Brick Wall

This picture here represents another huge tick against my list of 'stuff outstanding from last year'.
(There's only one more thing to go - phew.)

It's my 'Strips of Bricks', as Inspired by a quilt by Red Pepper Quilts that I stumbled across on Pinterest.  I pulled a quite mixed bag of fabrics off the shelves to make this one.  Some lovely ditsy prints, some bold colours, some more modern prints and even - hold on to your hats - some black!  I love and adore how this mish mash works together though.   Somehow, even though it's a bit of a fabric free for all, it really really works wonders for me.

This was quite a nice was a quilt to put together.  No having to worry about lining up seams or pressing to the right side.  The only thing was to make sure that the spread of fabrics was ok.  Nothing the same too close to each other.  So making the top was a lovely task.  The bit I always dread is the quilting.  The worry over basting the layers together well enough to avoid wrinkles and worst of all the tedium and physical workout that is quilting on a home machine.

To be completely honest my normal quilting style is 'bare minimum' and my normal approach is to grit my teeth and plough through quickly to get the job over with.  This quilt started in the same way, but at some point during the process a change took place.  

I was probably about half-way through when it suddenly dawned on me that this wasn't actually horrendous this time.  I don't know what was different, a slightly better desk set up, a better arrangement of the quilt for feeding through the machine maybe, I'm not sure.  Whatever it was, I started to un-grit the teeth, un-tense the muscles a little and relax a bit.  I actually started to take pleasure from creating little thread lined ditches along my quilt.

In the end I decided to add more lines of quilting than the absolute minimum that I had planned.  I haven't gone crazy or anything, it's still an incredibly simple pattern.  But it could be a step down the road to maybe enjoying the quilting part one day?  Is such a thing even possible?  For now though, I'm content enough with the idea that I won't be dreading the meer thought of it next time.

I'll leave you with some more quilt pictures in a minute, but I just wanted to show you a couple of snippets from the weekend first.  Was it a glorious sunny one where you were too?  Spring was most certainly in the air around here and I slogged my little guts out in the garden.  Mowing, weeding, trimming and sometimes hacking back.  I was rather exhausted by the end but it was a joy to be out there.  Little Miss loved to be able to play outside and get out garden toys out again and I even found a few minutes for a quick crochet play over a coffee.  Bliss. 

There's also the small matter of a big pile of yarn and buttons to mention.  Quite the haul eh?  My Nan has decided, in her infinite wisdom, that she is no longer going to be knitting anything and has bestowed on me her remaining yarn stash and a whole heap of buttons.  Thanks Nan!  I'm a little wary at the moment, truth be told, in case she changes her mind and wants it all back.  But I'm happy to be it's custodian during the cooling off period!



S x





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Comments

  1. I love the mix of fabrics you have there, I loved spotting my favourite patterns on quilts that my Granny had made as a child.
    How nice to get hand-me-down yarns too

    http://ahandfulofhope.blogspot.co.uk/

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  2. Your quilt looks beautiful! Glad that you enjoyed making it. xx

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  3. VERY nice! Love the mix-up of squares. Reminds me of a quilt I had made for my camper many years ago. Glad you found pleasure in putting it together. Very nice! xxoo

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  4. Just simply the most beautiful " brick wall" I have ever seen. Gorgeous, gorgeous quilt.

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  5. This is beautiful Sandra, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the making of it; I especially like the multi colours and fabrics - it's all so well balanced! I recently got into quilting and am loving it. Joy x

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  6. The weekend certainly was glorious, it felt so good to ber outside enjoying the fresh air.
    Loving the quilt, it is gorgeous, your right the miss match of colours work so well together, I love the effect of the brick wall too, so effective x x x x

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  7. Such a pretty quilt Sandra, I love that brick wall effect. How lovely that your nan gave you her yarn - there's always something special about gifts from 'nan'. Have a lovely week.
    Jane x

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  8. Love the quilt Sandra, the happy mix of colours and fabrics is gorgeous!
    I find machine quilting rather tedious too, and have only done it a few times - hopefully next time I'll have a transformation too!
    Gill xx

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  9. that's so lovely, I might just get back on and finish mine this Spring. Crochet love took over!

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  10. Gorgeous!! Those ditsy prints are right up my street! Sarah xo

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  11. How lovely your quilt looks, well done.
    I am going to attempt my first ever quilt next week. A raggy quilt (at a workshop) hope I have not bitten off more than I can chew ;0)

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  12. Your quilt is gorgeous - yarny presents are the best type of presents. I too was working away in the garden, tiring but a job well done.

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  13. I love this quilt. The colours are such a great mix and work so well. Very inspirational.
    Rosie xx

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  14. Wow, gorgeous quilt, the fabric colours and prints are very lovely. You're like me when it comes to the quilting stage, so it's good to hear you're getting to grips with it. Lucky you with your donated stash of yarn and buttons!! Sam xxxx

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  15. The quilt looks fab - I've just finished the quilting portion of my first quilt and wow can I relate to how hard it is to manhandle a quilt through a machine!

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  16. So beautiful... the fabric combinations are just lovely

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  17. You are on fire! I can't get over how amazingly productive you are - I feel like I've achieved a big fat nothing lately. I'm jealous, obviously. (The quilt is very lovely.) xx

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  18. The quilt is beautiful! So colourful and cheerful!

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