sampler HST flimsy quilt, Sofie , Alfie

On 26 february we very sadly had to have Sofie put to sleep as she was in heart failure and struggling to breathe.  Sofie was Catherine`s cat and Mum of Alfie who we lost on 26 november last year. Sofie was about 19 and Sal my granddaughter has not known life without her,  she is so upset and sat up all night on 25th with Sofie so she was not alone.  What a lovely cat she was and she brought so much joy into our lives, she is now with Alfie in cat heaven.  Helen and I plan to have a needle felted cat made from her photos,  Helen had one of Alfie done too.

This is Alfie   the needle felting looks much better than this in real life,  for some reason the photo shows in very much a funny shape, note the winking eye,  he used to wink at the camera a lot! The lady who made him is so busy now since Helen shared the photo on facebook and does all sorts of pets for people.

I have been quite busy this month,  finally got my 24 HST blocks which I did with Blossomhearts blog in 2016 put together into a flimsy.  I enjoyed this challenge as we used the 2, 4 and 8 way methods of making HSTs.  I did not like the 4 method but loved the 8 one and now if I have 6 or more HSTs in a block I use this way and just add the extras to my stash!   Not quilted yet as I do not have anything suitable for a backing,  it measures 86" x 56" so will hopefully be able to pick up a king size duvet cover on my travels for it and the other half will be used for another quilt.  Pondering about what I will use for binding,  yellow and orange have been suggested but will wait till quilted before I make my mind up

I also used a hexie piece to make into a pouch for my pintangle tast stitches   must get some more done. I do these with Sharon from pintangle who is about to bring out a crazy quilting book,  I have it on pre order from amazon.

At last I made the effort and got my Women of the Bible instructions out,  decided I did not want to do the blocks all 10" or 15" in size and altered them to 9" 12" and 15". I found the instructions very difficult and as most went together better as these sizes was able to work them out though some I could not work out so they were left out.  Some have been duplicated in the different sizes and I now have 25  12" blocks which I am pleased with and want a square quilt. I plan to add sashing and corner stones but have no idea what colour to do but as lilac is used in all the blocks to link them together I think maybe I will use purple and do the corner stones in the lilac.  It has not show up well looks more like pale blue  n the photos.

There are 12  9" blocks   not sure what these will be  maybe just go in the blocks box.

 now for the 15" only 6 of these but maybe will make some more if I have any lilac left

I have also made 3 more winter solstice blocks and have one more downloaded,  one Childrens library block, 1 crazy red block, 3 bee blessed blocks 2 I will send to bee blessed and keep one for myself and 2 red work blocks.
Now I am taking time to sort out my narrow scraps as I want to do some string blocks,  only got the purple, black and grey done yesterday so think it will take a few days to get them sorted.,
So far this year has been pretty productive hopefully it will continue.

Modern HST BOM, hares and ahoy mini quilt

I have now completed the first 3 blocks form Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts.  Alyce is doing a series of HST blocks using a variety of ways to make them.


Block 1   Candy,   HSTs made using 2 triangles back to back with a diagonal line and stitched either side of line then cut on the line   this is the method I am used to though I do have an easy angle and companion angle template   must try using them one day

Block 2  Ninja,   this was made with 2  7" squares right sides together,   sewn with a 1/4" seam all round the outside then cut on the  diagonals giving 4 HSTs   was not keen on this method as you have bias edges and they did stretch a bit,  do not think I will use this method again but it was good to try it and learn alternative ways of doing things.

Block 3  the lantern, again another way to make these using 2  10" squares right sides together, lines drawn on the diagonals and 1/4" seam stitched on all the sides of the drawn lines  now draw central horizontal and vertical lines on the square.  Cut cut on the drawn diagonal lines between the stitching and then on the vertical and horizontal lines and you have 8 HSTs. I found this worked very well and was quick to do if using just 2 fabrics. Wondering what technique Alyce will be sharing I think the next block is due soon    There is a link to this BOM on the right hand side of my blog

These are rather cute  little hares, I found this pattern on seriously crazy for crafts site,  they only took a few minutes to make,  the tricky part was getting the stuffing into the ears .http://seriouslycrazy4craft.blogspot.co.uk/ This is the site that had the owl pin cushions that I shared a few weeks ago,  have worked out how to add a link now.!

Just remembered I have the latest mini to share from Jacquelyn    Ahoy. In the central blocks there should be appliqued anchors hence the name. The background fabric is mint green with spots but it does not photo well,  the 4 plain panels will have embroidery in but not adding this till all the quilt pattern have been released then will decide how to embroider them all. Thinking I will use a tan thread, maybe red work but tan instead but could change my mind ,  it has been known. Like most of my quilts it is only in the flimsy stage