Sunday 8 January 2012

My First Quilt....

Hello my lovelies, I hope you are all having a nice weekend?


I am sat surrounded by the smell of slow-roasted pork shoulder, it's rubbed with a paste of coriander, fennel seeds, peppercorns, lemon and garlic and smells seriously gorgeous!!


On Friday I attended my first session of the quilting group I mentioned in my previous post. Any apprehension I had about attending on my own had been eased by the lovely welcoming emails I had had all week from Wendy, one of the founders of the group.


A warm welcome greeted me from all the ladies and they delighted in telling me I was the youngest and therefore "the baby" of the group. As someone who is approaching 40 this year, it was music to my ears!!


Wendy showed me the instructions for the quilt I was to do as my first, a simple one made from nine FQ's of fabric- I chose an assortment of Tanya Whelan fabrics with a little CK thrown in, in shades of pink, blue, red and white.


The ladies showed me how to cut accurately and I chatted, cut, drank tea, cut, ate cake, cut and made new acquaintances (hopefully soon friends).


I finished cutting my FQ's when I got home and soon had this:



Yesterday, each row was sewn up and then sewn together to make a block and when I had done them all I arranged them out on the bed to see how I wanted the completed quilt to look. As I did this I realised I somehow had 10 blocks not 9 - which meant I must have started with ten FQ's - I mean I *know* I am bad at maths but I can usually manage to count to 9!!

So, the leftover one was put to one side and I sewed up the blocks:

What looks like plain red actually has white pin spots & the "plain" white has tiny flowers....

Typically for me I am not loving the colours :0/ - I don't think I should have used the red -which looked nice when they were folded FQ's but not so much now. 

Although, looking back at the quilt I used as an example on my previous post the colours are similar:




It now needs a border (I'm going to do a 4 1/2" border in plain white) and then I have to make a "quilt sandwich" with the backing and wadding before pinning, tacking (yuck) and then machine quilting. Wendy has kindly detailed everything I have to do for that to keep it all flat and so on, but I think I am going to be a chicken and wait until the next meeting on Friday.


Next Sunday (15th) there is a Quilters & Fabrics January Sale at Farnham Maltings at which (I am told) you can get some bargains so Mr G is going to take me up there. Then at the end of the month Mum and I are going to pop along to Ardingly Spring Quilt Festival where there will be lots of fabulous quilts to admire as well as trade stands.


In other news, there maybe a little bit of change coming here to shabby chic HQ as well, will tell all when/if I know more later....


hugs,


S x





10 comments:

  1. I think it is looking great Sarah and you can't beat a bit of red-well done you.
    Have a great day :)
    Mantha xx

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  2. Blimey! You learn quick!
    I don't mind the colours but, like you, not so keen on that much red in it. I suppose you could always applique something in the red patches?!

    Well done!

    Sandie xx

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  3. its looking great sarah, i'm sure it will come together very nicely :)

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  4. I can see why you worried about the 'plain' red fabric, it does stand out quite a bit but I still think the quilt looks gorgeous.
    It doesn't matter too much if your not 100% sure about the colours as this is still Amazing for a first quilt attempt!! I can't wait to see the real thing on Wednesday! :-)

    Ashley xxx

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  5. I'd say you did an AWESOME job!! SO fast - you must have sewed like lightning!!

    Happy New Year, my lovely!

    Sarahx

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  6. Your quilt is beautiful i love the colours im a huge cath kidston fan so the fabric is a joy to my eyes ,lovely blog too xxxx

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  7. Wow, I can't believe it's your first quilt - it looks so complicated. I love your choice of fabrics and I really rather like the red - it seems to make the reds in the flowers on the other fabrics show up more.

    Thanks so much for your emailed advice re papering my dresser. Based on your posts, I have just ordered my first tin of Annie Sloan paint (old white to start off with) and am too excited for words about my makeover plans!!

    Hx

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  8. A change at SCS HQ? Intriguing! I hope to hear more asap.

    I often under count when it comes to how many chocolates I have scoffed, maybe it was the same mentality you had when you counted your FQ's.

    You don't like the red? Are you crackers? The red is perfect. Ok so it looks quite THERE in the photo's from the distance but in the more detailed shot it looks so gorgeous. Looking forward to seeing it completed soon. You are so speedy!

    xxx

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  9. Brilliant job on your first quilt it's gorgeous! Thanks for your comment over on my blog, not sure how I've not been following you before, but I am now. What a lovely blog it seems we have lots in common.
    Kandi x

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S x