Patchwork

Well my little one is home, well sort of, she is in hospital at the moment

as she has made a good job of breaking her collar bone and has 

had to have a plate fitted. 

You think it is going to get easier as they get older but NO.

Never mind- I wouldn't change only of them for the world.

So while I have a hour on my own before I have to collect her 

I thought I would bring you up to date on my latest course.

I decided to do a beginners patchwork course at

Sew Creative at Wroxham Barns as I have tried to do 

patchwork at home and have never really been that successful.

This is what we are aiming to complete in the 8 weeks

but unfortunately I am missing todays lesson and will have to catch up.

Anyway it is all hand sewn and obviously we have all chosen our own fabrics.

We started with our to make our own templates

with graph paper and template plastic 

which turned out to be a lot easier than I thought it would be.

The first bloke we completed was the one in the top centre

and look, my corners all meet neatly.

We do as much as we can in the time we have during the lesson

then take it home as homework to complete.

So this is my first completed block. 

I would choose different fabrics next time as these 

don't go as well as I had thought they would 

but that is part of the learning process isn't it.

The second block we moved on to triangles.

 Then to the Ohio Star which I really enjoyed.

We are given a printed sheet for each lesson for reference

but Jane is great and very encouraging.

 I do struggle to remember which is the best way to press

the seams so they lie in different directions.

This is the star all laid out ready to go.

The one I am sewing at the moment is the Drunkards Path

which is slightly more challenging so I 

coloured in the diagram so I could keep track of

which bit goes where and have found it worked very well.

So buoyed by my success when Mum-in- Law asked my to make a lap quilt for

the hospice she had recently been in I immediately said "Yes no problem"

Of course afterwards comes the realisation of what I have agreed to do.

I went straight to Jane and asked her advice and here is what I have done.

I apologise for the quality of the photos.

I bought a charm pack and put the squares into blocks of nine.

Each bloke was then cut in half each way and you end up 

with four smaller blokes from each large bloke.

These are then laid out until you like the design you have

before you sew them together.

I am now putting a border around and putting fleece on the back

to make it cosier.

The whole thing was so quick and easy I am thrilled with it.

I am already thinking about the next one and have signed up for the

follow up course starting in April.

I was warned it can be addictive.

Anyway time to go and pick up Little one.

Speak soon.

Gillxx