Delving into the World of Quilting!

Hello friends

This year I am trying new things, the brush lettering,

inky stuff and also quilting.

Let's just say housework has been permanently put on hold! 

I am totally new to quilting so I was very interested when

Hayley West on Hochanda was launching her quilting panels.

Cut and Quilt Blocks.

I watched the show and the demos and thought - that's not scary,

I think I can do this so I placed an order.

There are three options of designs/colours, I went with the naturals bird design 

featuring feathers, flowers and little birds nests - very nice.

Each panel arrives printed onto cotton along with very clear instructions.

This is the Windmill Block.

You cut out each piece - I did discover here that you obviously need good scissors

and new glasses! (On my to-do list).

Following the instructions you make squares of the triangles.

Every seam is stitched with a 1/4" seam. 

I'm using my trusty very old Elna sewing machine and this is where I slightly 

went wrong, I assumed the first little marker on my metal plate was 1/4"

but it is slightly more so the end result is that my block will be slightly smaller.

Not a problem as long as I am consistent with all my blocks!

At this point you can see that my points are not quite aligned 

and the right seam is a little out but I

happy with a first effort and, at the end of the day,

this is for me and a sort of chart of where I started

(and hope to improve!) 

Attaching the side pieces - now you can see that I'm out as the first piece

should fit but snip snip - all sorted! 

My first finished Windmill Block.

I did make two purchases for my new hobby and they have been invaluable.

A little travel iron (bargain on Amazon, they had a lightening sale that day).

A silicone heat mat for the iron (eBay) and 

the owl folder thingy which is an ironing pad, opens up to be a cutting mat.

That was from Amazon and a little more expensive so thankful for 

my Christmas vouchers.

There are three block designs available at the moment,

Windmill Block, Churn Dash and Log Cabin.

More designs on their way so I had better keep up!

So nothing to do with die cutting but a little insight into my

busy little creative world at the moment.

I can feel the pull towards looking at super new sewing machines

but resisting right now.

For all you professional quilters out there I hope this didn't

hurt your eyes too much :) 

Take care friends.