I Spy a Tutorial

I found this tutorial link on Bonnie Hunter's Facebook page.  It's an I Spy quilt by Melissa Corry at Happy Quilting blog. The instructions are very detailed, lots of photos, and the finished quilt looks great.  It's not difficult, the blocks are based on a four patch, it's the placement of the colours that makes it lively.

http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/i-spy-quilt-tutorial.html

Special Days

I've been wanting to make a sampler quilt for sometime now.  I have The Farmer's Wife book and I've made about a dozen of those blocks.  Dear Jane is quite amazing, but.....perhaps they all look a bit similar to each other?  I wanted to choose my own blocks but I was lacking a theme.

Last month I discovered that March 14 was Pi Day.  Pi is the mathematical number to measure circles, 3.14 and so on, so the 14th day of the 3rd month is Pi Day.  I thought I would make a block and searched in EQ7 for something appropriate.

14 March - Pi Day

 The pattern is Key Lime Pie, so I used a lime print and managed a 4, 3 and 1 as well.  I made a few more blocks in March.

17 March - St. Patrick's Day

 Easy - Single Irish Chain and shamrocks.

21 March - Autumn Equinox

 Autumn for us in the Southern Hemisphere, that is.  I added the selvedge from the background fabric with the words 'Changing Seasons'.  It was a bit challenging - seven squares in six inches.

19 March - Seppitag - St. Joseph's Day

St. Joseph's Day is a public holiday in Stans, Switzerland where I visited in 2011. The pattern is Joseph's coat, and  I used carpenter's tools and masculine colours.

So, my I Spy Special Days has begun.  If I make one block a week, four a month, it will only take me seven years to get all the blocks.  It would also be enormous. I can worry about that in 2020.

IQSCM Quilt of the Month

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum is based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Each month the IQSCM emails one featured quilt from their collection.  August 2012 shows the quilt 'Child's Quilt' made in 1958 by Jean Ray Laury.

You can search the online archives or join the email list at http://www.quiltstudy.org/

This blog has been very quiet lately.  All the excitement is over at my new blog http://www.chestercriswellquilt.blogspot.com.au/ .  If you are into antique quilts it's worth popping over.

I Spy and Magnifiy

This is an I Spy for the vision challenged - each I Spy is magnified with a magnifier lens.  What an excellent pattern!  You can find the download here.
It comes from the website All People Quilt.  It's a Better Homes and Gardens site, loaded with easy patterns, and lots of freebies.  It looks like an excellent resource if you need an idea in a hurry.

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/



I Spy Puss in the Corner

At the local op shop I bought a pile of old quilting magazines which included Australian Quilters' Companion No. 18 (the one with the Candied Hexagons pattern).  There is also a pattern called 30s Sweet Dreams using a traditional block called Puss in the Corner.  Here's what I did with the pattern:

The pattern uses 3.5 and 1.5 inch pieces.  This is smaller than what I usually save, but I sorted through my 3.5 inch squares and found these framed pieces, seven in all. I discovered I did have a bin of 1.5 inch strips so I cut a pile of bright pieces and sorted them into take away food containers.

I like using these containers.  I don't use the lids, I just stack them inside each other when I'm putting things away.
The magazine pattern makes the quilt in rows rather than blocks and I found that worked very well.

The finished piece is too big for a doll's quilt.  I think I'll add some wide borders and make it cot sized.  If I was using the pattern again  I would make the big squares 5 inches and the strips 2 inches, which would still keep the pattern but would end up a more useful size.

I Spy Quilt Parade

I found some beaut quilts over at Sew in Peace.  Sandra ran an I Spy swap, and then posted a parade of quilts made from the swapped squares.  These two caught my eye.

The swapped squares were 5 inches.  This quilter wanted a larger square, so added plain sashing

which made the square larger and emphasised the colour.  Quite clever! 

The more I look at this one the better I like it.  The sash colour helps to define the rainbow stripes,

but because it's only on two sides the charm square isn't boxed in.

Instead of sashing the I Spy blocks with plain sashing, here the plain and prints are reversed.  It's effective, isn't it.  There are plenty more quilts on parade in the blog, lots of new ideas to try.

Flowers in a 9 Patch

I'm part way through a new I Spy setting but it's not quite finished.  So I though I would take the chance to share my latest finish.

This is Miss Emma's birthday quilt.  The top is made from two years worth of swap blocks in my group Primary Patchworkers.  The flower blocks were made in 2009.  Each group member supplied a box of fabric which went from member to member once a month.  Each person used the supplied fabrics to make a block in her chosen style.  Mine is the pieced flower bottom left hand corner.
The nine patch blocks were made in the 2011 birthday blocks.  I supplied pink, yellow and white fabric (leftovers from my flowers) and asked members to add some from their own stash to make nine patch blocks.  I actually asked for nine inch block when I needed eight inch ones, so I trimmed them all resulting in a large square surrounded by smaller squares.
I quilted in the ditch along the diagonals and then - drum roll please - I did a free motion outline in each flower block.

The backing fabric is a very pretty pink gingham with white embroidered daises scattered around. 

 Miss Emma likes pink.

I'll finished with a gratuitous picture of a Singer treadle machine, my mother's day present.

I like sewing machines.