother, and then end up glad I didn't bin them.

I am now well on the way with piecing the blocks for the wedding quilt, having finished eight blocks and reached the stage where I have a system going.  Just when most people are finishing off projects in time for Christmas, I am just starting and have no deadline to worry about.  We have a quiet Christmas ahead of us, so I am glad to have a project to keep me busy.  I only wish I had more photos to show, but with weather so dull and overcast that I need the light on in the house for me to be able to sew, the camera can't capture the colours and do them justice.  

Here goes for Week 361:-

Many thanks to Gail for linking up last time with her latest finishes.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more. 

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland, Brazil and Sweden have taken part.  The 

first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Scrappy Strips

One of the most time consuming, fiddly jobs ever, but totally worth the effort.  I have been using up scraps to make 2 inch strips to incorporate into the blocks for the wedding quilt.  When I started, I sorted out a pile of scraps and set them aside in a shoe box.  The jumble of pieces in the box is now rapidly dwindling, so much so that I am wondering whether there will be much left once it comes to making a strip for the border of the quilt.

At the moment I am making great progress with piecing the blocks.  I have already finished six, all measuring 21 inches square, and have three more to make in the same size.  After that I will be making the blocks for the border, twelve measuring approximately 15 x 21 inches, and four 15 inch square corner blocks.  I am hoping to get most of the piecing done before the New Year, and then go shopping for the wadding and backing fabric in January.

It is years since I made a large quilt.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. The weather has been dull and dreary, ideal for staying in, but useless for photos.  If the sun shines soon, I shall have to take some photos ready for my progress report later this week.

Andrée is hosting Free Motion Mavericks at the moment, so I am linking up to her blog just in the nick of time before the linky closes!

Free Motion Mavericks - Week 359 - Designing the Wedding Quilt

You might recognise this quilt, one of my all-time favourites.  It has been across the back of the settee for over a week so I can work out how I am going to make the wedding quilt.  The strips between the large blocks of colour work well in giving the quilt a modern look, and I have decided to use this technique again.  Fortunately I have plenty of scraps that are suitable, and I have started work already.  To increase the range of colours, I am also using up a bundle of colour samples, which are approximately four and a half inches square, ideal for two inch wide strips.

Of course, I had forgotten how fiddly and time consuming the whole process is.  I am hoping to make plenty of strips before I cut the larger pieces.  I am trying to plan the layout of the blocks in advance rather than make the blocks first, as I usually do.  Initially I shall be making nine eighteen inch square blocks, and then I shall work out the size and design of the border blocks afterwards.  At the rate I am going I shall be lucky to have it finished by Easter.

Here goes for Week 359:-

Many thanks to Gail for linking up last time with her tree skirt.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

 

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland, Brazil and Sweden have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.