When I first started quilting I decided to make a bedspread for my own bed. I knew very little about patchwork and quilting at the time but rather liked the look of Kaffe Fassett's fabric.
Back then, 'Jelly Roll' packs were quite new to the market - these are strips of fabric cut 2.5" wide across the width of the fabric. In a pack you get about 40 strips of reasonably coordinated fabrics. So, I set about stitching two strips together, then putting two sets of two strips together.
After much work, you get a nice pile of 'flat tubes' which you then set about cutting them up with a triangular ruler, As you open up all the cuts you get sets of squares with all four fabrics. After doing this rather a lot of times you get to stitch them all together to make your quilt. As I had a job at the time, I think the process took me almost three years, on and off. Here's the end result:
I put all the individual squares together as the feeling took me, I did not attempt to put the units together in 'fabric groups' simply going for a light/dark contrast.
I added a pink border and took it to be long arm quilted at The Bramble Patch
Here's a close up:
Coming now to last summer, I was asked to make another one! I can't mention the name of the client or the future recipient right now but I bought the fabric at Festival of Quilts at NEC last August. By the autumn I thought I better make a start. So from this pile of strips I made almost 300 small blocks. What with the pressing, stitching and cutting, this took me 11 hours. I used five jelly rolls in total.
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| A heap of fabric strips |
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| One unit out of almost 300 |
. This week I set about putting all the units together to make this pile of 72 10" squares. Nine hours work.
This time I decided to keep the blocks together by putting together units made from the same fabric. I now have enough blocks to make a double bedspread 8-10" blocks x 9-10" blocks.
I think a border won't be needed this time but I have made the binding for when it's all quilted. The binding is 2.5" wide and made out of the same 'marble' print in several colour ways.
Looking ahead, I'm preparing a tutorial for the May meeting of Cambridge Quilters. More of this another day.
