Rotating Flower Blocks Quilt

Some quilts just evolve and my rotating flower blocks quilt is one such.

I love these flower squares - a design by Lynette Anderson. I just couldn't stop making them! I particularly liked the Suffolk Puff centres and the way Lynette had shadow quilted around the flower right to the edge of the square. The piece of plain fabric with the flower applique was cut 4" square, which includes the seam allowance, and each finished flower square with the added 1/2" borders, ends up as 7" x 7" including the seam allowance.

But how to use them in a bed quilt? I made up twice as many simple four patches to compliment the busy flowers. It's easy to make four patches the right size - you just make them a little bit bigger and then trim them to size once sewn.

And also another simple square with a centre square cut at 4" so that I could quilt the flower design on it. I was so pleased to be able to use up some of my favourite saved scraps for the little strips on two sides of this centre square. I made the same number of these as the flower squares.

I sewed 4 of the squares together as below to make my blocks. These are just two of them.

By rotating the blocks as I laid them out an interesting pattern started to emerge - I felt inspired!! ....................... but it was pure luck really!! I've drawn a square around some of the blocks so that you can pick them out more easily.

So this is the finished quilt 

and the eagle-eyed will notice I added extra 7" squares all down one side, keeping the pattern going, and that I ran out of fabrics before the quilt was quite big enough, so had to have some different pattern fabrics in the border of plain squares. This made the quilt a perfect fit for my bed.

I've just realised - I could call it my evolving, revolving flower block quilt!!**

Flowerpatch Quilters members made a double bed quilt to raise money for charity, which also had a flower appliqued on a square in one corner. These are just two of the blocks:

The blocks were rotated before being sewn together and two borders added - plain and then strips. This is the finished quilt and I love it.

I have written out some instructions for making this quilt and below is a link to the one page, printer-friendly pdf.

Flowerpatch Daisy Patch Quilt


I think this idea of rotating the blocks would look good with almost any square block with an asymmetrical design and I really must get around to trying it out again ....some day!!

Happy sewing - Anita

Quilting Style at Flowerpatch

In every quilting book there is something that makes you sit up and take notice, and "Quilting Happiness" by Diane Gilleland and Christina Lane is no exception. They wrote of a super, fun idea to find out what your quilting style might be and we decided to do as they suggest at the Flowerpatch April meeting - what an eye-opener for some!

We all brought along old unwanted magazines (not quilting ones - they're far too precious!), paper cutting scissors and a glue stick.
We tore whole pages out of the magazines whenever we came across a picture that we liked, be it because of the colour or shape or whatever.
Then we cut out our chosen pictures from the pages.
The last stage was to make these pictures into a small collage on an A4 sheet of paper, cutting again as necessary.

These are just a few of our results.

Finally we answered these questions about our collage - with a lot of help from our friends.

Which colours are prominent?
Are there shapes or symbols that appear often?
What is the mood of your collage?
Is it simple or intricate?
Have you chosen large or small scale images relative to the page?
Are there mostly straight or curved lines?
Is your collage bold or subtle?

Fascinating to see all the results. Maybe even the fact that some chose landscape and some portrait orientation is meaningful. What about Elizabeth whose collage extended to twice the length of the paper and Ellen who made three collages!!??

Next meeting is on 14th May when Chris Pattison will be showing us "What your sewing machine can do for you!".

Have fun - Anita

Spring Quilt Festival, Exeter

Some friends and I had a super day at the Spring Quilt Festival at Westpoint, Exeter recently. I just have to show you a few of the quilts I especially liked.

If the makers have their own websites you can click on their name to see lots more of their work, etc. These pics are just a flavour.

I adored  all of Christine Restall's "Natural Expressions" quilts

and Terry Donaldson's "Full Circle" quilts

This is made by Jeanette Orr

this by Karen Milne

and I really liked Eileen Blood's method of applique.

I liked so many more exhibits, but got a little excited and snap happy, and I forgot to make sure I had the maker's names in focus so......

finally my own humble effort which I entered in the A4 Journal Quilt challenge which was called "Picture This". My two are called "Picture in This Frame?" and I was so chuffed to get a runner's up rosette!!

Hope you like my selections - Anita

Step by Step Quilt Binding

Binding a Quilt - not my favourite task, but I know it's going to make all the difference to the look of a quilt and I will be so pleased with myself when it's done - that is if I get it right!!

Melody had lots of tips about binding at Flowerpatch Quilters last meeting and these are her measurements for cutting the strips.

• The length of binding you need will be the distance around your quilt + 9"
• For ¼ "  single binding cut on the straight of grain - cut strips 1 ½ " wide.
• For ¼ "  double layered binding - cut strips 2 ¼ "  wide.

So armed with lots more info from Melody, this is me binding a double bed quilt. Due to having a limited amount of the fabric I want to use for the binding, I'm doing a single layer.

I cut all my strips across the fabric from selvage to selvage. With the back of a piece binding facing me I fold a corner down at 45 degrees and finger press. This marks my sewing line with a crease.

I lay this binding strip at right angles to another piece with right sides together, pin and sew along the crease.

I trim off the excess fabric and press the seam open. Repeat until you have one long length of binding.

I wind this on to a piece of cardboard and reward myself with a cup of tea and chocolate muffin!

Reinvigorated, I'm now ready to sew the binding on, but before I begin hadn't I better tack all around the quilt just near to what will be my sewing line? I think so - it will all go much better and quicker if I do and I hate unpicking! I don't trim the wadding and backing until the binding is sewn on.

I fold the beginning of the binding at 45 degrees and pin to the edge of the quilt. I think a good starting point is along the top edge near to the left corner.

I'm using my even feed (walking) foot on my machine with the lightest pressure. I sew until ¼ "  from the corner and finish off with a few back stitches.

Here is my binding sewn on as far as the corner. I fold it back so that it's at right angles.

Then fold it down on itself so that the fold is level with the edge of the quilt. Pin and it's off again with the sewing machine.

Carry on like this around the quilt until you're at the beginning and sew the end of the binding over and passed where you started.

Phew! I think I need a glass of wine - or maybe even a little lie down!

Revived I trim off the wadding and backing, turn the binding to the back with a small hem and slip stitch into place by hand ....................................................and finally - Voila!

Corner front and back

and the join front and back.

It's not gone too badly and I hope Melody is proud of me, but I do wish I'd followed my own advice and done that tacking all the way around!    :)

I have written a one page printer-friendly pdf with instructions and line drawings which you may find helpful.

This is the link

Binding a Quilt

Keep smiling - Anita

Four Corners at Flowerpatch

We love Four Corner evenings at Flowerpatch Quilters, they're always so chaotic and friendly. This time we had Iris doing Curved Piecing, Sue with Rotary Cutting, Melody doing Binding and me with Badges.

Iris showed us her take on curved piecing. She laid out some beautiful blocks on her table and they looked so difficult to do!

These are just two of them

and here is her simple method for accurate results:-

Cut out a circle of cardboard (how handy that plates, bowls, cups, glasses, etc. are all circular and we rarely have to resort to geometry!!) and a square of fabric the same size across

Use the cardboard circle as a template to draw a circle on a different piece of fabric and cut out approx 1/2" larger all around. Tack around the circle outside your drawn line, leaving the end of thread hanging and not finishing off.

Gather up the circle around the cardboard and press with an iron. Remove the cardboard, pull up the thread and press again.

Carefully cut into quarters.

Lay these on your fabric square and pin into place.

Sew on as you would applique and trim excess fabric from the back. Not so difficult after all!

Melody showed us how to finish off our quilts with perfect binding and mitred corners. I think this will have to have a blog post all of it's own - the very next one.

Sue demonstrated rotary cutting and brought along lots of equipment for members to try out.

She stressed the importance of always using a sharp blade - those little snags are so annoying and if you're pressing too hard things are far more likely to go awry. 
I have two cutters the same size. I keep one with a new blade for cutting cottons and put the older blade on the other (marked with a sticky label) for cutting paper and synthetics, etc. I hide the first one from certain people who want to cut all sorts of unsuitable things - they know who they are!!
My other tip would be to never leave your cutting board in the car on a hot sunny day. I am the shamefaced owner of a VERY warped board!


and finally .........

Jane had the super idea that all the members should make a name badge of their own design. There are lots of new members this year and it takes some time to learn everyone's name, especially as there are often 40 of us at the meetings. Jane had lots of colourful felts left over from another project and we could help ourselves to as much of this as we needed. Jane couldn't be at the meeting so I showed everyone some of the badges I had made using Abbie Anne Searle's reverse applique method in her book "Pile & Plunder".

Abbie came to Flowerpatch last June and showed us her exciting wall hangings, etc.

I chose just four 3" square fabrics (the one I put on the bottom is a stiff calico which stops puckering and distortion as you sew) to make my badges and started with quite a simple design.

After another look through Abbie's book I was a little more adventurous.

When I drew my design on the top fabric I laid it on sandpaper to stop it moving about and I used a "Frixion" pen as you can just iron the lines away if you go wrong. I zigzagged over all the drawn lines and then cut away through the layers to reveal the colour beneath.

So quick to do and such fun! There are detailed instructions on reverse applique, and lots of designs and ideas in Abbie's book.

The evening ended with a raffle in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society with prizes of vouchers donated by the Launceston Fryers. The delighted winners were Maureen, Della and Shirley.

Our next meeting is on 9th April and is titled "Getting in Touch with your Quilting Style". Members should bring along any or all of the following:- unwanted magazines (not patchwork), paper-cutting scissors and a glue stick.

Thank you for looking - Anita

PS. You can read a full report of our meetings each month in the Cornish & Devon Post.

Simple Blocks Cushion

More simple blocks similar to those in the Strippy Quilt in my last blog post, but this time put together in a much more orderly way. I have made nine blocks each measuring 4" square (+ the seam allowance) and with a 1" border they are just the right size for my cushion.

The three types of pieced blocks are:

                              FOURPATCH           STRIPES        and COURTHOUSE STEPS

I sewed my blocks by machine, then trimmed them to size (4.5") before sewing them together. I made up my quilting sandwich of the blocks, wadding and cheap cotton fabric, and didn't sew on the 1" border (1.5" with the seam allowance) until I had done all the quilting and neatened the edge with zigzag. I think this makes it easier when you come to make up the cushion.

I quilted by machine and chose a leaf design, as the colours looked vaguely autumnal, as well as quilting around each block. I made up the cushion using the same fabric on the back as the small checked green border fabric.

I have written a one page printer-friendly PDF if you would like some instructions on how to make up the blocks by hand or by machine, and have included some tips that you may find helpful.

This is the link

Simple Blocks

Sew happy - Anita

Simple Strippy Quilt

Most of the time I like to keep things simple and this is one of those sewing projects that you can do at your own pace and make whatever size you like. It's stress free! You may not like my colours - I do rather go for "sludgy", but I hope you can imagine it in your own favourite fabrics.

I bought just 5 fat quarters especially



and added others from past projects and from jumble sales - I do love jumble sales. I chose lots of checks and stripes.

The quilt is made up of strips from top to bottom which are, from left to right, 6" wide, 5" wide, 4" wide ........ repeated across the quilt and ending with a 5" wide strip. I did mean all the patches in the strips to be squares, but changed my mind when I couldn't bear to waste some leftover stripey bits.

Many of the 4" and 5" squares are just one fabric, but all the 6" squares are pieced in some manner.

The 4" blocks are stripes, fourpatch and applique














The 5" are fourpatch, ninepatch, stripes and applique

The 6" are ninepatch, stripes and applique














Putting it all together
I made up all the blocks before I sewed any together so that I could add extra fabrics as and when I liked. How exciting when I laid them all out and tried to get the colours and designs balanced across the quilt. I sewed them into their strips and then sewed the strips together. Hurrah! - no seams to match up! As the quilt is a large double bed size, I actually made it up in two halves, put these in their layers with the wadding and backing, and sewed them together after quilting. I quilted by machine along the seams of the strips down the length of the quilt, and by hand between these quilting lines.

Flowerpatch Group Quilt
Flowerpatch Quilters made a quilt in a similar design to raise money for Shelterbox.

I have written a printer-friendly one page PDF with suggestions, if you'd like to design your own similar Strippy Quilt. 
This is the link:

Design a Simple Strippy Quilt

Happy Sewing - Anita