A great finish and a poor start

I have quilted and bound my 'Roll, roll, cotton boll'! Here DD is holding it up as best she can. Although it's only five eighths the size of the original (20 blocks instead of 32) it's still a big quilt!

I am so pleased with this quilt. Not only was it great fun to make, but the whole top and binding was made from my stash. I didn't buy a single piece of fabric specially for it. Of course, it hasn't seemed to make any dent in my boxes and boxes of stuff, but it's a great feeling looking at all those different fabrics which play together so nicely.

I had to buy yardage for the backing, but I used a tip from Bonnie Hunter when I found I hadn't bought enough. She cuts unloved fabric (you know, the fabric you bought in those 'stash builder' bundles when you first started quilting, and which has lingered at the back of drawers and in the bottom of boxes ever since!) into 10 1/2" squares, and joins them into strips to make backing. Since the squares finish at 10", it's easy to work out how many you need. Plus, they make a nice feature on the backing too. And now for my poor start. I've started making some 'Dear Jane' blocks and here are my first two. I'm using cream and blue for my colour scheme - lots of different fabrics in each. I'm working from the centre out, and then, if I run out of steam (or skill, in this case) I can use what I've made as the centre of a medallion quilt. (Nothing like planning for failure!) The first block, on the right was G7, Indianapolis. It's turned out to be a fraction too small! The other one, G8, Justin's Comet, has turned out a fraction too big! Only two blocks in, and I'm already going to have to fudge. What a surprise!

Some finishes

Since I have no patience at all, I like to have lots of different projects on the go at the same time. There is always some piecing, some quilting, some layering up and some applique going on at the same time, so I can pick up whatever I feel in the mood for. So this week I have felt in the mood for finishing.

These hexagon blocks were joined together in the start of a quilt and then donated to Project Lnus. I rearranged some of the blocks to make the quilt into a rectangle, bravely cut through the edges to straighten them, bordered, layered and quilted. The fabrics are a bit 60s, but I think it makes a pretty Linus quilt.

Roll, roll, cotton boll has all its borders on, and since DD kindly took the papers out of the string blocks, I'm ready to layer it up. One of the best thing about this quilt is that I didn't have to buy a single piece of fabric to make it! All the fabric came out of my stash! How good is that! I have always liked Bonnie Hunter's designs, but I'm getting to like them more and more, and have started making leaders and enders to use up my scraps, which is very satisfying!

This quilt was made using other people's scraps. I was given a bag with lots of toning scraps in lime green (it looks yellow in this photo), black and white from the 'Authentic' range. I was able to use the scraps to make 9-patches, which have been alternated with black to make this very sophisticated Linus top. Now for some layering up!

Roll, roll that cotton boll!

I have been working hard on my Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, and the main part of the top is now finished! I made it smaller than Bonnie's, at 4 blocks by 5 blocks which measures 60"x75" at the moment. As far as I'm concerned, that makes a creditable single quilt, or will do when the borders are on it.

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!

A reveal and a mystery

I have been busy sewing the Bonnie Hunter blocks and am really pleased with them! Here is a sneak preview of mine.

I've decided to make a few more blocks so that it will be a 4x5 block arrangement, which will make a very credible lap quilt. The strange thing is that when I finished sewing the churn dash blocks, I had a red half square triangle left over. Just one.

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?

Got it!

I looked on Bonnie Hunter's site this morning, but no more information about 'Roll roll, cotton boll.' I suppose it's not Friday yet in Quiltville. So, I checked my emails, and found that there was a lovely one from Cheri, reminding me of the red squares - which I had completely forgotten. And then 'ping' there it was - the solution to how those blooming parallelograms would fit in!
Am I nearly there now?! At least I'm heartened that my brain has a few grey cells left to take me into the new year! See you there!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and voila!

Holiday times are such great times, but it's always good to get back to normal! Today I have been doing a mammoth clear-round and clean, and felt I could treat myself to some serious sewing this afternoon. Now all the components for (half) Bonnie Hunter's 'Roll, roll, cotton boll' are done. Hooray! And since Bonnie's last set of instructions promise that tomorrow we will start to put the components together, and I'm too impatient to wait, I thought I'd try and work out what the blocks might be like for myself.

First try. Looking good, but rather a lot of gaps there.

Next idea, but not much better. It's those blooming parallelograms which are the main problem. How on earth will they fit anywhere? Maybe it's better not to start with the string block.Oh, yes, very dynamic, but still hopeless!

I give up, and will have to wait till tomorrow. How close am I, Bonnie?

1, 2, 3, 4 and now 5!

I'm really enjoying the Bonnie Hunter quilt I'm making. It is perfect for this time of year, when you feel the need to do some sewing, but it has to be something mindless, because you either don't have the energy to do planning and creating, you just want something repetitive to take your mind off all the streses and strains of the season or you only have time for a few minutes sewing! I'm only planning a smaller quilt, so have just made half the reqired blocks, until I see where it's heading.

Step one, pink and green 3-strips.

Step 2, pink and brown half square triangles.

Step 3 (my favourite so far), string-pieced blocks. And I was very good after I'd done them all, and cut whatever remained into useable 2", 2.5" etc strips and squares, and had only a few pieces to put into my strings bag!

Step 4 (quick and easy), green and neutral 2-patches and squares.

And now for step 5, a million tiny half square triangles! (I'm exaggerating slightly, but HSTs which finish at 1.5" and I need 300 of them, even though I'm only doing half the quilt, is a lot of work!). I'm starting by 'shopping in my stash' and have looked in my box of leftover part-blocks to see if there are any blocks ready to go. I've found these flying geese, hourblocks, a pinwheel and diamond in the square, which will cut down beautifully to make a start on the blocks. Next. it's into the reds box to have a rummage!