oh noes, another timesuck!

A couple of weeks ago I had to go into town to go to the bank, so we popped into a couple of charity shops nearby to look at books, and i found a really good quilting book for £1.50. I’ve always wanted to try quilting, but i’m pretty rubbish at sewing, so the thought of sewing together all those little pieces scared me. Then i had a revelation….you don’t HAVE to cut out a gazillion squares the way my mum used to, you can just sew strips together and THEN cut them up. I figured I can manage that, even with my limited skills. So I got some of my fabric stash out (yes, even though i am crap at sewing, i still somehow have a fabric stash), and made a quilt. I carded up some merino and alpaca to use as the batting, and it’s really warm. Okay, so it’s pretty ugly and has lots of mistakes in, but it worked! and only took a few hours work!!

So now i’m planning my next one, and rather than try to work out what the hell i was going to do from stuff scrawled on scraps of paper, I decided I’d write it here. I was planning to make something from my book, but the patterns were either very twee and ugly, or needed varying amounts of lots of different fabrics, which I didn’t have. So i went to the sewing shop and shopped in the bargain bin. I got one metre each of 6 different fabrics, so I had to figure out how to use them in a way that uses them all in equal amounts, and isn’t too complicated. After lots of internet browsing, I gave up, and got out photoshop, and this is what i came up with.

(yes i know the pieces don’t line up, it was a quick sketch and i was lazy)

Soo, what i need to do is sew equal amounts of 4 different sets of stips..123, 145, 623, and 645, then cut these into squares…then gather together the different bits, rotate some of them, and sew into bigger squares. Square A will be 2*123 and 2*145, square B will be 2*623 and 2*645, then piece them ABABA and sew. Sounds easy!! I’ve not decided on the size of the strips/squares yet, and i dunno how big the final thing will end up, but the plan is coming together slowly

Maybe once I’ve finished it and actually have a clue how to write a quilt pattern, i may write it up, but for now, these notes are enough to help me figure out what i need to do