Monday Morning Progress Week 4

This week I have been working on a third pattern (the one on the left in the photo).  I don't think I have invented this shape - but I have not found that it already has a name.  Irregular heptagon is not very catchy - what about plectrum, or dragon's claw?

Here's the back - most of the papers are still in place.

I have an idea for another pattern to keep me busy next week.  It that works out I will then need to decide how big this needs to get and start making each section bigger before joining the pieces together.

This week's piece adds another 38 pieces to the count for the Monday Morning Star Count over at Life Under Quilts.

Monday Morning Progress Week 3

This "low volume" piece is the right shape to be attached to the indigo blue piece. I have not joined them yet because both pieces need to grow and might turn in to separate objects. At the moment I am just having fun playing with shapes, scale and pattern - I still have no firm plan.

The two pieces are exactly the same size but the blue piece has 103 pieces and the low volume only 39 - and took much less time to put together.  The red squares are 2cm x 2cm.  I normally work in inches but the graph paper I used for the paper pieces was metric- you can't buy it in inches any more.

I have been looking at other EPP projects through Life Under Quilt's Monday linky and there are some very impressive projects with pieces in the thousands.  I may have a long way to go!

The comments I had last week were much appreciated - one or two mentioned the contents of the cupboard so here is a view of the top shelf.  The best toys are on the bottom shelf - come back next week to see that!

Manchester Blues

I bought a pack of indigo blue fabrics from the African Fabric Shop, a UK based supplier.  She has some lovely fabrics including batiks, shweshwe and wax prints.

These fabrics were apparently made in Manchester (UK) until the sixties or seventies, after which production moved to South Africa.  I love the gloriously dark indigo colour and the strong geometrics.

They come thick with starch and like cardboard.  Lots of dye comes out when you pre-wash.  Mine are now hanging on the line and will be used to supplement the blues in my EPP project.  I have some blue on my hands and I notice some of it is transferring on to the keyboard, so I think I may give them a second wash just to be on the safe side.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash.  This post would be too dark without this button!

Monday Morning Count

After two weeks this piece really is not big enough to have its own hanger, but it gives a sense of scale.  

I rather think I should have cleaned the glass on this cupboard before taking the photo - I see it still has the marks from the fingerprint guy after we were burgled a few years ago.  He said not to clean it right away, so I took him at his word.

Up to 83 pieces this week - I think a change of scale might be desirable if this is ever going to turn in to anything.  Perhaps a quilt for one of the toys in the cupboard?

I will link up with Life Under Quilts when America wakes up. Good morning!

Also linking up with Knotted Cotton's Slow Blog Linky - I think this will be a slow one!

Graphic Plus Quilt in its New Home

Alas, this is not my sofa - nor is that my newly painted pristine white wall.  But that is the quilt I blogged about here a few days ago.  I think it looks pretty good!  

EPP WIP

I don't know why I'm doing this or what this will be.  At the moment it has 42 pieces and is about 10 inches long.  Spring might come eventually and I need a project which I can take out into the sun.

Linking up at Life Under Quilts for the Monday Morning Star Count.

Graphic Plus Quilt from Two Jelly Rolls

This reversible lap quilt was made with just two jelly rolls.  My materials were Moda Bella Solids Jelly Rolls in black and porcelain.

I did not want the crosses to be too chunky so I cut the jelly roll strips in the contrast colour in half (1.25 inches) and sewed them into strips with an uncut strip of the background colour on both sides.

I cut this strip into 2.5 inch sections, and sewed another half strip to one edge to make the middle of the cross.

Then I stitched on another 2.5 inch piece to create the cross block.

The blocks were then trimmed to 4.75 inches.

And then sashing strips to join the blocks straight from the jelly roll, followed by more sashing to join the whole thing together.  My quilt was a bit longer than the width of fabric, so I had to join jelly roll strips for the joining sections.

It was a bit close, but I had a few strips left after making 56 blocks for each side for a 7 by 8 quilt.   There was not enough black left for the binding, so I used a ready made bias tape.  This was useful when it came to getting round the curved corners. 

And now for a nice cup of tea and a sit down.