Are you ready to graduate ?

Hello fellow stitchers.

I thought I'd write about months 5 and 6 in The Collection Quilt block of the month together.  OK - so that might just be code for the fact that I'm under the pump as shop girl, but  my excuse is that when selecting the fabrics for these instalments,  I very much planned them out together.

This was primarily to make sure that I was happy with the flow of the graduation of colour I was sending you all as well as being certain there was enough pop in the saturated panels coming in Collection 6.  I had planned the program out using 2.5" squares of the Friedlander quilting cottons and kona chips way back in November last year.  Once I saw the fabrics on the bolt, I wanted to tweak things a bit.

In Collection 5  we are revisiting points and internal corners again as well as stitching straight lines.  For someone who found the curves a breeze, but whose straight lines in Collection 1 were a tad lumpy/bumpy, i was pleasantly surprised how much straighter they turned out this time around.  Hey - maybe I really am building skills after all!

I think the most interesting thing for me in Collection 5 ( well other than patting myself on the back for my straight lines) was the interplay between the different fabrics.   

I had a pretty clear vision from the outset that I wanted this panel to act as a bridge between the explosive orange/reds below and the saturated blues coming in Collection 6. I'd originally planned to send out the pale blue of kona sky for the lightest row at the bottom, but swapped it out for the tree stripe print from Friedlander in dusty blue.  This print has tiny amounts of pale pale peach, so once I saw it IRL I knew it was the perfect bridger for the bottomn of the panel.  

After starting with that low volume blue and peach print, I then worked the colours as a graduation from  the very lightest up to the darkest. Incidentally, I was also pretty pleased with that blue plaid print.  I thought the strong horizontal lines were interesting when cut into, and  did differnt things again when appliqued over a new background.  The effect would no doubt have been highlighted in a larger piece, but I'm happy with it nonetheless.

Some of  the cut outs that I used to applique on the background strips felt a bit small at times, and one looks like the leaning tower of Wendy.  I'm not sure what happened there, but I'm happy to just run with it.  Lets just call it organic. ;-)

Collection 6

As I had pulled the bolts out for Collection 6 while I  revisited  the plan for what I was going to send out in Collection 5, I cut everyone's packs at the same time.  This meant that as soon as I'd finished stitching 5,  I rolled on and did the next.

Collection 6 gives us a chance to play with two different shades of blue - one of which is super saturated.   The stitching techniques we are working on are reversing the template in order to mirror the pattern, and stitching more inside curves, as well as another chance to practice our corners and and straight lines again.

Speaking of saturation.  Look how horrid my iphone made this look while stitching one night under an incandescent light!   Don't fret folks - I really will be sending out blue - not grey.

Tip 1

Remember to clip those curves just far enough to get a smooth turn, but no so far that it ends up a hairy mess.

While  there are only two fabrics this month, there is still some wriggle room to play around and personalise your quilt.  You can do this by choosing the amount of saturated colour you bring to the front, as well as playing with the angles of those blocks in your overall layout.

As you can see, I've used the Kona delft as the background for two of my blocks - similar to Carolyn Friedlander's orginal.

My main tip for collection 6  is to leave your tacking threads in for now.  I didn't pull mine out until I had sewn the blocks together and then attached them to the panel above (that's collection 4),and collection 5 below.  They are sizeable pieces of fabric, and you really don't want them flapping around and causing drag on your hand stitching.

As I write (mid July 2017), we have two spots left in the program.  I am absolutely chuffed with everyone's messages and comments about how much you are loving  learning the new skills ( thanks Carolyn F!!) as well as enjoying the fabrics I have chosen for you each month.

Unfortunately I have run out of some key prints in this iteration of the project, so am unable to expand it any further.

Be quick folks -  you can grab one of the last spots here and start stitching with us now.  Its not too late!