blues and white

Hasn't the weather been so awful just lately, fortunately we haven't had the misery of flooding. My heart goes out to all those who have been affected, it must be heartbreaking! However what this wet weather does mean is that there is no temptation to go out and do any thing other than what has to be done! No pottering in the garden, no going for long walks with a willing dog (only the must do walks!),  perfect weather for a bit of sewing! I have started a new quilting project and I am really excited as I am having a go at some new techniques. I am a self taught quilter and I have to rely on books and trial and error as I go along (lots of trial and error unfortunately). The colour scheme is blue and white, I bought some gorgeous fabric from Quilters Haven in Wickham Market, I didn't mean to I only went in for some bleached calico and they hadn't got any of that! The shop is a quilter's dream I could have spent a fortune, I feel quite fortunate that I came out having spent only £55!!

some of the blues for the quilt

Having rifled through my stash of fabrics I soon found what I needed to complement my new fabrics and then armed with my self healing mat, ruler and rotary cutter I proceeded to cut 32 squares in blue 16cm x 16cm, 32 white squares 16cm x 16cm, 128 blue and 128 white squares  8cm x 8cm, whew!

The fun part was about to begin! Each small square is marked with a diagonal line and starting with a large blue square, the white squares are placed in the corners and stitched on the diagonal line (or if it was a large white square it would be small blue squares, so it is either white on blue or blue on white)

2 small white squares placed in the corners of a large blue square

Once I had stitched diagonally onto the larger square a cut is made 5mm from the stitching.

I continued like this with the remaining squares

When the square had been pressed out et voila! And so onwards and outwards with the remaining 300 or so remaining pieces!

By the end of cutting and sewing these squares together I should have 32  with blue in the middle and 32  with white and then I can start piecing them together. Watch this space!