The partner I was assigned to was Gillian and other than her page on Pinterest and the details I was given I didn't really know much about to follow on other than she liked designers Sheena Norquay and Edyta Sitar and her colour preferences, so I latched onto the work of Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket quilts and her modern, fresh take on traditional quilts and her love of using creams and blues to keep that fresh look.
My first try at this was make abstract log cabin blocks with low volume, natural coloured fabrics, sometimes using the reverse of the fabrics to achieve the look that I wanted, rather than a flat background. They were 3 x 6" wide by 2 x 6" deep, however I felt it was too wide so cut the width down to 2 blocks wide. I joined strips of green to the bottom.
I used quilting in the ditch for the top and decorative machine stitches for the bottom. I made up the house and appliquéd that to the quilt.
I thought I was well on the way, but when I went to FoQ and talking to friends at the hotel in the evening who were not in the team that I was in I realised to my horror that the width of the quilt I made was not big enough. Aaargh!!!
Back home after FoQ I tried to recover what I'd already done, but couldn't so with 2 log cabin blocks to spare I made 4 more. Joined the strips to the bottom and made another appliqué house.
Time was getting on a bit so I didn't take any pics than this one! As this version is wider there was a big space to the left of the house so I drew a tree onto fusible web and added that, together with leaf shapes left over from the green strips after cutting to size. I also sewn on a couple of bee buttons and felt they added a little something to this quilt. I still have the drawing of the tree and was please how it turned out so another one may be growing soon somewhere else - stay tuned!
I included a gift of a pouch with a small notepad and pen and it was all ready before Sarah's wedding in a padded envelope ready to go in the post on Monday 11th.
Oh, want to see the back of the quilt? Of course you do!
I will let you know what happened to the small quilt later....
On Tuesday (12th) the postman delivered my quilt from Helen, but unfortunately we thought we would get the shopping and be in for delivery later (our postman normally comes early afternoon) but came while we were out so Wednesday I had to go and collect it from the delivery office.
It came in a tube and I thought I was going to get a Christmas themed quilt...
But it turned out to be this.... I was amazed!! Gosh, I really didn't know how much I was into railways, must be all that "liking" of Swanage Railway on Facebook, where David volunteers.
She also put in some rust, green and brown threads and there's a card too which she hand made.
The quilt is now hanging on a quilt rail in the hallway and I see it each time I come down the stairs.
Anyway enough of that excitement, you want to know what happened to the first quilt I made. That was not going to waste. I decided to keep that for the time being.
I did a bit of an experiment and had a go at Jo Avery's tendrils technique which was in Today's Quilter magazine and also add some appliqué leaves. It is totally out of proportion with the quilt so whether I decide to keep that and work some embroidery or do a smaller version of the tree I'm not sure yet, but here's what it looks like. I think I may call this Beanstalk as it does remind me of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk.
All in all, I enjoyed the swap and although it is a closed group so you can't see all the quilts, just the swap members, which is a shame. It is good to be able to make a quilt that stretches you that little bit.
Good job you found out the real size before you sent it! The train is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI was sure I'd commented on this? Love both the minis!
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