Welcome to (a better-late-than-never edition) of Saturday Quilting Bring & Share. I hope you had a good weekend? Maybe there will be time for you to settle down with a hot drink (in the N. Hemisphere anyway!), bring along a project or two and enjoy sharing in the inspiration, tips and news circulating through our Worldwide Patchwork Community? I do hope so 🙂

Last week I hit my usual levels of procrastination re. settling on the fabric for the borders of the on-point Nine Patch quilt. I finally went for the brighter red print and whew! to my eyes it was the right decision.

Another project that’s too big for my design wall! I’m now pondering quilting designs…

Having got thus far with it, I’ll have to put this project further down the queue as there are some projects with Christmas deadlines that must now have priority.

Last Thursday I enjoyed a peaceful day sewing with friends in the local Scout Hut (it’s a brick built hall with a high ceiling so couldn’t look much less like a hut if it tried!). I worked on two projects: one an abandoned experiment; and the other an on-going ‘background’ endeavour.

On the left are my hexagon experiment blocks. Through the day I managed to cut and stitch an entire Charm Pack of squares  – ‘Sunkissed’ by Moda – to triangles cut from Kona ‘Cadet’. I cut 4″ Hexagons using a template from an old copy of Today’s Quilter magazine so there wasn’t too much wastage from each 5″ square. After a bit of experimenting I found 2¼” triangles, cut using my Sew Easy Equilateral Triangle template, and stitched with a scant ¼” seam were the perfect fit. My original vision for these blocks was to artistically interpret a Dandelion clock with seeds floating away into the distance… We shall see, for now the blocks are backed up in the WIP queue!

On the right of the photo is a block of scraps ready to be stitched with others to make yet another Scrap Vortex quilt. I really enjoy rummaging through my scraps, using Amanda Jean’s method as my spring board. A bit of quick stitching was a satisfying way to close out the sewing day.

Here are the links into our Worldwide Quilting Community (don’t forget to leave encouraging comments wherever you visit!):

Have you tried couching using a special sewing machine foot? I’ve never given this technique a go but Katy shares her ‘Couching Experiment‘ – she’s using her longarm machine but I’ve seen it being done on a domestic machine (whizz through this YouTube video to see some examples of couching).

Another technique I haven’t tried is Sashiko hand stitching. Carole joined a class to learn the technique and has a neat little draw string bag as a keepsake of her first venture into Sashiko.

Shannon has some useful tips in her tutorial titled ‘How to match a fabric print on your quilt back‘.

I like Elana’s take on making string blocks. She’s using small scraps to make multi-coloured strings – one for each block. It makes for a very colourful quilt and it’s another great way to use up scraps. Elana shares her method in this tutorial.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere it’s difficult not to take note of the changing seasons. Rachel’s post titled ‘Wintering’ is a colourful and thoughtful take on the opportunity to get in step with the annual cycle whilst observing leaves changing colour, dropping to the ground and emitting that smell of damp earthiness.

‘Forget Me Not’ is a new collection of fabrics designed by Allison over at Cluck Cluck Sew. The prints are bright and have a 1930s vibe which always appeals to me. Allison has made several quilts to showcase the fabrics. I particularly like the Primrose quilt featuring large, single blooms lined up in vases – it’s very cheerful and uncluttered. Just hoping the collection will be stocked by retailers in the UK!

Maybe it’s because I’m busy making a red and white quilt but I’ve fallen in love with Gretchen’s smaller scale red and white quilt design. She’s used a simple colour scheme combined with simple patchwork piecing to create a timeless quilt top full of movement but somehow restful to the eye and mind.

I enjoy binding my quilting projects – it’s so satisfying to neaten the edges and add the finishing touch. Christa Watson has shared a tutorial detailing her method of binding quilts, including how to finish by hand stitching or by machine.

Happy Stitching!

Allison