Better late than never

I have been working away on my red and white quilt.  I couldn't resist previewing the blocks before I had made them all.  Well, to be honest, I got quite fed up with making so many red and white HSTs that I just had to put some together.

I would like to make a total of 81 red and white blocks at 5" finished, but lethargy may  prevail, and I could  finish at 64 instead.    I used to prefer rectangular quilts, but tastes change and now I like to make my quilts square if possible.

I've never pressed the seams open before, but the opportunity presents itself here, so I am giving it a go

and I hope it makes hand quilting easier.

Something else that has been occupying my time has been Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt aka "Red Herring".  I was happily sailing along with my piecing and posted a picture of part of the centre.  A couple of my followers kindly pointed out I had the green squares going in the wrong direction.  It wasn't apparent on a  small scale, but when I had 2/3rds of the blocks sewn together, I realised that the secondary pattern was absent.  Compare the picture below with the first attempt here.

That's right; I removed every green string square and rotated it 90 degrees and then sewed it back in.  I think it is an improvement and now I am ready to complete the top.

 My apologies for delaying the announcement of the 2 winners from the recent giveaway of the Quilters Companion magazine #53.  They are Janet from Quiltsalott and Yankeequilter.   I wish I could have given a copy to everyone who entered.  There are so many interesting projects including quilts from Chris Jurd and Sarah Fielke as well as interviews and articles about Aneela Hoey and Sharon Schamber.

So Janet and Yankee (if I may call you by your first name) congratulations and  could you please send me mailing details so I can post your magazines to you.