August in the Attic

Our achievement for the August quilting weekend was to construct our Mr Men quilt tops.

This process involved pinning the blocks on the design wall then discussing their arrangement.

Then we auditioned various fabrics and colours for the sashing. We ended up choosing black.

We then created a production line of Robyn, Liz and Betty on Sunday to piece the two tops. There are 6 blocks left over so the thought is two matching cushions again.

Of course all the blocks had to be trimmed to size (Elaine enjoyed the challenge)

and the trimmings made such a spectacular pile that I had to photograph them.

One very important lesson was learned from my mistake. When you sew borders to a quilt you should measure at the centre of the top and mark the borders to the correct size then pin and ease the edges of the top to the size of the borders. This avoids a border that ends up too big for the quilt. Difficult to describe but easy to see the wavy borders in the previous blog entry on the scrappy quilt. We have now unpicked all borders on the scrappy quilt and re-attached them correctly. The top is now tacked to the polartec back ready for quilting. No-one else volunteered so I will complete that by our next quilting weekend. Here is Leonie ironing our newly bordered scrappy quilt.

One task accomplished this weekend was completing some extra butterfly blocks needed then arranging that quilt on the design wall ready for joining up. We don't think we'll add any sashing to this one.

Of course there was also plenty of time for food and chatter during the weekend as people came and went according to the never ending balancing acts of work and families.

Robyn officially completed our Soft Blue Sampler by sewing on the label. It is now ready to sell or raffle - any suggestions would be greatly received.

Robyn also chose our next lucky dip parcel as she was first to arrive. Linda (next to arrive) was witness to this. Jane D's birds and flowers was chosen. Some discussion ensued about which part of the block would be done in the mystery fabric. Once I have completed the instructions I will send them out with fabric for those who have not already received it. These blocks will be due by the end of January.

Again we had an excellent weekend of patching, quilting, chatting and eating. See you in October (16-17).