Sunday, 18 January 2009

Autumn in January.

In a moment of madness I signed up to a block swap with Threads and Patches in Milton Keynes.

It was in the middle of last year, with a deadline some 10 months away.

And of course, I kept meaning to get round to it - and somehow didn't.......

So, as I have to produce 20 blocks (each 12 1/2 square) by the beginning of April, I thought I'd better make a start.

The only criteria are that the fabrics used be batiks, and that the colours used be autumnal.

I looked through my (way tooooo big) stash - but couldn't find anything that seemed to fit the brief (but did find lots of other lovely things.....).

So I decided to get in touch with Hannah's Room, which is a shop about an hour's drive away - I figured that it would be more economical to do mail order rather than drive up to the shop, overspend, and then drive home again - not to mention the fact that I would only be able to go on a Saturday - and they were absolutely FAB. I emailed on Tuesday afternoon - and my parcel was delivered on Thursday.


That really is service - and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone.

So yesterday, when I was at my monthly quilt class at my local shop, I got on with making my first 6 blocks. They are Balkan Puzzle, inspired by one that I saw on Anne-Ida's blog.


Okay, so it's not completed yet, but I'm set to finish them by the end of today - and then I'll be 30% of the way there.

But now I'm having a massive crise de confiance - are they autumnal? Are they too orange? (To me, autumn is a more gentle shade, and I would include purple as well as a autumn colour - but I haven't included it here, as I thought that maybe that would be too personal a choice).

And should I be making something more complex?? I really don't know if I have time, although to be fair, I do have a week off work in February for halfterm.....



I should have completed them this afternoon - but instead, I went for a bit of light Bondawebbing. This is a block for the Nancy Halvorsen quilt 'Love is...', which I'm hoping that my sister will like for her house... I need to blanket stitch and embroider - which I'll do at quilt group tomorrow evening.



Oh, and some Tana Lawn fell into my shopping basket yesterday....

2 comments:

Jennyff said...

Your autumn colours are wonderful, just right I think sometimes when we make things ourselves we are so involved we can't see how good they actually are. I love the block with the bunnies and the cat, you've certainly been busy. Makes me want to fish my patchwork out(again).

Valerie the Pumpkin Patch Quilter said...

Oh your autumn fabrics are perfect...I'm not normally a big batik person but you've got me wanting to hit up a quilt shop. :) LOVE the little snowman with the bunnies! Too cute!!!