Blocks, blocks, blocks.

I thought March was busy but April has proved to be pretty hectic too, mainly to do with home improvements but thankfully the workmen have now all departed and there is just the cleaning still to be done as the dust settles.......oh joy!

Despite the mayhem I did manage a couple of sewing sessions and am thrilled to have finished the first Bee a Brit Stingy row, for Lucy. Her plan is a quilt for her wee boy which will look like a forest, she asked for Flying Geese and I came up with this. It measures 12.5 x 48.5. I do enjoy foundation piecing but oh, not the ripping out of the paper..............

One of my planned workshops for next year is called Going Large. On the day we will construct a block, a big one, like this - this measures 24" (finished). My aim is for students to use it as a jumping off point to explore other big block options with a view to making nine of them, enough really for a double quilt. This year my students made their quilts using QAYG techniques and using this new skill on these blocks would be a doddle.

My own intention is to slowly work through my scraps & stash making blocks as the fancy takes me. I think for a link I will use white in every block.This next one won't be universally liked but I made it for several reasons.

Say hello to my Big Granny.

This will not appeal on several fronts - the use of BROWN, the inclusion of batik fabric etc.

But here's the thing - I have boxes of precut scraps from last summer when I went through my organisational period (!!) The granny patches were 4.75" square so I pulled ready cut charms from these boxes. I don't have many batiks left, I don't hate batiks like mostly everyone in blogland, but, I do think they are tricky to marry with other fabrics. The other obvious fabrics in this big block are the Aboriginal prints. Now these bring back my wonderful holiday to Oz in 2012 where despite our best attempts, my friend and I were unable to find any Aboriginal fabric. Despite our not brilliant attempts, we were also unable to make contact with blog pal, Salley. On our return to the UK a package arrived from Salley containing the above fabrics. One of the things I love about quilting is looking back and enjoying the memories that different fabrics evoke. So for the above block, not even in a quilt yet, I will always think of my UK pal and my Aussie pal, all of us Grannies, and smile.

And to make you smile, here is a gratuitous pic of my lodger cat, Colin. He has learned to appreciate quilts in a very short time.