The Quilt Police

I have a firm belief that somewhere there exists a group of anonymous people known as The Quilt Police who mandate and enforce The Laws of Quilting via YouTube, blog and Pinterest propaganda. And the occasional trade show.

So whenever I stroll into this guarded log cabin city - with a backpack full of scraps and a heart yearning for an answer - I'm often on my guard. I'm anxious not to soil the society that quilters have established, but the idea is often to study a world outside of my own shell before returning to my own lands, hopefully a little wiser, to create something meaningful (on my terms).

In the eyes of a quilter, I probably offend and subvert what is considered to be sacred. But I'm not trying to please quilters, I'm trying to please the quilt recipients!

My first attempt at a quilt was back in 2012 with the Scrabble quilt (was it ever documented here?)

And I have been collecting scraps for a very long time to make another one. I had over 400 squares, which makes quite a tall pile when they're stacked:

Compared with a standard prosecco bottle:

The same pile compared with a 4pt bottle of milk:

Bur I was never going to use the squares as originally planned. So they have been raided to make 2 new quilts!

Summer 2017: #1 Kaleidoscope Quilt

We went to a wedding in April and the lady who owned Darn It & Stitch had made this quilt for the couple:

I became obsessed with it, and knew it would be a perfect baby gift for some friends and their bump.

Many thanks to Mammafairy who was able to identify the block from the photo and who found a good template on Quilter's Cache.

Can you tell that the couple dance for Gog Magog Molly?

I raided my scraps for the quilt top, but bought a fleece back from Spoonflower with appropriately geeky maths print (Count On It! by sammyk). Oh, and there's some double bias binding around the edge, mirroring the blue and green pieces in the middle. Oh, and I mitred all the corners in the blue border.

I made this using paper piecing method, but made test squares using the freezer paper method too. I didn't like the latter at the test stage, and the paper piecing method meant I could build each square at the same time. I think that really helped the design come together well. But paper piecing does generate a lot of waste!

Trying to understand paper piecing works

Results from freezer paper

Blocks in progress!

Torn paper after finishing all the blocks

There was also enough fabric spare to make a nifty drawstring bag.

I stocked up on variegated quilt thread from Jaycotts but didn't seem to need anywhere near as much as I'd expected. Hopefully this means I'll have plenty for quilt #2.

Summer 2017: #2 Blue & White Disappearing Nine Patch

Currently in many small bits in my work area. I'm aiming for a blue/white colourway. The project got relegated down my list, but hopefully it'll get sewn up soon.

Layout for my Disappearing Nine Patch quilt

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