Patience is a virtue...

.. that I don't possess but thankfully Sarah does. About 6 months ago I held a giveaway over on Instagram and Sarah was the winner. The prize was a custom cushion made by yours truly. Sarah highlighted some of my designs that she liked and then left me to get on with it. Sarah was particularly fond of two of my quilts, Never Forgotten and Kaleidoscopic, so I figured I'd make something that included elements of both of them. What I forgot was that improv is not a speedy process for me, hence this cushion being 6 months in the making.

I started by making a Hexiestars block with fabrics left over from my Kaleidoscopic quilt and built random blocks out from there. I had to walk away from it at my first attempt as I just didn't know how I wanted it to develop. Yesterday I picked it back up after a long absence and once I got into my stride it didn't take long at all to finish it up. I crazy straight line quilted with a variegated green Aurifil thread which melted into the background beautifully.

I love the way it turned out and I'm hoping that once Sarah receives it she will think it was worth the wait. Catch you soon x

The week that was...

manic! Note to self: don't commit to submit 2 quilts to a quilt show within a 2 month time frame when you haven't started either of them! Improv takes me way longer than I could possibly have imagined and tiny precise piecing is time consuming and stressful. I'm breathing a sigh of relief this evening as I have finally finished both quilts for the Quilt and Stitch Village show just in time for them to be mailed tomorrow - the deadline is Monday! Talk about last minute panic.

Anyway, enough rambling, I'm sharing one finish with you today - The Never Forgotten improv quilt.

I have to say I'm really proud of this little beauty. It finished up around 40" square. Well, square in the loosest sense of the word. I tried squaring it up but it just kept on shrinking and for fear of having to submit it as a mug rug I gave up ;) Here are some of my favourite bits in my more detail:

The poppy wreath

The stamped centre of the poppy wreath - Never Forgotten

Crazy straight line quilting - tram lines

I used 5 different colours of Aurifil thread for the quilting because I wanted to echo the colours in the fabrics without any one colour overpowering things. This was easily the scariest part for me as I loved the way the top looked when it was finished and was worried that my quilting would ruin it.

Clearer close-up of quilting

In the end I am thrilled with the effect, it has made the quilt really tactile. So now it's all packaged up and ready for sending out. Quite what the judges will make of it is anybody's guess but to quote one of my favourite movie lines, "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn".
Catch you soon xx

Actual sewing

I'm finally feeling well enough to get some sewing done! Woohoo! I've got a lot of projects on the go and unfortunately I can't show a lot of them just yet. One I can show you is this FUCancer quilt which I'm making for a dear friend who's having a tough time. I dug out a jelly roll of Lark by Amy Butler for a very cheery but quick to make quilt.

I'm still playing with the final layout but it will be chevrons! I absolutely love Lark in all it's technicolour :)

You can just about see a peek of my Never forgotten improv quilt on the left hand side too ;) I'm hoping to get in some more improv time now that I'm not so fuzzy-headed... Catch you soon x

Never Forgotten improv

Public Service Announcement: This post is long! Grab a cuppa if you've got the time, otherwise scroll through to the pictures :) If you're looking for the scrap giveaway it's here.

I mentioned in my FAL post that I have 2 quilts to make for the Quilt and Stitch Village Show, well, today I'm going to tell you a story about one of those quilts in the making. This particular quilt will be entered into the Special Theme category which this year commemorates the centenary of the start of WW1. I've decided to go for an Improv quilt as the judges can't be too picky about mismatched points, no, seriously, I figured it was the best way to bundle up the myriad of reasons why this category is important to me. Before I show you the quilty bits I want to give you the back story...

Me aged 14ish on school history trip to Belgium/France

I went on a school history trip in the late 80s that made an indelible mark on me. We visited many significant war memorials and battlefields in France and Belgium culminating in a trip to the Menin Gate in Ypres where we witnessed the buglers playing of the Last Post (I could cry just thinking about it now). Although some of the places and names never registered with me, the experience has remained amongst the most emotionally significant events in my life.

2 boys from my school year wading through the trenches of WW1

Seeing young lads my age wading through the relics of the WW1 trenches and realising that boys not much older than them had died in the vary same spot was (and still is) mind-blowing.

Entrance to a trench dugout

I've always had a keen interest in the World Wars and this was something that gained greater significance to me when learning about our family history from my Great Uncle Harry. In recent years I have been revisiting our family history with Jess (she loves history, Harry would have been so proud!) and with the magic of the internet it's amazing what you can discover these days. I knew that at least 2 of our ancestors were killed in action but I didn't know much else beyond that. First up is Sgt Bernard Fitzpatrick, the handsome chap in the bottom right hand corner, he was my Great-great grandfather (I think). We had this lovely cutting from a newspaper (courtesy of Uncle Harry) but today I was able to find his military records online and found that he was mentioned in despatches twice. Once for an unspecified act and again when he received a Russian medal - the Medal of St George 4th class for gallantry and distinguished service in the field.

Bernard died in the Battle of Loos on 25th September 1915, a month after his Russian medal was announced.
Our second loss was Bombardier James Dawson, he was my Great-Grandfather's brother. I don't believe that we have a picture of him in life but here's one of his war grave.

He died in France on 22nd April 1918. This picture was found in his pocket when he died...

...the handsome chap in the uniform is my Great-Grandfather George, he was discharged from the army after 2 and a half years service in 1917 due to injury which left him permanently incapacitated with chest trouble. James and George were both born in America to British parents so were classified as British citizens. Their parents certainly had a rough few years!

I'm certain that I'll find more ancestors that perished in WW1 the further into our family history search we go. I'm so proud of our men! 

So, if I haven't lost you already I'll show you the quilty stuff :) I wanted to make a "modern" tribute that wasn't "in your face" a memorial. I grabbed a whole selection of low volume prints and solids and a little selection of red prints to represent poppies.

I had a good flick through Lu Summers book for some inspiration for the improv element then got chopping. I'm afraid to say I can't do improv without some order and control so I chopped "scraps" specifically for this project to add to the small amount I found in my scrap bin :) Amongst the fabrics that I chose are a couple of symbolic ones; there's a Minick and Simpson stripe and star that I've used in other projects before now which symbolises the American connection to the Dawson family, a Hometown text print which has lots of words like family, territory, etc which I thought were very relevant along with a Cross print from Curious Nature which I thought looked a bit Military like.

My intention was to pull random scraps out but in reality I have been a bit more structured  in my fabric placement, I know...not very improv. So far I've made 3 blocks, only another 22 to go ;)

The chevrons at the top represent Sgt Fitzpatrick(3 stripes) and Lance Bombardier Dawson(1 stripe). Here's a little close-up of the text print.

The splash of red is the first of 8 "poppies". 

I'm going to try to use a few different prints for the red poppies but the Minick and Simpson stars and stripes will be at least 2 of them.
I'm loving how it looks so far. I intend to include some basket weave blocks to represent the trenches along with some crosses and who knows what else?! :) I actually really enjoy the process once I get into it but it is very time consuming as Improv really doesn't come easily to me. It will be interesting to see the reaction of the judges to this little quilt once it's finished. I know that last year there were some odd remarks on a few of the "modern" quilts so we shall see. Either way, I'm delighted to be honouring our ancestors in a quilt. This lengthy post has been a record for prosperity so if you've reached the end of it give yourself a clap and chocolate to celebrate ;) Catch you soon x
P.S Almost forgot, thank you for the lovely responses to my Not-so Lonestar finish! xx

Blogger's quilt festival - Heather Ross baby quilt

I've got another entry for Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival. This time it's in the Baby quilt category. If you're a new visitor to the blog you can find the back story for my Heather Ross baby quilt here. If you like what you see we'd love you to come back soon :) If you're a regular reader it's not been too long since I started this little quilt for our new nephew so I'm sure you'll be impressed that I got it done so quickly! 

I didn't have a firm plan in mind for this quilt other than wanting it to be a kind of eye-spy quilt but if I did have a plan it would have looked exactly as it does ;) Our nephew's parents don't own a tv and they are a very musical family so I'm sure they will find plenty of things to sing about when this quilt is in use.

Starting point for the quilt

These prints by Heather Ross are perfect for fussy cutting! I framed a few little pieces with solids but really the prints sing all on their own.

When it came to quilting I didn't want anything too fussy so I just did some organic(otherwise known as wonky) straight lines in a neutral Aurifil thread. I used this chirpy print from Ikea for the back. It's a home decor weight fabric that will stand up to outdoor picnics much more readily than the quilting cotton.

This juicy orange pezzy print from American Jane made the perfect choice for binding.

So there we have it, one very cute (even if I say so myself) baby quilt measuring approximately 43"x 45".  I'm really hoping the recipients will love it as much as I do! Thanks for taking a look, don't forget to check out all the other quilts in the baby quilt category. Catch you soon x