Welcome to Saturday Quilting Bring & Share. Bring along your projects and discover some of the projects and tips being shared by fellow mwmbers of our Worldwide Quilting Community. Use the links below to find your way into the community. Join in by leaving encouraging messages and helpful tips in the comments boxes of the blogs you visit.

No surprise that the news from this particular sewing room is all about the meander. I don’t think I’ve ever chosen a more appropriate word of the year!

Meander One:

Last weekends project sparked by reading about National Jelly Roll Day. A Log Cabin quilt made using a roll of fabrics from the ‘Purl’ range by Ruby Star. I decided to calm down the busy blocks by adding two dark, plain(ish) borders.

With borders the quilt top measures 54″ x 68″.

The inner border is a linen-effect print by Renee Nanneman for Andover Fabrics (the feel of this cotton is just beautiful). The wider border is another Andover Fabrics cotton, Starry Sky by Patty Sloniger. I like the effect these fabrics have on the look of the quilt top but thought there needed to be a little pop of colour. A shot of orange in the form of a narrow flange between the two borders was my solution. I think this does the trick – adding that pop of colour and drawing attention to the orange centre squares of the Log Cabin blocks.

There’s a helpful flange tutorial on the Crafty Quilter site. Of course I had to send away for a quarter metre of the orange Purl fabric (which made me smile a wry smile as I’ve often cut these small amounts for customers and wondered why they’d be willing to pay more in postage than the cost of the fabric – now I know!) 😄

Meander Two:

And then there’s an Autumnal project which has been swirling around (a bit like falling leaves) in my mind. The original idea grew from wondering how to use large scale floral prints in patchwork? Cut into small pieces the prints can be difficult to place as the changing colours and shapes can obscure a patchwork pattern 🤔  Then I thought, how about using the floral prints to make leaf shapes – the colours and patterns of the fabric could easily represent Autumn leaves. On a plain background the leaf shapes would stand out despite of or because of the large scale floral prints…. Should I make patchwork leaves or applique leaves? So the thinking went on until BAM! two weeks a go I saw Krista Moser’s new quilt design, ‘Fall Foliage’. It’s perfect! Patchwork leaves made using a diamond shaped ruler on an ombre background! Of course I bought the pattern in download form and of course I bought the 60° Diamond Mini ruler (rulers ‘are my one weakness’ as Dorcas Lane might have said as she stood in the Candleford Post Office contemplating her next sewing project).

I already had a little collection of floral fat quarters. I bought a short length of Sky ombre by Robert Kaufmann. Playing with the ruler and fabrics has been a lot of fun and a good learning experience. Here’s my first Fall Foliage Block:

To see Krista Moser’s stunning Fall Foliage quilt and get some tips on how to use the 60° Diamond Mini ruler I’d recommend watching her video demonstration over on YouTube. There is a QAL beginning next month if the quilt inspires you too.

Here are some links into our Worldwide Quilting Community:

Rachel shares ideas for the ‘Best 8 Gifts to sew for a baby‘. Each gift idea includes a link to a tutorial 🙂

‘Best Kid Gifts to Sew‘ is the next in the series by Rachel Hauser. Her gift ideas are very varied – from doll diapers (nappies to us in the UK!) to a child size patchwork sleeping bag. Rachel likes to get her children involved in the process of making gifts for their friends.

I haven’t quite had the nerve to try web piecing but I know a lot of patchwork-quilters have become converts to this organised way of stitching together rows of individual blocks into a finished flimsy. Find out how Joni got on with her first go at web piecing… Revision: I have now had a go using the 12 large Log Cabin blocks I made for the recent National Jelly Roll day challenge. The web piecing process went very well and I’d definitely give it another try, maybe combining it with my favoured way of creating quilt tops in sections rather than in rows.

Christa Watson is publishing a series of quilting pattern videos on YouTube. In the first she demonstrates three different ways to quilt the same large patchwork quilt using a domestic sewing machine.

Tips and Tutorials on the 22nd is a monthly link up curated by Kathleen. I was really chuffed to see she had included links to my two part Advent Calendar tutorial (I only published the tutorials a few days ago!)

Big stitching binding? Something else I haven’t tried but Michelle’s tutorial has got me thinking about giving it a go, especially with the long dark Winter evenings fast approaching.

Linking with Alycia for Finished or Not Friday.

Happy Stitching!

Allison

Had to include this photo of today’s visitors. My how the little one is growing!