Breaking news: quilting is fun

I made an unexpected discovery these last few weeks. Quilting is fun. And I think it may just catch on, pretty soon you will all be blogging about this new quilting craze. You already are? fair enough, I suppose it has been around for centuries after all.

I have been making my first few tentative steps into quilt making starting with the gathering flowers pattern that I mentioned a while back after I was inspired by this picture.

Image from http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com

So far I have just been cutting out the pieces and deciding which fabrics to use. The block in the pattern uses 2 sets of colours but looking at the one that Anna Maria Horner made, she used all sorts of different colours. And I like that less structured approach, also it means I get to choose a lot more combinations which is F.U.N.

So instead of 2 sets, I am using 4. Reading the post about this particular quilt, Anna Maria said that she had used a dark, medium and light tone fabric in each section and wished that she had switched the lightest to the petal rather than the centre. So I thought I would give that a go. Because really, I haven't got a clue what I am doing. I have almost entirely used Innocent Crush fabrics but also used a couple of precious Little Folks dobby voiles that have been sat in my stash waiting for something really special to come along.

The joy of discovering fabric that coordinates with my nails  

I have also encountered the term 'fussy cutting' for the first time. It sounds like the way my kids like to have their sandwiches served, but is actually about using the pattern on the fabric and deciding where to cut your shape based on this. I love doing this and it's something I have always done in smaller craft projects. Now I have a special term to describe it.

I kept the sections of the flower half from the charmed palette and half from the swept away palette. And then got cutting, old school style with scissors.

It's been a hectic few weeks around my place but I have found myself itching to get back to it and I suspect this will only grow as I begin sewing it all together. I'm only making the cot sized version as it is a good size and gives me a better chance of actually finishing the project.

So here is block 1 of 8. It's not perfect, and being a perfectionist it did annoy me a little that that it didn't all line up perfectly. But it's close enough. The next block I shall cut really carefully, especially the voile which seemed the most determined to cause me problems. I love the variation in texture it brings though, so I shall forgive it.