Thursday, February 2, 2012

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.

15 comments:

Linda C said...

Love, love, love your red and white quilt. Hmmm!! Wonder if its planning a trip to Melbourne later in the year!!

Wilma Kuin said...

Love your red and white quilt!!

Greetings from Holland,..

Janet O. said...

The red and white churn dash blocks are charming, but I believe I would also struggle doing just two colors for so long.
It is so easy to misplace pieces in Orca Bay, and it makes such a difference in the pattern, doesn't it? Yours is beautiful!

Carol G said...

All that rework on your Red Herring must have been disappointing. But I went to your previous post to compare and it was definitely worth it. Your red and white looks so good. It is really coming along.

Ann Marie said...

I love your red and white quilt, and I'm very impressed that you turned all those green pieces around. Wow. That is a lot of work.

Vivian said...

Your red and white blocks look so crisp, your quilt will be a beaut! I am struggling to resist the siren call of doing a R&W quilt but I just know I'll cave in the end.

Never would have thought the direction of those string blocks would make such a difference. Will be making a note of that if I ever get to make "Orca". Looks like you have another winner there too!

Cheri said...

Wow, they both look wonderful. I have just started on a red and white quilt also, the Just Takes 2 over on Sentimental Stitches.

Dawn said...

I love your red and white. I do my HST's by the sheet paper pieced.
I'm impressed you redid your Orca - I bet you are relieved to be onto finishing it.
Congrats to your winners!

YankeeQuilter said...

I made the same mistake several times while putting together my Orca bay (Phynizy Swamp!)

I'm so excited to get the magazine...thank you so much!

YankeeQuilter said...

I made the same mistake on several of my Orca bay rows...finally I forced myself to focus before stitching!

Thanks for drawing my name for the magazine!

Sharon said...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the red/white. Will have you be putting it in Quilts in the Barn show this year? I'm at 8 blocks now on mine!Good for you for 'fixing' your orca bay, it really is striking!

Nicky said...

Loving the red and white and your red herring!

Please keep going on the red and white - it will be worth it in the end!

antique quilter said...

congrats to the winners.....
love your red and white quilt ....
Kathie

The Quilted Finish said...

Love your red and white quilt, there's something about two colour quilts that really talks to me.
Your version of Bonnie's mystery quilt is lovely, I really prefer your colour choice. You must have kicked yourself when you realized you had to unpick and re-stitch!

Carrie P. said...

Wow! both quilts are fabulous. The pink and green one looks very confusing to put together.
I don't think the comment you left on my blog came to my email and I wanted to be sure to respond to it.
I appreciate you taking the time to come by and leave a comment about my tutorial. Thanks!