Blockdown Quilt – Part 7

Here we are again, I hope you are all doing OK with the blocks so far. I have one more of my 15″ blocks to do but I have at least done last weeks 6″ blocks. I think one of my 6″ blocks may need remaking, I guess I was having an off day, but I will worry about that later. I figure I don’t need to worry until it comes to putting it together. I am starting to get excited about how this will look and we have only just started really. I am thinking I might start keeping the blocks on my design wall when I get a few more done. One of the ladies in the discussion group has made a scale layout and makes a scale copy of each block as she does them. Then she can use bluetack to stick the blocks on the layout. Using the loose blocks means she can shuffle they layout later if she needs to. It’s a really neat idea and much more space efficient than my plan.

This week we are making 12″ blocks. These are fun as we have space for more complex blocks and 12 is divisible into several different grids which gives even more options. Yes I am excited by this size, sad maybe but hey it makes me happy. The theme will be birds. If you are looking online you may need to search for specific birds to find some blocks, I will tell you there are a lot of bird related blocks. I think one day I might have to do a quilt of just bird blocks, and maybe avoid too many that actually look like birds so it isn’t too obvious.

• For the small quilt you will need 1 block and it will be position green 2
• For the medium quilt you will need 2 blocks and they will be positions green 2 and 12
• For the large quilt you will need 2 blocks and they will be positions green 2 and 12

Yes this week is one of those weeks where those doing the largest size don’t get extra work. We have a few of those as the addition piece is actually quite small. Enjoy.

Blockdown Quilt – Part 6

I can’t believe it is part  6 already. It feels like we only started a week or two ago. I guess time really does fly. I have to admit I am only half way through last week, I knew last week would be slow, I am just thrilled I can actually do it. Until the last few weeks my hands were not up to any hand sewing, now I am doing needle turn applique. Admittedly slower and not as well as I used to but it is coming back as I get some practice. I am hoping I might finish the second block this week, and the third next. This week we have a simpler task (yes being able to plan ahead does have some perks). So hopefully if I am not the only one with more to do on last weeks block this will be a quick easy filler bit of sewing.

This week we are doing  6″ blocks again. The theme this week is rotation. That might be a name related to rotation, or a block that feels like it is rotating (darn it I used one that would be great for this 2 weeks ago) or maybe a block with rotational symmetry.

• For the small quilt you will need 1 block and it will be position red 5
• For the medium quilt you will need 2 blocks and they will be positions red 5 and 28
• For the large quilt you will need 3 blocks and they will be positions red 5, 28 and 36

Blockdown Quilt – Part 5

This week we have a theme for a friends birthday. Consider this a birthday present. For the rest of us who may be less thrilled with the theme, don’t forget you can use your alternate. I am actually planning a mix. One on theme and two of my alternate which will be large stars I think. Without further ado this week we are making 15″ blocks with the theme Hawaiian. Yes I was thinking of the obvious, but having given it more thought you can go pretty off piste with this too. Be interesting to see how people handle this.

• For the small quilt you will need 1 block and it will be position purple 1
• For the medium quilt you will need 2 blocks and they will be positions purple 1 and 6
• For the large quilt you will need 3 blocks and they will be positions purple 1, 6 and 9

Blockdown Quilt – Photos – Part 1

Thank you folks, I now have a selection of block photographs from the first part of our new quilt. The first week was 12″ blocks with the theme puzzle. There were a lot of fantastic options, these are the ones I know have been made. I hope many more were done too I would hate the blocks to miss out. The winning block this week was Dutchmans puzzle. I feel that is a very fine choice as really two of my blocks were essentially that, although the different colouring has a different name.

First we have Ginny’s version of Dutchmans puzzle. I love how bright her block is, I think the quilts this year are going to be pretty vibrant. Ginny is making the smaller size quilt, so just needed one block this week.

Next we have Sharon’s take on the same block,

Sharon is making the largest size quilt, so needed three blocks. Her other two choices are Indiana Puzzzle and When a puzzle meets a quilt.

Rachel is also making the largest size quilt and thus needed three blocks. She chose the Brides Puzzle as her first block, then realised there was no Grooms Puzzle, Batchelors yes, but not groom. So she has fixed that and filled a gap in quilt blocks.

Rachel’s third block is Jig Jog puzzle. This one is a good reason I try to make my blocks before our discussion group. If I hadn’t I would have made this one, and that would have lead to more angst over which other to discard. Much safer to make my choices early and get them done. Yup I am that easily distracted and no I really don’t need to make two quilts worth of blocks (yes that thought had crossed my mind).

Janis went for the chinese puzzle for her block. I really like this block and quite fancy a quilt made entirely of them. I think they will make some interesting designs as they link up

If you would like to send me pictures of the blocks you are working on I will be more than happy to add them here. I think it will be great seeing all the blocks and the range of colours. I am thinking these will be very uplifting quilts very vibrant and lively.

Blockdown Quilt – Part 4

No a bank holiday doesn’t mean no blog it just means I am running late I have been taking advantage of the bonus time to get things done like planting more strawberries and lavender. We still get to play with our quilts though. This week we are back to the 6″ blocks. The theme this week is an object, so any block that is an object.

• For the small quilt you will need 1 block and it will be position red 2
• For the medium quilt you will need 2 blocks and they will be positions red 2 and 22
• For the large quilt you will need 3 blocks and they will be positions red 2, 22 and 39

Blockdown Quilt – Part 3

I hope you are having fun with this new project. I know I am, though I have to admit despite my best intentions I am already stretching the rules to do things more complex than I intended. I hope by having less per week to do I will be able to keep up even if I do a few silly things. I really would love to see what you have been making please do share some photos. That being said it seems I will have to put the photos of my blocks from last week in another post as I forgot to bring them to my office and I am running out of time to blog. I guess I am just as fallible as everyone else.

This week we have more blocks to make, but hopefully they will be simple enough to be quick, for most people. I admit I have started on these and kinda twisted my own rule designed to make this quick and easy. Having said that I did manage to make a block in 5 minutes each time even with me being difficult so I could have been worse. For those doing the classes puzzled by the numbering, bear with me and bring the print out with you tomorrow.

Part 3 is 3″ blocks. We have quite a few of these around the quilt so we will need to make several each time. Our design requirement this time is, only two pieces. Yes that is supposed to be an easy way into these, but it does still give you quite a few options.

• For the small quilt you will need 6 blocks and they will be orange positions 37A – 42
• For the medium quilt you will need 12 blocks and they will be orange positions 37A – 42, and 89-94
• For the large quilt you will need 16 blocks and they will be orange positions 37A – 42, 89-94, 106, 107, 110 and 111

Blockdown Quilt – Part 2

I hope you all had fun with last weeks block. I know I did. My three (yes of course I am doing the biggest size) are done, and not at all what I thought I was going to do. Well perhaps it is more accurate to say I had forgotten to think very much about what I was doing and my choice of blocks last week made some decisions for me. I decided I wanted to do dutchmans puzzle, but as a 12″ block that means some pretty large pieces of fabric. That put me off using either solids or fabrics that read as solid I wanted something more interesting. I think I may also have still had my head in the quilt I had been working on the week before in my holiday retreat (yup I should blog that). So it seems my blockdown quilt will involve fussy cutting. I think as there aren’t too many blocks each week that shouldn’t be an issue and I have a stack of fabrics I can use for this, they were just sitting in my stash maturing good to get them some exercise. The block that caused this decision came out like this,

It is not the traditional colouring, but I felt the fabrics looked more interesting in pairs like this so I went with it. I have a feeling this may have some other name but I will claim my intention was dutchman’s puzzle so it counts. My second block is star puzzle. This isn’t I block I had heard of before this week, which was rather the point of the exercise, and I do really like it. I found a lot of different ways to colour it and chose this one because to me it felt rather like the star was glowing , making the black background grey. Look closely at the center, it is alternating colours of the same fabric.

I was very pleased with how the center worked. I was hoping to give the illusion of a single design from the fabric and that has mostly worked out, despite me being a little slapdash on picking where to cut. My final block for part 1 is the yankee puzzle. This one caused me some concern on the fabric placement, but actually turned out to be very simple, I just had to wrap my head around how stripes work on triangles. It did give me much more confidence for future blocks with these fabrics.

When we had our discussion group last Tuesday we found a huge number of blocks, I have notes on about 30. I sort of regretted having already picked my three. On the other hand it did stop me procrastinating, which was really useful. So I will be doing the same this week, to keep this as quick and simple as I can. It does mean I miss out on some great blocks but I am also building my own notebook of things I would like to revisit. So in the future I can go back to some of these. Even within this quilt there is scope for some of the blocks I missed first time around within other weeks.  I am expecting to do less fussy cutting on smaller blocks too, not just so they will be simpler and quicker but also because I don’t think the fussy cutting will be as worthwhile on smaller pieces.

I guess it is time to tell you what we will be making this week, 6″ blocks on the theme 9 patch.

• For the small quilt you will need 1 block and it will be position red 1
• For the medium quilt you will need 2 blocks and they will be positions red 1 and 29
• For the large quilt you will need 3 blocks and they will be positions red 1, 29 and 40

Remember that any block made of a 3×3 grid is essentially a 9 patch. Many books will list blocks by their underlying grid which might be helpful for this one. Equally draw yourself some grids and have a play, maybe you can come up with a new block.

If you are playing along and are happy to share your blocks, I would love to put up some photos each week to show the variety of blocks and colours that are possible. Email me photogrpahs of your blocks and I will try to get up a collection each week. It would be great if you could include the block name (if known) and let me know how you want me to credit the photo.

Blockdown Quilt – Part 1

Exciting day today, we start a new project. Having had a lot of fun with the Covid quilts last year I have designed a similar concept for this year. The big difference is this year we are only making one quilt. We can also pick the size at the beginning. Every week we will be working on a block or blocks with a theme. For those who are subscribed to me classes there will be is a layout and each week will say where the weeks blocks fit in that. There is no need to use my layout, you can just play along here and make your own layout with however many blocks you make. There will be 46 parts giving block details. For those in classes we will then have assembly sessions. I am hoping there will be a bit less work needed most weeks so those of us with day jobs will have a better chance of keeping up. I strongly suggest that you have a dedicated notebook for this quilt so each week you can add the block designs you want to make, then if you do have a busy week and can’t do the sewing you are still prepared when you do have time to play. There is still time to join the classes, we have a meeting (google meet) on Tuesday afternoons to discuss then design options and to resolve any other issues people may have. You will also get a copy of the layout (they will be sent tomorrow morning for those already enrolled). The price for the year is £50 if you are interested please  comment below or email me.

The quilt has three sizes, small 60″x 60″, medium 90″x 90″ and large 90″x 108″. Each week there will be a number of blocks for each size, along with the finished block size and location.  There will also be a theme to base the blocks on. Many I have chosen to fit in with traditional block names, but as with last year all technicalities count. If you feel your block fits then that is fine. Some weeks I will suggest a theme or your alternate. This will be for weeks when I know a technique may be tricky for some people. For example I will struggle with any that need hand work, so my alternate will probably be stars. I suggest you pick a type of block you love and use that if you find a week you cannot do. At the same time, do try to challenge yourself and have a go at new things, you never know you may find a new passion.

This week we will be making 12″ blocks on the theme puzzle.

• For the small quilt you need 1 and it will be position green 1.
• For the medium quilt you need 2 and they will be positions green 1 and 10.
• For the large quilt you need 3 and they will be positions green 1,  10 and 16.

Any block that fits the idea puzzle will be ideal, maybe try searching online for blocks with the word puzzle in and see what you can find. Maybe you can work out a puzzling block of your own.

Time off is time to get things done

As some of the next couple of weeks is nominally holiday I have been busy this weekend. I am trying to clear some old projects. When I say old, I think they were all started over 15 years ago. For my class project I have a dug out a star quilt. I think it was supposed to be 12 blocks although I can only identify 11 at them moment. They are big blocks and the cutting is not as good as I can manage now, but it would be nice to have it done if not perfect. This weekend I dug out 2 projects, one is a mystery quilt in purples which is looking good, and a kit from fabrics I clearly won. To say they aren’t my colours would be an understatement. However it is currently taking up space, and it could be a reasonable dog quilt. The plan is to work on it in small doses as it really isn’t much fun. I have 3 of the 6 blocks done. The other 3 are cut (badly) and ready to sew. They are about 15″ blocks when done so with a little sashing and a border (do I have any fabrics this sludgy) I will have enough to be a floor quilt for the animals. I also hope these tops might become test pieces at some point in the not too distant future for another longarm, but that depends on the government.

This week I want to get some customer quilting done and also keep moving the purple quilt along. I think it needs about 15 hours work to get the top together and it is pretty easy work at that. If i intersperse it with the longarming it should be done in no time more or less.

Monday Myster Solo Robin

Unless someone tells me otherwise, this is the last week of this quilt series. It feels an appropriate time to end as tomorrow is the anniversary of the first lockdown in the UK which started this. I thought I would post something for quilters to think about every week while in lockdown. When the lockdown did eventually end (it did take longer than I expected) I was pretty sure we weren’t in the clear and felt I should carry on, besides we were having fun. Here we are a year later, I have just had my first dose of the vaccine, and we have run through all the cards bar one. We are still in a lockdown, Europe is in the midst of a third wave, so I feel we still need a healthy distraction. Who knows this may become a long term legacy, a weekly quilt challenge. I feel we are due some healthy long term outcomes. Next week I will be taking the week off.  Then there will be a special design class for those who joined me in this challenge. On the 12th April we will start the next challenge. It will be one quilt that we work on block by block during the year.  It could be thought of as a modern style sampler with an irregular layout, but depending on fabric choices and the designs of the blocks you may end up with a quite traditional effect. for a one off payment of £50 you can have my layout chart and join the Tuesday discussion groups, alternatively you can follow along for free again and design your own layout for the quilt. Really my goal is the same, I want people to have something creative to think about and a reason to keep crafting. This quilt has taken a lot more work to put together but I an really pleased with how it has worked out. Unlike this last quilt I am planning for it to have scope for me to take a week off here ant there. I have split the quilt into 46 parts rather than 52. For those working with my design we will have at least one session on assembly at the end of the year. If we are able I would also like to have a discussion on quilting the quilt at the end of the year, though that will depend a lot on how people get on with the project and of course other circumstances. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments or drop me an email.

Back to this week, what is our last design challenge,

Pieced Squares

I can hear the sighs already. I hope people will consider what that actually says and play accordingly. Yes, vague yet unhelpful, what can I say I am feeling playful. How much bigger will this last quilt be getting then,

Add a total of 12″ to two opposite sides of your quilt.

Hmm, well that is more than I was expecting. Honestly I had a great plan for 3″ ho hum. I suppose this is probably more proportional though. That gives us a nice space for pieced squares. Have fun, and I hope you have enjoyed this last year and will join me again for the next project.