Skill Builder

My quilty partner in crime told me about a skill builder quilt at the beginning of this year and suggested we could make the time one day a fortnight to do the monthly blocks and together we would support and help each other. Sounded possible!

I had no specific patterns or stories of fabric in mind butI did have a fat quarter bundle I purchased at a quilt show a few years back burning a hole in my fabric stash. Hobby Sew had 30% off moda fabrics at the time of purchasing so I was largely guided by what was in that sale that matched the fat quarters I had. I was largely influenced by the 'French' aspect of some of these patterns and so the fabrics were purchased...

The original fat quarter bundle purchased from the Blueberries stand at the craft and quilt fair a few years ago

Bundle one

Bundle 2

And all together with 5m of background fabric... I thought I was going to have enough for the back fo the blocks, the borders and the backing... nope!

So CH and I started out on our skill builder journey! The first hurdle was learning the difference between a scant quarter inch and a quarter inch and all those scant differences add up over a block to be quite a lot! We have alo learned to use a ruler and a board to measure cuts, they aren't always the same. We are supposed to put the photos up in a flicka group but I haven't had time to set an account up and asking myself really if I need another account to manage..

Our first block was the sound wave. Quite daunting cutting into these fabrics, especially for little 3 inch lengths 1 inch wide. I played about with the layouts and this was what I ended up with. Apparently this quilt will have no scraps...

The soundwave

The Em Dash (but we did a different payout)

This is an SOS SMS photo to CH to make sure I had it right before I cut it 'again'! The cutting of this block did my head in...

But I did it!

Woven chevron (lots of HST and QST which are officially my nemessis!)

 2 hand sewing blocks were next, a hexi block and a diamond carat. When I was a teenager mum did a tablecloth out of hexi's and I have dreadful memories of that period of time cutting cardboard hexagons out of cereal packets and basically any other packet that was in the rubbish bin. I pulled my head in and got stuck into it. I don't like hexi's but found the hand sewing of these quite therapeutic.

I bought 1 1/2 " papers mainly because I was told the store wasnt' aware of 1 1/4" papers. As a result my finished block is too big but I will make it work for the quilt. Perhaps I won't add borders... I have half of one row left to stitch and then I will know what I am dealing with and come up with a plan!

Hexi's ready to be stitched together...

The hexi layout.

 The next block for me to hand sew (once I have found a you tube video of ladder stitching) is this Diamond Carat. What a lot of fiddly bits of paper... We bought the specially made pattern from the states as it is on washout paper...

I am calling this my stars and stripes block.

I will add finished block images and their proper names eventually. I am up very early with our new puppy 'again' and thought I could squeeze this post in before the house woke... sadly my plan was foiled! Off to get ready for work I go...