Ugly duckling becomes a swan (nearly)

 We were all a bit disappointed with our Suzannah Twist quilt top as it grew...

During the week I tried putting in some 'knots' as shown to us by Jo when she came but they could not even be seen on the top so I unpicked the one I had done.

Then I decided it needed corners but 'OH NO' I made them too big. So then I decided rather than changing the corner blocks I'd increase the width of the border. However, we did not have enough of the focus fabric. So I've used a yellow that we had plenty of...

I almost like it now. One lesson to learn with group quilts is about colour! The colours used in the block MUST be IN the Focus Fabric! It is important not to just use colours that GO WITH IT.

The other thing I did was add a sashing because the junctions of the block pieces were never going to line up. With a sashing this is less obvious.

Click on the picture and you'll see it larger. I can even see how to quilt it now.

This was a difficult block so thank you all for your struggles. We've all learned a lot about colour and set in seams.

A pop-up quilting day

 Yesterday, because Jo and Tony were visiting, I called a pop-up quilting day for anyone who could come to join us. We ended up with 6 quilters yabbering away all day and discussing various options for our ongoing projects. 

Some people chose to complete their blocks for the Bear's Paw project and there was a bit of show and tell of completed projects. Elaine has bound and labelled the Pebbles quilt so it is now ready to donate.

I finished my next Broken Rules experiment with colour so it is also ready to donate. Elaine added a label to that too.

Stephanie arrived with a load of cottons and some fabric to give away so some people left with more than they brought.

We trimmed the next lot of blocks and the quilt looks much better. We even have enough fabric to make the extra diamonds between the blocks if we want to. 

Jo taught us a few more tricks about 'appliqued' diamonds and double thickness bag straps. Thank you Jo.

With lots more Bear's Paws we could get a better idea of how that quilt will look with Jo's fabric as the focus.

Jo and Stephanie then set to with some remaining rainbow strips to make a Courthouse Steps version of the rainbow. Tina has taken that flimsy home to make into a quilt.

Meanwhile Tony was entertained by our continuous chatter and feeding rituals. He had his laptop for extra entertainment when needed and also ventured up to see what we were doing.

Jo drew our next fabric which turned out to be Tina's metre. We discussed various options for a block that suited the fabric. There might be issues as the design is printed skew on the fabric but I'm sure it will look great in the end.

We sent off all our finished quilts except for the Rainbow ones with Karen to be delivered to RPAH cancer day centre. I hope they like them.

A Zoom nightmare

 Today's gathering involved a zoom nightmare until Linda rescued us from her end. Some people may have missed out so here is our show and tell summary.

Stephanie showed us her newest quilt...

Elaine showed us her watermelon ribbons quilt she has made for her grand daughter and some bits and another quilt she made from the left overs.

Jeanette sent a photo of her latest finish, ready for the Hanging of the Quilts in a few months.

I could not take us on the walk around upstairs so here is a photo of the Suzannah Twist blocks from Karen's fabric that have been returned.

And here is a photo of the Bear's Paw blocks and the medalion from Jo's fabric so far.

And here is my latest quilt top...

When all was over I checked my Zoom and updated it so I hope it works better next time.

Until next time, happy sewing.