Carpenter’s Wheel

 I was browsing on the internet recently and had a look at the Missouri Star site.  Jenny Doan is a legend, and she had a great quilt which was made completely from one Carpenter’s Star block, made from a layer cake of 10” squares.  It looks fabulous, and as I was admiring it, I thought ‘that would look great as a Linus quilt using smaller squares!’  So here is my version. 

 It used up a lot of scraps and you only need a 6” square of colours to make it!  The 6” squares are made into HSTs with white squares and then trimmed to 5.5”.  The plain white squares are cut at 5.5” and I’m sure you can work it out!  I cut some kits out ready for our Linus get together, and they were snapped up.  Thanks, Jenny! 

Not so impressive!

 I have been busy cutting Linus kits etc and trying to make some sense of the orphans drawer.  I found a bag of 5.5” blocks and tried to make them play nicely together. 

I have realised that if there are only three blocks, I can always make an extra one!  There were three drunkards path blocks for a centre, so I made one more.  Good to get the orphans into a family!  I have loosely grouped the other blocks together.  

The orange border has added a bit of pizzazz, and the addition of the blue and purple squares has eked the pieced blocks out. 

There.  A jazzy batik border and it’s done!  Not the most impressive of quilts, but a finish.  I’ll find something interesting for the backing, and it’ll all be good. 

Impressive!

 Well, look at this finish! 

A Baltimore quilt for Project Linus!  Well, a Baltimore panel, actually. I can’t remember whether I bought this panel or it was donated, but it cost £6.50 and with the addition of the burgundy border I think it looks great!  I quilted it around the shapes and some scallops along the border (a machine stitch).  Great fun. 

Using up the orphans

 I have really been digging out the orphan blocks, and putting them to use - good use, I think.  Here is an applique centre I took on holiday a few years ago to keep me amused plus various 6” blocks from the orphan bag.  The black Dala horses were made from a pattern in Today’s Quilter, but while I enjoyed making them, I didn’t want to make more!  I had the orange batik border fabric I my stash, and I think it is perfect for the job. 

As I was sewing down the binding I found a small problem. 

Whoops! A little frayed hole!  Have a look on the quilt and see how I resolved it.  A little ‘I spy’ for the recipient! 

Slight diversion

 As Project Linus coordinator I was contacted this week by Rosie, who works with children with life limiting conditions.  She needs more quilts.  That’s no problem, but it made me think about these professionals who are prepared to go the extra mile to make their patients feel good.  So I decided to make her a small gift. 

 I love making these little pouches and find them really secular for all sorts of things.  Since her name is Rosie, I thought I would use some fabric with roses on it.  I looked in my pink drawer and saw this fabric, which is much more fun.  Fabrics all have their own memories, and I remember buying this in New York at ‘The City Quilter’ in 2004.  I was determined to visit this shop and persuaded my husband to fir it into our schedule first thing one day.  He wanted to leave it till the end of the day, but I was concerned that it would get squeezed out if we did that!  It’s happened before! 

If you’ve never made a bag like this, here is the pattern.  It’s very easy.  

What on Earth?!

 I belong to a challenge group, and last year we decided to make some group strip quilts. The idea is that we take turns to select a picture we like and cut it into strips.  These strips are given out to the rest of the group and each person recreates their strip in fabric.  

I have finally finished my strip.  Any guesses as to what it is? 

Does that help? I asked my husband whether the two strips looked the same, to which he replied, “Yes, they do, but I can’t work out what it is!”  Of course, it’s a puffin.  Or at least, a slice of puffin! 

A finish and a new direction.

 I get bored quite easily, and am always looking for new blocks and ideas to try.  I am running out of strips (I know it’s hardly credible, but it’s true!) so fished out one of the donated tops to finish. 

It’s a lovely set of tumblers cut out by Julie.  Julie has an Accuquilt die which cuts these beauties, and since they have all the relevant corners cut off, they go together like a dream.  It needed a small border, and I bound it in yellow for a bit of extra pizzazz.  

Then on to something else.  I saw a YouTube video by ‘Just get it done’ with 10 different scrap blocks, and decided to try this one.  Yet another take on 2.5” squares and strips. 

A centre 2.5” square, then two 6.5” x 2.5” strips and two 2.5” squares of another colour.  Looking good.  I cut a kit out of the scrap pinks ready for one of my willing volunteers to make up.  Then I cam across quite a few brown fabrics.  I often put them in the rummage box as they aren’t very child friendly colour-wise, but this time I decided they could be sophisticated for an older child. 

Not completely sure about it, but I’ll carry on and see how it turns out.