Full steam Ahead

C41(almost) Dodgy Solutions

C41 Clean Solutions

 Carol was flying along a few days ago and with plenty of time on her hand set down cut out a block. Unfortunately it was, as the name suggests, a bit dodgy. The result was the block on the left Dodgy Solutions. Oh well another block for the quilt...lucky she always planned on making a king size quilt. Well in truth she initially wanted a queen size quilt but couldn't decide which collections to omit and so figured king was a better size.

After Dodgy Solutions she then figured it would help if one looked at the design when cutting fabric and so we have Clean Solutions, which does have equal sized borders but due to my cropping skills it appears slightly larger on one side.... isn't it great that we all have skills both to share and learn:)

The name Clean Solutions comes from the resemblance of this block to the symbol used for nuclear materials. Interesting isn't it that once we thought nuclear energy would be perfect with no waste products to pollute our world..we live and learn.

Wider Border Templates

A few months ago Margaret from Oak Flats gave the suggestion that people use 1/2in seam allowance on the borders rather than1/4in as this allowed them more juggling space in case their blocks were not quite right. To help anyone wanting these templates I have finally managed to find time and have now drawn them up. The link is here

http://tinyurl.com/WiderBorders

Carol's Gift to You

Original - Tribute
Carol made a table runner several years ago and just a few days ago she was inspired to create another block for Raconteur using it as inspiration. She has also graciously allowed me to share it with you all. At this stage the pattern contains the templates for miniature size, 141size and EPP templates for both sizes. No instructions are included at this stage but if you feel you would like them email me and I will add them. Many thanks to Carol for sharing this delightful pattern.	Click here for pattern http://tinyurl.com/TributeByCarol Please let me know if the link doesn't work as I am just learning how to share with google drive.
Original - Froggy Princess	Froggy Princess is another original block...in truth I had one the same originally but when I found I had over thirty blocks too many it was one that was culled. Mind you my fabric wasn't as nice as Carol's...but surprisingly it was a frog and the block was called Valiant Frog after my friend Val who had given me the fabric:) Great minds think alike.... (I won't continue that statement)

More Fruits from Xmas Downtime????

So where did I get the name for all of Carol's latest blocks?

All of these blocks were made whilst travelling through Asia. Temple Within, oops just realised that I uploaded it sideways. The figure 8, the temple, should be standing upright with its fortress walls also standing upright. If you tilt your head sideways you will see it. Chinese Checkers are one of the games I enjoy playing and they always have boards on the cruise ships.	C37 Temple Within
C38 Chinese Checkers	C38 Splendour of the Storm
C37 Twisting Maze	I adore watching storms, but not on a ship. Luckily the storm hit while we were sightseeing. It was amazing the strength in the wind as it tossed the tree branches around. Although we had arrived at the lunchtime venue no one ventured from the mini bus for over half an hour until it subsided. Twisting Maze, do you often suspect that your tour driver is taking you in circles or round and round a maze?

Xmas Prize Winner

C4 Blackberry Freedom

Just noticed today that I had forgotten to announce the winner of the Xmas draw for a free collection. Charlene from Harden was the lucky winner. She has just returned from a holiday in Qld and is yet to decide which collection she would like.

Congratulation Charlene. We look forward to seeing your next blocks.

For everyone else keep making blocks and sending in photos as there will be another draw in a couple of months once things settle here a bit.

Remember when you send in photos to please take them at the highest resolution of your camera and also if possible stand straight on to the block, placing it on a low table is probably the easiest ... especially if you have dodgy knees like everyone in this household and getting things off the floor is becoming more of a challenge:)

POP

POP - Pachyderms on Parade

Besides teaching Raconteur last year I had the pleasure of teaching a group of delightful women from the Bateman's Bay area. They choose to make what I call my Scrooge series of quilts. The name comes from the fact that all of the quilts, at least mine, were made from my scraps. I had many unwanted fabrics lying around and so cut them into strips and then proceeded to make a few quilts from these strips. 

POP, aka Pachyderms on Parade, was one of those quilts and here you can see Gill's finished quilt. It is amazing how your eyes try to follow the paths throughout. 

I had previously only made this with smaller blocks but unless we enlarged and modified the blocks Gill was going to be making blocks until next Xmas. Increasing the blocks meant we had to add an extra curve into several of the blocks but this sat beautifully with her design and colours. 

She likes it enough that it is a keeper.

Xmas Relaxation?

Even with 28 visitors over the Christmas break Carol managed to finish a few more blocks. I really can't wait to see her collections when she combines them. It is going to be a vibrant quilt that's for sure. I love how Carol uses fussy cut fabric in many of her blocks and the Australian wildflowers in Winter Blossoms, are my favourite flowers..apart from roses :)	C35 Reflections
C35 Winter Blossoms	Reflections is one of my favourite blocks. There are, from memory, four blocks in this series or set. I saw a block I really liked in Quiltmakers 100 Blocks series and modified it to make the blocks. This is he most dramatic of the four.

Hanging in There

I hope your Xmas was less hectic than mine. Xmas is a time for relaxing and enjoying the company of your friends and loved ones. This little fellow shows what a number of my days felt like over the past few weeks but from here I am positive it will go up.

Don't get me wrong, I had a top Xmas with my youngest son and his partner home from Norway. I also had delightful visitors who helped with the cleaning up, while Paul and my son did the majority of the cooking. It's just that I feel as though I have been chasing my tail all of the time. However things are now slowing down and so I hope to get back into my quilting...although I do have about ten pairs of pants to hem:) but I'm almost there.

Hanging in There

I hope your Xmas was less hectic than mine. Xmas is a time for relaxing and enjoying the company of your friends and loved ones. This little fellow shows what a number of my days felt like over the past few weeks but from here I am positive it will go up.

Don't get me wrong, I had a top Xmas with my youngest son and his partner home from Norway. I also had delightful visitors who helped with the cleaning up, while Paul and my son did the majority of the cooking. It's just that I feel as though I have been chasing my tail all of the time. However things are now slowing down and so I hope to get back into my quilting...although I do have about ten pairs of pants to hem:) but I'm almost there.

Madeleine Loves Lucy...or perhaps not

C2 I love Lucy 

Madeleine has just finished her second block I Love Lucy from collection 2. She says it wasn't a fun block and from the description of her difficulties it strikes me as though these were similar to others. 

I selected this block when I taught at a retreat recently assuming that it would be reasonably easy. I thought it was a good choice because it would show the students some of the layout features they need to watch for. Well it did do that. Most of my students had the same problem that Madeleine had in trying to fit the outer two borders to the inner triangle. 

Once I explained how the outer sections 'twisted' around the triangle everyone was able to continue happily...well maybe not totally happily but they were heading there. 

Madeleine emailed me with the same problem that they and struck and so I could understand what she was asking. I forgot the little idiosyncrasies of the different blocks as I had made so many of them. It is good to have to rethink what I did first time around. anyway it looks good doesn't it?

Btw if anyone does experience any difficulties understanding the directions I am only an email away.