I started another quilt today. I have three reasons for making this quilt: back in September we went to the quilt show at Harrogate with some friends. Liz was looking for inspiration for her next project and as we were walking around the fantastic quilts on display she saw this one....
I didn't take a photo of the label, but I'm pretty sure it didn't say the source of the quilt pattern. So I know nothing about this quilt - if anyone reading this knows the maker of the quilt, or the pattern the quilt came from I would be fascinated to hear about it. Liz really fell for it and as there was no information about the source of the pattern, I said I'd have a go at drafting it for her. I promptly forgot, and so did she. Until just after Christmas when she came with us to buy some more fabric for it. We set a date for some sewing for Thursday this week. I pulled out the photos and started making some notes. Then we changed the sewing date to tomorrow....
If this had been a regular 12" block made up of squares and half square triangles I would have been pretty confident to write up the cutting instructions and some brief piecing tips without actually trying it out. But this pattern has octagons.... I haven't played with Octagons before.... so I decided to do a four block Baby quilt of the same pattern, to make sure what I tell Liz tomorrow is accurate. And it just so happens that one of my husband's colleagues has just become a daddy to a little girl. And it just so happens that the Pantone colour of the year is Radiant Orchid which looks great with bright pink. And it just so happens that there's a bit of a challenge for a Radiant Orchid quilt.... three birds with one stone. If you fancy joining in pop over to Anne's blog and have a read.
The fabrics I picked are my take on Radiant Orchid and include some Tula Pink, Architextures, Kona, Art Gallery and some totally random fabrics. During the minimal planning stage I had thought of purple, bright pink and chartreuse, but aqua just worked so much better. I've then added Kona Snow which I hope will make the quilt lighter.
My first block was quite good.
My second, third and fourth blocks were not quite so accurate. I really struggled to keep these blocks square and flat, despite careful trimming and checking the seam allowance. I think it's something to do with all the bias edges... there may be some fairly definite quilting on the finished piece and crossing of fingers that it looks flat and unpuckered.
The plan from here is to sash the blocks and add an appliqued border and then possibly a piano keys border too. And I think I will put a little bit of embroidery in the centre of each block. But that's for another day.
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