More Gypsy wife blocks {the May edition}

These blocks are such fun to make. I just tip my basket of fabric on the floor then pick bits up and sew them together. Some blocks work better than others but I really do want a scrappy looking quilt at the end so I have to fight my inner sorting/overthinking monster :-)
After Linda asked me last month whether I had any fabric repeats yet (yes, I do!) I decided this month that maybe I would try and make a kind of 'colour themed' set. Mmm. Not sure I met my own goal, but I like them just the same.

Linking up for May over at Ants to Sugar.

Swamp patch blocks

Our Monday Modern group is playing block lotto at the moment. If you want to enter, you make a block. For every block you enter you get a chance to win. This month's block is called swamp-patch and we are using an excellent tutorial that Robyn put together. I wasn't at the last meeting, but the instructions were to use solids with a fussy cut centre, and to use a pale neutral in the corners.

This turned out to be quite a challenge. It turns out there is a dearth of fabric suitable for fussy cutting in my extensive collection of fabric (who would have thought??) and my collection of solids is eclectic instead of some sort of sensible rainbow collection. Pale neutral? Kona ash, white and the one I actually used which is some sort of shot cotton. But I was not defeated!

It was so much fun I had to make another.

Karyn made two great blocks too, one with equally cute cats. I have everything crossed hoping I win this month!

Aladdin's Cave {A finished quilt}

Gestation period of this quilt: 9 months. I think I started it sometime in August 2013, but I'm happy to report it's now done. Yippee. From memory I used two charm packs of Cuzco and the background is Kona Ash.

This is the first time I have machine-bound a quilt. While I won't say it was a perfect success, it wasn't a complete disaster either. I love the backing fabric which I got during a 40% off sale at Spotlight. It's from Sarah Fielke and really lovely soft fabric. I'm pretty happy I went with the hot pink binding. Hot pink just makes everything better :-)

Linking up today over at Lee's.

Gypsy wife {progress}

Thanks to the lovely people who linked up with their April Gypsy Wife blocks. The winner of the $25 Fat Quarter Shop Voucher is Audrey @hotpinkquilts. Happy shopping Audrey!

I started my May blocks today with Hope from Hartford. It went together without a hitch.

Then I decided that the spidery block I made last month was bothering me too much to be ignored. So it got a makeover. 

A bit quieter, which wasn't my intention, but I'll reuse the green and red stripe fabric in another little block I'm sure.

April Gypsy Wife Blocks

The QAL schedule for Gypsy Wife is suiting me very well at present. I seem to have limited sewing time but these little blocks are very do-able in short bursts. Well, unless you take forever to choose fabrics, like me :-)

Without further ado, here are my April blocks:

They look a bit of mish-mash of colours here, but I'm hoping when all the blocks are done, they will play together nicely. Otherwise they will be banished to the naughty step for a long time-out (also known as the Dark Cupboard From Whence There Is Sometimes No Return). That little one on the lower left is bothering me with its spidery attitude so there is a good chance it is up for a remix.

There are all sorts of fabulously colourful blocks appearing on Flickr, no two quilts will look even slightly similar. Link-up if you are quilting along - this month's giveaway is a $25 (USD) from the Fat Quarter Shop, a hearty New Zealand kia ora to them for their support.

An InLinkz Link-up

Gettin' down!

Yep, I've been gettin' down. On the floor.
I counted up the unquilted tops I have lurking in my cupboard. I hang them on hangers amongst my clothes so they are almost hidden, thereby not bothering me with their finish me demands. 2 baby quilts. 2 lap sized quilts that I dislike. 2 bigger quilts that I have booked in to get longarmed. And 2 that I have given myself a stern talking to about, and am planning to quilt over the holidays. Here is quilt #1:

I have a bit of an unconventional approach to basting *call it indecisive if you must*. I use basting spray - not too thoroughly mind, and pins, also not too thoroughly. I'm not sure how or why I have developed this approach but it seems to work well enough.

I baste on the carpet using a sophisticated pin-the-backing-to-the-carpet technique.

The floor space in my wee dwelling is not huge. I'm not complaining - I am grateful that I can live comfortably when lots of people aren't as fortunate, but as far as basting goes, it does sometimes feel like I'm playing solo Twister. I think this could be why I have a few too many unfinished quilt tops in my cupboard. Well that's my story anyway and I'm sticking to it!

Gypsy Wife courthouse steps

My weekend was unexpectedly truncated by a day trip to Wellington on Friday for work turning into an overnight sojourn when bad weather closed Wellington airport. My colleague and I spent many more hours than can be considered pleasant at the airport waiting as planes tried to land and got diverted, until finally at 10pm they let us know they were giving up for the night. We finally made it back to Auckland around lunchtime on Saturday feeling a little crumpled and out of sorts!

As a result today was a quiet sewing day -  I could only cope with the thought of something simple so I spent some time making a few courthouse blocks as part of this month's Gypsy Wife schedule. These are not difficult to make, but it takes me sooooooo long to choose which fabrics to put together. My process is pretty sophisticated. I tip all the fabric I have earmarked for this project into a pile onto the floor and take it from there :-)

It's funny process. Sometime my selections work better than I expect,

Other times, I'm less keen on the outcome. I think this is due to the size of some of the pieces which kind of distorts the effect you had when you auditioned bigger pieces of fabric together. This block is only 5.5" and has some 1 inch strips in it.

I like this sweet looking block and am feeling quite smug about that little join in the lower right corner. I made myself slow down and pay attention to matching up the polka dots and am so pleased that I did!