Too many choices

 I starting playing with my selection of border fabrics today trying to find one that might suit the Wrench quilt.  I already discarded two - one because it colours were too "cool"  and the other too "warm".  the first one was purple/pink/blue and the second mustard and black.  Love them both, but not with this quilt.

I love the chocolate with turquoise.  Brown goes with everything and the blue brings out the splashes of blue in the quilt.  Also, if I use this one, with the brown closest to the blocks, then I don't have to do a narrow setting border as well.

 This is my next favourite, with red and charcoal/brown in the print.  I could use this without a setting small border as well. 

This is an interesting fabric I have had for ages.  It is light/medium blue, with a fawn stripe, and the blue floral motif on the fawn.  It is a very wide repeat, so the quilt will end up quite large.  I kind of had in mind that I would keep this fabric for a "strippy" quilt some time in the future.

This pink and green print is very pretty.  The pink is very bright and will certainly make it a bright quilt.  It also brings out the splashes of pink in the quilt.

When I put my border on I do not try and mitre the stripes in the corners.  I know this is a popular technique, but I found that it was a technique devised some time in the 1970's and not really a traditonal feature in the mid-1800's, which is what I try to make my quilts look like.  It also wastes a lot of fabric, and I am too stingy!  I put the side borders on first, then the top and bottom.

The borders should be cut from the length of the fabric where possible, as the long threads (the warp) are far more stable, and the quilt will have a much straighter edge.  I know that sometimes that is not possible.  You just have a small amount of fabric, and it is just "the perfect" one, so you want to use it, and cut across the fabric and join it.  I do that too, but when I can I use the length.

Close to done

I have been making 2 full sized blocks a day, and 2 half blocks.  It did not take all that long to get these blocks completed and the top assembled.  Now I need to find one of the nice border fabrics I have stashed away and get the whole thing together.

These half blocks gave me a headache just thinking about how to go about it.  Cutting a whole block in half does not work.  You have to allow for seams on the outside of the quilt and you also have to take into account that the outer edge needs to be in the straight grain, not the cross.  On the cross you get a wobbly edge.  I recalculated these side blocks and they worked out fine.

The interesting thing now is that they just don;t look like Wrench blocks!  Not sure what they look like, but the original block design seems to have faded away with them assembled.

New scrappy quilts

We have our Scrap Quilt workshop coming up on 3rd May, and I thought I would show you my version of the Trip Around the World.  Penny has made hers and it is set differently.    For those who are interested, the workshop is now full!  However, we are taking names for anyone who might be interested in doing a twilight class - 4pm to 9pm the same day.  You can see the other quilts here.  There are 3 different patterns we will be doing on the one day.

Something else I have been working on is a Wrench quilt.  I had this in my mind for quite a while and finally got it started.  The thing that stopped me was trying to work out how to handle the half blocks in the side.  Well, I wondered do you just cut them in half?  I was horrified about this.  So I started asking questions of my quilting friends.  I got lots of good advice, and came up with a plan.

 You have to recalculated the edge pieces so that they are cut on the straight, and not the cross.  Otherwise you get a wobbly quilt.  One lady suggested that I do a stay stitch along the edge and then I don't have to re-do the blocks. 

I also had to do the corner blocks.  They are also recalculated, and each part made seperately in order to get the pointed bits on the straight.

I think that in the older days they just cut them in halves and quarters and hoped for the best.

You will see some more photos of this one as I progress

Feathered Star

This is the final block in the Pieces of the Past sampler quilt.  All nine blocks are on the Legend and Lace website to download.  This is without a doubt the most complex of the blocks.  You need to make it in segments, then join them like a Nine Patch.

Next month I will write the instructions on how to join the blocks, with the sashings and the borders.  All the finishing off stuff - working on the assumption that you will all be ready to finish it :-)).

What is next?  Well I am still doing the Rose Garden BOM; working on the Mrs Vigors quilt, which a couple of the local shops have asked me to teach; applique the Calico Paradise from Collector with a Needle......and all the other half finished projects.

Scrap quilts are still happening.  Our workshop on 3rd May is just about full, and I have a couple of commissions from Aust quilting magazines for some scrap quilts.  You know what?  No matter how many of these scrap quilts I make, I never have any less fabrics in my cupboard, or any less mess in my sewing room.  What do you think?  Does it breed?

Now, some words of wisdom.   You know I love Scrap Quilts, and I love books, and I love antique quilts.  I was reading through one of Gwen Marston's books - I think it was Liberated Medallion quilts.  She writes that people often ask her how she gets that lovely scrappy look of her quilts.  She states that she actually uses scraps- it helps!  People ask me how I choose my fabrics - I just put my hand in the box and if it is not the same as the last fabric I used then it gets a run.  Then I just work on light and dark - get some contrast in there.  Don;t spend too much time thinking about it, that is what makes them seem bland or contrived.

Happy Stitching.

Ohio Rose - block 8

I have a nice easy little block for you this month - Ohio Rose.  I found this block when I was flipping through the pages of my book "Enduring Grace"  and saw a couple if quilts made with this block.

It is a very simple block to make and you can probably have it done before you go to bed tonight!  The pattern is now available on the Legend and Lace website as a PDF download for $2.50.

Time for me to get back to the research for the next block.  I keep finding ones I like better than the previous one I found, so can't make up my mind.  I might have to extend the patterns past the original plan of 12 - see how many I can find.