Sunday, April 25, 2010

Have you ever done this?

Have you ever walked down the street and found yourself thinking, "Now that would be perfect for ......" I found myself doing just this yesterday, whilst walking down the main shopping street in Northwich. I had just seen a man's shirt walking towards me (the man, not the shirt), and knew that it would have solved my current problems with the Indian fabric quilt I have been working on.

I'd better start from the beginning. I showed the start of the Indian Cotton Quilt, working name "Rosie's Quilt", last time. Laying it out, Rosie and I felt it needed a couple more bright areas to balance one already in place.

(My helper, Felix with the completed blocks.)
On Thursday, I had treated myself to a morning spent with Dot's UFO group - a social Quilting group which meets to sew and chat. I took my new sewing machine along and sat beside some really interesting people. During the course of the morning, I actually managed to wind a bobbin first time - I had been having difficulty getting this right whilst at home on my own. The nice thiong about chatting to other quilters is the variety of ideas which are exchanged. It was suggested that I used quilt-as-you-fo to complete this one. I must admit I hadn't got as far as considering how to proceed with Rosie's Quilt. However, what a good idea. Now I need to decide what to use for the backs of each block.
One of the downsides of going to this group is the amount of wonderful fabrics which Dot brings to sell. (Sadly, her shop is not online.) She had brought a large collection of sale fabrics along. There were some beautiful new fabrics too, but it was the sale fabrics that became my undoing. I bought these:



The smaller pieces - all fat quarters.
And these:

Some metre length pieces. I wondered about using the dark grey for the back of Rosie's quilt using this as a contrast to another paler fabric, perhaps making a chequerboard style of colour arrangement.
Alongside these fabrics I found one cotton suitable for Rosie's quilt. Bright and just what I need to balance the lighter, duller squares. Sadly there was no second colourway to go with it. Which was why I found myself searching around Northwich for material on Saturday.


After a search of the market, I started going into the local Charity shops. In the first shop, I found this.



It was originally a nice little tunic top - too small for me to wear, the fabric was just right and so the tunic was cut up.
Well I am now off to get some serious sewing done. Have fun!

4 comments:

Toni said...

h, I can't wait to see how the quilt turns out. SUCH great fabrics!!!!

Mandy said...

Thanks, I am having a lot of fun putting this together.

quiltmom anna said...

Stunning fabrics that you found- I really like a couple of the meter pieces- the black flower like piece and the trellis fence like design are especially lovely. There is something really fun about playing new fabrics even when you have lots in your collection/stash.
Have fun playing Mandy.
Regards from Western Canada.
Anna

Mandy said...

Thanks Anna,
I think thats why I just had to have a good-sized piece of each. It is so unusual to get colours like these, but I know I shall use them.