Deliberation lies ahead

If you’ve been here for a while then you’ll know that I’m a fan of scrappy patchwork quilts, and may even know that I had a grand plan to make my own using fabrics from my stash. As it turned out, progress has been slow - it’s been on the go since 2017, but as the saying goes you can’t rush a good thing! Or that’s my excuse anyway.

Over the Christmas break of 20/21 I picked it up again, the delay had been cutting the cream fabric which surrounds the coloured blocks, and once that was done I’ve been plodding through making up the blocks. The pattern says twenty blocks, but I’ve decided to make more i) for practice, ii) because I’d already sewn more when I realised and mostly because iii) so I can make sure the quilt fits a double sized bed.

This week I finally met the target of my forty blocks. Some are better than others, but overall even though I say it myself, they’re pretty good.

So having reached the target, I’ve stepped out of my chain sewing comfort zone and I’ve trimmed all the blocks so the final cream piece can be added on all four sides.

The next few stages are ones which create some offcuts. Hating waste I contemplated what I could do with them, but as I have no need for even more new projects they have gone into the bin.

Now I’m ready to square off the blocks. I’ve practised this next step on my wonkiest blocks, with the ones where the seams were not quite aligned. And I’ve surprised myself - this was my first sewing project for a long time, and since I started putting the blocks together I temporarily broke off to sew masks for both MOH and I during the early stages of Covid.

I’ve got fifteen blocks that are trimmed, so that leaves 25 to go - and then the deliberation and procrastination can start as I’ll need to decide on the layout for the quilt top, and exactly how many blocks I’ll use and the subsequent adjustments needed for the rest of the pattern.

With any luck, and a good wind behind me, I could actually have a quilt top in the not too distant future!

Picking up my patchwork

It’s been a while, but over Christmas the patchwork quilt I planned and started a while back started to call my name. So I braved it, pulled it out and quickly remembered the reason I’d put it aside was because my next job was to cut up an old duvet cover to use as the plain sections of the quilt. I also remembered that I needed to cut over 300 pieces once I’d done that.

However, as I said it was calling my name, so there was nothing for it, but to get on with it.

And like many things, once I’d started it wasn’t as bad as I feared. It wasn’t long before I got into a rhythm and piles of the right sized blocks started to form.

So the next piece of my quilt puzzle was to reacquaint myself with the 2.5 inch squares I’d already cut after choosing fabrics from my stash and working out the layouts. Now I needed to decipher my system - thankfully my logical self had left plenty of clues, including some blog posts and photos of each Great Granny Square layout. Sometimes I even amaze myself.

Which all meant, it was time to start sewing. I decided to pin a couple of blocks to speed up the actual sewing, and it’s a system that’s working out well for me. I currently have four blocks assembled, two more ready to assemble, two ready for the first seams to be pressed and another two blocks pinned and ready to sew.

I do like a system.

SEWING SQUARES TOGETHER

CHAINING MORE SQUARES TOGETHER

SEWING THE STRIPS TOGETHER AND ASSEMBLING THE BLOCKS

The sewing is actually the enjoyable bit, cutting out less so - but clearly needs to happen. I’m sure MOH is bemused about the desire to cut up bits of fabric to sew them back together again, and on a level I see his point, but knowing I will create something bigger and better than its parts is what it’s all about.

Each strip and block I sew is full of memories. I know where each piece has come from and many are years old and some are much newer. In the blocks below, the pink and white floral pieces are from remnants in mum’s stash of the Laura Ashley curtains I had in my bedroom as a teenager, the brown stripey fabric is newer and a recent purchase from the V&A. The turquoise aztec pattern is from remnants from a childhood dress of mine, not the actual dress, but a piece that mum made me a magazine bag which I used and used. I used so much the handles came off, and so it was put aside and when I came to look for fabrics I knew this was going in.

The centres of each block, and the pink and lilac striped material are from old shirts. I’m not sure its usual to use stripes in patchwork, however I am. Striped fabrics have memories too - though I’m trying to use them so all the stripes head the same way. I suspect there’ll be a hiccup along the way, but that’s the plan.

Some of my seams don’t quite match up, and some are perfect. I’m trying not to focus on those that don’t too much because when it’s all together it will be unlikely that the imperfections spoil the overall look. Well, I’m hoping not anyway.

I’ve realised just how much I do like patchwork quilts, and how long it is since I’ve sewn one. When I had my first house I made many quilts, selling them to friends and family but got out of the habit somewhere along the way. I’ve also realised that quilts have many life lessons in them, as well as memories, as done is way better than perfect.

And while I’ve certainly not been rushing this one, they aren’t something to rush either. Though even I’ll admit leaving it a few years in between stages is pushing it. I’m not even sure MOH believes it will ever exist as an actual quilt either. I’m sure it will, though I’m not quite prepared to say exactly when!

A quick quilt update: cutting is underway

It's been a while since I've mentioned my patchwork quilt here, and that's mostly because not much has happened since I sorted out the materials from my stash back in January.  That's partly because life has been busy (when isn't it?) but also because I always find it hard to make the first cut. 

When I chose my materials I thought I probably had enough of each material, but I wasn't sure. Because I'm using a mix of materials, including some old clothes I've cut up, it wasn't that simple. But with a couple of hours, renewed purpose and weather that encouraged me to stay inside, this weekend my well used rotary cutter and mat and I became reacquainted.

I've started to cut the 2.5 inch strips, from which I'll cut thirty squares. And yes, I'm using the floor which has been tough going on my knees even with a cushion.  I've also learnt, or reminded myself that:

• there's a lot more cutting to do,

• I have plenty of material for this project, even from the clothes I cut up,

• sewing projects require ironing, and that's before I've even started on any seams,

• purpose bought material is easier to cut than repurposed clothes, mainly because it's already square.

I know that last one is pretty obvious, but using old clothes has meant more finickity cutting. I'm glad that when I arranged the materials in the basket by colours to see how they worked together, that somehow I also instinctively knew to mix them up so the upcycled fabric was interspersed with the purpose bought material. That's helped as after every more complicated cutting I know there's an easier one to come.

I'm about halfway through cutting the materials and my next task is to iron these ready for cutting them into the thirty 2.5 inch squares I need. I'm not a big fan of ironing and it comes to something when I iron more for sewing projects than for clothes to wear, although in my defence I purposefully choose clothes that need less ironing, I mean if you can, why wouldn't you?

Once I have the squares then it'll be a case of working out how to place them - the interesting bit - and cutting out the plain, background squares and I've a feeling there's a lot of those. I'm not focusing on that number right now though and I'm hoping it won't be quite so tricky as I've an old duvet cover to use for that.

But first, back to the ironing, and more cutting...