The F2F3 Quilt Finally Makes Its Appearance In Time For Christmas

Long, long ago, in July 2018 I made three 12 inch (finished) blocks in neutral(ish) colours and received three blocks in my chosen colour palette from each of the other participants of the collaborative quilting swap organised by Kate known as F2F  (which stands for Foot Square Freestyle) and this was the third one we’ve done.

Some time passed – well, let’s call it a year -and I decided that I wasn’t going to quilt it myself – not even as a ‘quilt as you go’ project as I have done before – because I wanted it to be enormous, big enough to fit my superking size bed and drape down the sides a bit too.

So I just (eventually) joined the blocks with ordinary sashing, added a couple of borders to get it to the right size and sent it off to Yorkshire for quilting by Fiona at Quilt Sandwich.

An indulgence but I’m never going to make a quilt as big as this again so it was a present to myself.

Sashed blocks laid on a different quilt in case this photo confuses.

I was so pleased with the quilting pattern I chose – ‘Hearts On A String’- as it has some interest but isn’t too dense and doesn’t overwhelm the blocks.  I also asked Fiona to supply the Henry Glass ‘Breezy’ extra wide fabric for the backing – she has a great choice of hard to find patterns in the extra width needed to back quilts without a join.

I asked Fiona to trim the quilt  so that it was all neat and ready for me to attach the binding by machine and hand sew it down on the back which I did in stages between cats taking residence on the ‘quilt in progress’ and my own fading resilience in the face of so much binding.

I had some Liberty of London fabric left from my Hatbox Quilt which hangs above our bed and, luckily, there was enough to make the binding which was perfect because the neutral(ish) colours went very well with the rest of the quilt and was also available in my stash.

The finished quilt is too big to be held up by my 6’4″ husband or even to be photographed on the washing line so here it is, in situ, just in time for Christmas.

Now at least Kate can put one finished quilt in her F2F3 gallery which is only fitting as I was the first one drawn to receive blocks so should also be the first one to finish.

Now, bring on the next one!

My girls are arriving today for the Christmas break so this is how I’ll end my blogging year – with a triumphant finish.

I hope you all have a wonderful time this festive season and thank you for following my posts.  I really value your input (I know I ask lots of questions) but, even if you don’t always comment, I sort of know you are out there and it’s great to think I am not just talking to myself which, I have to confess, seems to be happening more and more ‘in real life’.

So, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Bonnes Fêtes à tous.

❤x❤x❤

 

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A Neutral Notion

You may remember – if not, I’m about to remind you – that I’m taking part in Kate’s Foot Square Freestyle block swap again this year.

This was one of my photos for colour inspiration and I apologise right now for causing the other participants problems with what, I suppose, is a fairly difficult colour palette to reproduce.  I’ve even had trouble finding the right pinks myself so I sympathise.

My reasoning was that a neutral quilt would go with all different colour schemes and would fit in wherever I want to put it.  Also, I have a few quilts for beds which I try to rotate and, this time, thought I might make a couple of smaller ones, or throws, to drape across a sofa back in an arty farty fashion.

Anyway, I was the first out of the hat to receive blocks from the other participants this year and three have been quick off the mark – probably to get my weird colours out of the way – and have sent me the three blocks each that we commit to every month for this swap.

Firstly I received these lovelies from Sue in Washington

Then these three beauties from Kathy in South Dakota

Then, from a little nearer home, this gorgeous group from Claire who is also in France

I try not to be too overawed by the excellence of everyone else’s piecing – it only makes me try harder with mine when I know the standard is this high and, although nobody is going to be the Quilt Police (at least I hope not) I don’t want to disappoint.  Thank goodness it won’t be me that will be quilting their blocks – not my strong point!

I think they’ve all done a great job in interpreting my neutral vision and I’ve already started to think about the sort of thing I want to use for sashing and backing.  I’m wondering about a darkish grey marbled with pink – if I can find such a beast.

I’ve only made one block for myself so far – I thought I’d wait until I see what everybody else makes first so I can go with the predominant flow at the end.  I’ve been making Miss July’s blocks instead but I can’t show you those as it would spoil the surprise.

If anybody knows where I can get marbly grey and dirty pink fabric, please advise 🙂

Time To Get The Ironing Board Out

No! Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not going to make inroads into the basket of long-forgotten shirts and rashly chosen clothes made from inconvenient fabric that has the nerve to crease.  No – the Foot Square Freestyle Block Swap is back and I will be needing to press small pieces of delicious fabric on a regular basis.

Kate, over at Tall Tales from Chiconia has, once again, taken on the organisation of the third F2F worldwide block swap, bless her.  I can only think she must enjoy herding cats as, whenever I have been rash enough to take on the role of an organiser, that’s what it seems to be like.  Which is why I’m a team player rather than a team leader.

There are nine of us this year from all over the World and we will each make three blocks a month and send them to the person who has been drawn out of a hat to be the recipient that month.  We can all choose what colours we want but the design is up to the person making the blocks so all skill levels are catered for.  At the end of ‘our’ month, or shortly afterwards, we will have 27 blocks measuring 12 inches (finished size) – hence the ‘foot square’ of the title if you speak ‘imperial measurements’  – with which to make into a quilt.

If you have followed me for a while you will know that I have participated in both the previous swaps and, the first time, I ended up with all of these beauties-

and the second time with this one in more ‘manly’ colours as I wanted it for Mr. Tialys

I have missed the swap as I couldn’t find anything else like it when Kate took a year off from doing it last year and it was a very good exercise for improving patchwork skills, trying out some new ones (foundation paper piecing anyone?)  plus working with colours you might not normally use yourself.

As last time, my name was drawn out of the hat first so I will be ‘Miss June’ (which is appropriate as it’s my birthday month) and will be receiving three blocks from all the other participants some time later in the month or early in July.  Just wondering – why is it that my name never comes first out of the hat when there are big prizes to be won?

Anyway, these are some inspirations for my colour choices this time

Neutrals with shades of grey (although not as many as fifty) from pale to charcoal

some beige and cream

with vintage, faded rose pinks .

Why did my parents not provide me with such a bedroom when I was a child?   Would I have appreciated it if they did?  Probably not but I still feel slightly miffed.

So, I have made my first block just to get my hand in as I am severely out of practice and need to improve before I start sending out work to those who may or may not be more capable than me (but probably are).

A simple one to start but, even then, one of my points isn’t perfect.  The further down the line the participant is the better off they’ll be as I probably won’t be fully up to speed again for a couple of months.  Although, of course, I will be trying very hard.  There’s nothing like sending off your work to others who do the same sort of work to inspire improvement.