BLOG 384

BLOG 384

 
Last week we enjoyed our pancakes on Tuesday and saw the start of Lent on Wednesday. Ever since I was a little girl at Sunday school, I have given up something for the 6 weeks leading up to Easter and this year is no exception. But this year, as well as giving something up, I have also decided to take something on! I am going to make a Linus quilt for each week of Lent so that someone will benefit from my efforts somewhere along the line. The first quilt started with a treasured cat fabric which I have had for many years, always thinking I would make something really special with it. But sometimes we can get too fixated on a fabric believing it is too good to use and then, before you know it, it has gone out of fashion and it looks dated. And you then wonder why you bought it in the first place! I have many fabrics like that believe me. So the message here is to use and enjoy your fabrics before they get ‘bin-bagged’ by the family!

 1 PATCHWORK CAT QUILT
This was constructed using simple patchwork technique. I cut 6 ½” squares (because I have a 6 ½” ruler and it was easy to cut!) from both the cat fabric and a complementary batik and drew a rough plan of what I wanted to achieve.

              Cat fabric

              6 ½” squares

              Rough plan
I sewed the blocks together in pairs, making sure that 12 had the cat on the right hand side and 9 had the cat on the left hand side. These were then sewn together to make rows of 6 squares.

             Sewing sequence 1

             Sewing sequence 2

            2 Rows
I pinned at the seams, making sure that they butted up against one another and sewed the rows together to construct the quilt top. Job done!

            Pin the seams
 

              Quilt top
I attended a willow weaving workshop a few days ago; this was something I have always wanted to have a go at. Really, I want a flock of sheep for our paddock but, having had a go at a hare, the sheep are not going to happen! The course was run at Ruthin Craft Centre by Juliette Hamilton and she was a very good teacher. It was hands-on, full-on and we worked non-stop.  We all moved forward together at each stage and every one of us walked out with a hare. Impressive! I even followed one home in a car; it was sitting in the passenger seat looking out of the window! My Hare Flick (‘Allo ‘Allo) will go out into the garden when the weather improves and after it has been treated.

             Hare Flick