Bright Tumblers ...

I'm so pleased with how this has come together - the 'trip around the world' effect has worked out really well.  Now I need to be good and baste one of these tumbler tops together and quilt it before I get carried away by making another flimsey :)

More tumblers ...

I've been a bit naughty ... the blue tumblers are still only a flimsey and already I've been cutting out for a new quilt!  Normally I finish one project before starting another, but the tumblers were calling to me ...

It started with a bundle of recycled fabrics from Worn and Washed.  They were 4" strips and I started cutting tumblers.  I cut it all (approx 2metres by weight) and thought this would be enough for a 40" x 50" quilt.  Got the calculator out and realised, although I had approx 140 tumblers, I would actually need 240 tumbers!!  Had to rummage around for more recycled fabrics that would work and get cutting again.  I'm going to attempt a 'trip around the world' effect so I need a largish space to lay these out before I can begin stitching them together :)

Blue Tumblers progress ...

The Marti Michell tumbler template is so fun to work with!  The cutting takes a little while as the bottom corners of the template have 'engineered corners' so you nip off the points of each tumbler to make them easy to align when stitching.  The stiching does go together really quickly - I already have the top together.

In case anyone wanted to know, the fabric line is Makower's Byzantium with a couple of Spraytime's added in.

I'm linking to the Quilting for Good link party again this week as this quilt will also be going to the care home where I volunteer :)

Blue Tumblers ...

I'm making a start on a new quilt.  I recently bought the Marti Michell tumbler template after seeing some wonderful examples of tumbler quilts online.  The thing that appealed to me about this template is you can rotary cut a variety of sizes from 2" finished to 6" finished.  I picked some fabrics I was given which were shop samples for Makower and decided to have a go :)

Nine Patch Split FINISHED!

Here it is finished.  Pattern is Nine Patch Split by Bonnie Hunter - inspiration from Kathy's blog.  All the fabrics on the front of this are recycled (mostly shirts) and the lime is from a cotton cot sheet. This one finishes approx 40" x 52" and will be going to the Care Home where I volunteer in the Autumn.

Here's a close-up of the quilting, which is my interpretation of a pattern called Tiles by Angela Walter which is a tutorial on SewCalGal's blog this month.  My straight lines maybe aren't as straight as I would like as I didn't premark anything.  But that minor detail aside, it was an easy and fun pattern to quilt and gives good texture :)

I'm linking up to Quilting for Good Tuesdays, which is a new place where anyone making a quilt for donation can share progress.  Go quilters!!

Nine Patch Split basted ...

The quilt top is all together and I'm really pleased with how it has turned out.  I've basted it this morning and hope to start on the quilting this afternoon.  I'm going to have a go at the tutorial posted by Angela Walter this month on SewCalGal's blog.  The design is called Tiles and I'm going to attempt an irregular version with meander filling.  Keep your fingers crossed for me :)

Nine Patch Split progress ...

The blocks are starting to come together :)

Nine Patch Split HSTs ...

I already had all the 2.5" strips cut in the shirt fabrics, so by using the Easy Angle ruler (a la Bonnie Hunter) it was pretty quick to turn them into lots of lovely HST (half square triangles).  I'm ready for block assembly now :)

Nine Patch Split colours ...

I've been doing some experimenting with colours for this pattern.  The scraps are all from recycled shirts and I'm looking for the consistant contrast.  I layed out solid red, orange subtle check and solid lime to see how they might work.  Love the red - it has a bold contrast.  The orange works well with the blues/greys that dominate my shirt fabrics, but it didn't 'wow' me!  Love the lime as a colour, but it got lost as it's tone was too close to the ligher fabrics.

Then a brainwave ... what about if I swap the tonal values around to make all lights dark and visa versa.  Now the lime works as the consistant contrast, so this is what I'm going with :)

Barrister's Sow-a-Long Update ...

It seems like ages since I did any quilt sewing, the cardmaking seems to have rather taken over!!  I've decided to put sewing to the forefront during July and started by catching up on the Barrister's Blocks sow-a-long.  I admit I haven't made all the blocks with the tiny pieces, but I'm caught up with the blocks I'm going to make.

Inspired by Kathy's lovely version of Bonnie Hunter's Nine Patch Split pattern, I've also started cutting my shirt pieces into squares and bricks to make my own version.  I haven't decided what will be my accent colour yet.  I would have loved to go orange (like Kathy) but don't have enough of anything ... could go lime green ... could go for a yellow/white gingham ... could go red (like Bonnie) ... will trial a few things when I get some more pieces cut :)