Can you see the block which I need to unpick? Why do pieces always jump around when they're waiting to be sewn? I'm just glad that my friend Jane spotted it before I got any further. That's a bit of reverse sewing for later!
I've just got one more thing left over from Christmas, and that is a lap quilt I made for my dad, and had wrapped up before I remembered I hadn't photographed it! He left a comment on my blog when had shown a Linus quilt I'd made for a boy, and said 'I don't like that quilt. I wouldn't want it on my bed. I like aeroplanes.' Since he was in the RAF during WW2 I thought that was quite reasonable. 
Here is the quilt being held up by Mum. Can you see her peeping out? (She's not actually standing on her head - I've rotated the photo!) I had great difficulty finding a reasonable block with an aeroplane on it, and had to design this one, which is made with templates - well, it was either that or foundation piecing, so not much to choose from there! The quilt is called 'There's always one' and Dad (and Mum) have already put it to good use!
It ranged from some quilt tops and coverlets, like this one (sorry, can't remember the date) and other items, including this beautiful embroidered 17th or 18th century bodice, 
to this newspaper log cabin 'quilt' and embroidered box,
a Kantha work quilt on the subject of gardening,
fabric specially printed for George the whatsits coronation (details were never my strong point!)
an Afghan war rug and lots of other things besides. If you're in the north of England and haven't seen this exhibition, you have until 19th July to see, and I strongly recommend it to you! And then when I got home, there was a parcel from up the Amazon! 
This is the Whitworth Art Gallery, in case you don't know it. It looks rather forbidding, but was very welcoming and pleasant inside. The lovely and knowledgeable textiles curator, Frances, was ready for us at 2 o'clock, and had spread out some quilts ready to get going.
This is the first one, a lovely hexagon coverlet with a mitred border on it. There was a plain calico backing on it, and no quilting. It dated from about 1850. As ever with old quilts, the range of fabrics was amazing! Lots of conversation prints, shirtings, upholstery designs and all kinds of fabrics which look as if they were designed yesterday! 
Next was a strippy coverlet dated about 1790. The patterned fabric was very chintzy, and the strips were unusual in that the patterned ones were wider than the plain ones. They are usually all the same width. Unfortunately, the quilting was not terribly interesting, and seemed to be fairly random. 
Here is a better photo of the backing. As you can see, this quilt was bound, which is not typical for British quilts. 
It's not surprising to find lots of paper piecing in British museums, and there was a whole box of paper pieced patches of various sizes, shapes and stages of completion, along with some fabric scraps and some paper waiting to be cut up into shapes. These octogons date from early 19th century. I think this might have been abandoned when the maker realised she should have pieced the little joining squares as she went along, not leaving them to the end! You can see on the right hand side she's started to add the squares (also paper pieced) but not got very far! 
Again, the fabrics were fabulous, with lots of the 'seaweed' fabrics typical of the early 19th century. 
Here are some teeny Lemoyne stars - how were these going to fit together, I wonder?
Frances was almost apologetic at having included this top, but then, she hadn't met me before! I absoltely love it! She said it was mid-19th century and was a veritable showcase of Machester cottons. There were so many different fabrics in it, we wondered if it was made from fabric samples. 
Only the very centre has anything more complicated thn a square or rectangle (and that's only a square within a square which is missing its points!) but the colours and the enrgy of the piece are fabulous! 
There is a kind of basic design, but the fabrics are so varied, it's hard to see!
Here you can see a bit of bodging (the triangle added in being the worst of it!)
and here, a bit of desperation piecing, where five pieces of fabric have been joined together to make one patch! And that was the last quilt. Although I would obviously have liked to see more quilts, I would like to thank Frances (and DD) for a wonderful show! But the afternoon wasn't over, and I have more photos to show another day!
Now since I have made the triangles with the diagonal line method, there should be another one somewhere! Do half square triangles en masse behave like socks, and are taken by the fairies? Anyone else have this problem? 
Happy quilting in 2011!