Pinwheels go two ways

Arghhhh ! Now I see why it's not good to go on piercing till all hours when concentration starts to fade, but it's so addictive and the points were coming together so well - once I learnt about trimming the half square triangles to make them all identical.

Right good, left bad

 
Now I know there are left pinwheels and right
pinwheels - yes I am a beginner.

Had made slightly more of the right hand type in photo so am going for them.






 Fortunately I had changed colour plans in midstream so have spare half square triangles for the 3 'different' ones which will become something else one day. 

Quarter layout

 
 This is a quarter of the overall layout - with correct pinwheels of  course! Apart from the yellow, it's all  from Carolina Row left over scraps so not bad recycling.

The  yellow was left over from Calabash, spot the 'wrong' one.

Have I invented a new block?

Highly unlikely I know but while thinking of a centre for the Carolina Row follow up quilt which I call RJN (my Dad's initials) Mark 2,  I came up with this. First drew it in rough, then made it work in fabric with two cutting size errors for the three pieces involved. Must try harder. Still pleased with the outcome though.

If it is new it will be the called the Newport block, his surname and where I live.

Is this the new Newport block?

Colours look foul as I always seem to photograph at night and my flash washes them out altogether. Suffice to say centre is soft yellow and brown, pale blue inner triangles and dark blue outers. It all works with the master plan.
Rest of the quilt is going really well. Each 10" square will consist of four half triangle squares. 14 of the 20 10 inchers needed are at the four stage. Next I decide in which order to arrange those half triangle squares and there are a million possibilities. Need a design wall.
Am really enjoying designing the quilt myself depending in materials available = left overs,  rather than following a book pattern even if it does make my head hurt all too often.Progress is quite fast, less than a week so far, very satisfying.
Off to Bath tomorrow look for brushed cotton backing, apparently known as flannel. Always wondered what that was. A Thermal Spa treat is on the agenda too.

T's progress and a diversion to Carolina

Black and white Tessellating T's going well now I've checked and adjusted seam allowances and cut the correct size large squares. Yes I know that I am a complete dumbo. 6 blocks are made and 4 more all ready to sew; also picked up a few more fabrics in that Hereford shop's sale so I definitely have enough for there to be plenty of variety

They are black and white but look yellow because of artificial light. Tessellations show up well

 

However, there has been a change of priorities. My Dad says his Carolina Houses lap quilt is a bit stiff and does not drape round him as well as a rug to keep his legs and knees warm. Well we can't have that so that's a lesson learnt and back to the drawing board. It still looks great on the sofa in his study. So far I've made 5 x 4 piece blocks that will be  either a triangle in a square or a pin wheel. These are lovely and quick after the Tessellating T's.

Both have their merits; difficult choice

 


Not having any quilt design software, I had a lot of fun designing it on squared paper with coloured pencils very early on New Year's Day. So far it looks as if it will be a sort of medallion design with 5x5 10" blocks using all the spare Carolina fabric and a couple of others of similar shades. Possibly borders in between the different sections to link the colours bearing in mind I don't have enough of everything. I will try to resist, but may need to give in and get more. The challenge all the way through is that he is red green colour blind.Lots of blues and browns so far.

 


This is where I am now, but it could all change.



 The idea of a large proper medallion quilt as a long term project is really growing on me. I have someone in mind ...


  
Bought a lovely blue and gold backing fabric on Saturday but am now wondering if brushed cotton might make it more serviceable for his purposes = warm and drapey. Does anyone have any experience of using this?  I was thinking it might be harder to machine quilt because it may slide less well. As he is 92 and not too well I don't intend to spend months hand quilting.

Dragged myself out today, despite not too much sleep and enjoyed a 9 mile walk from Monmouth which was mercifully dry, if dull, from above but very muddy underfoot. Lovely to see all my Rambler friends and a satisfying New Year's day effort. Best of all, the rain started just as I got in the car to drive home!

Not the best start ...

Yesterday I decided to get going on the Tessellating T's quilt in black and white that has been been planned for ages. Cut the first black and lots of white pieces which will be the background, checking the measurements 100 times. You guessed it, when I came to make the first block I'd cut the larger background squares 1/2" too small, so now I have masses of 5 3/8" squares to use up.Maybe there will be pillowcases too? I tried piecing to make it bigger - as below - but it doesn't look good so will re-cut, I think I have enough fabric. Hope this is not an omen!

I really like the pattern and it is tricky enough to be a reasonable challenge for me. 54 blocks to go. Target finish date is the recipients birthday (not named in case she gets to see this) in March.

Two cushions and a partridge in a pear tree

Yippee all my quilted Christmas presents are finished.

The first cushion was folded patchwork with a free motion, painted back. That was a combined present for Olivia's birthday and Christmas and was posted on Monday. She's called to say she loves it

Finished

These colours are better

First success with roller painting.

A huge improvement on before

Many thanks to Linda and Laura Kemshall who inspired me to roller paint. I was marginally tempted to do the same with the whole quilt cushion below but courage failed when I had trouble deciding on the right colour and thought how long I had worked on it. Also I got the impression that Anthea didn't really liked the painted one and it will be under her tree on Sunday.
I'm not too pleased with the whole quilt side because the thread was not enough contrast, that's a lesson learned. Nevertheless my first attempt at hand quilting was very enjoyable and portable; I did a bit on holiday in the Azores as well as a few other places.

Accurate colours

Shows the traditional Welsh pattern better?

The concept is a 'normal' front and a Christmas back. The new machine is definitely better with metallic thread than the old and the free motion quilting seemed a bit easier than with Carolina Row so perhaps I'm getting the hang of it. Or was it the glass of red wine as recommended by Pippa? Still managed to stitch my finger - won't be doing that again!

Now to wrap a few presents.......