Funky 1600 JR Quilt

For quite some time I had been wanting to make a 1600 Jelly Roll quilt to find out what people on Yahoo groups were talking about.  Gosh, who knew that making a 1600 JR quilt could be so addictive?  I think I could make one in every colour way in my stash, if I had enough colours of each that is.

Now, the JR 1600 quilt instructions can be found here.  These very generous people at Heirloom Creations are happy for others to use their idea as long as you give credit - which is more than fair in my book.

I made my own 'jelly roll' from my stash of black/white/grey.  I had so many bits of these colours, that I just chopped them up one afternoon into appropriate lengths.  That night I made the quilt top - how fast does a JR 1600 go together?  Inside 3.5 hours with getting dinner for the family in the middle of that and pressing the seams!  WOW!

When I had sewn my black/white/grey fabrics together, which looked fabulous on the sewing table when in strips, I thought err, boring, dull, lifeless.  Off to visit my good friend, the internet and search some images to try and liven up this extremely boring quilt top.  I found the answer to my prayers here.  I wrote to Corina of cwquilts and she very kindly gave me permission to use her idea with credit applied at the time of posting to my blog.

My version of the 1600 JR Quilt:

In making this quilt, not only did I have fun, but I was once again reminded of the wonderful generosity of Quilters all over the world who are not frightened of sharing what they know with strangers.  I am indebted to Heirloom Creations and C W Quilts for giving me some sewing pleasure.

And they turned 70

The intention was for a quilt, made by me, for their 70th birthdays, which occurred during 2013.  Yep, missed their birthdays, so aimed for Christmas '13.  Was going very well, the weather stayed quite cold for Spring/Summer and then.... disaster of the quilty kind struck. 

Bobbin thread nests all over the back of the quilt and some excess fabric caught up in the bobbin area ...aarrghh....  Oh dear, what a mess!  It took quite some time to snip through all the threads to get the quilt out from under the machine, without putting a hole in the backing fabric.  I wish I had thought to take a photo of the mess, I had never seen anything like it from a sewing perspective before.

Then, the quilt and the machine both had to be dealt with separately.  Oh me, oh my.  The machine took about 45 minutes to clean up and get going again with newly wound bobbins, new needle and thread.  It took me a couple of days to painstakingly unpick the mess on the actual quilt while being ever so careful to not put a nick in either the top or backing fabric.  Being a whole-cloth quilt, I couldn't just take out and replace a piece if I nicked it.  

Of course, with the good time management skills of a quilter, it was Christmas.  The quilt was wrapped up, basting pins and all and put under the tree.   Surprise, delight and then "Oh" when the unfinished quilt was revealed.  I told Dad he should have been braver, I had closed all the basting pins and he could safely sleep under it that night.  Nope, he said he wasn't that silly!  Mum made no comment.

So, on Dads 71st birthday, this year, I gave them the completed quilt.  They both love it finished.  It is on their bed and they sleep under it every night.  Suits Mum's choice of red tones for the backing and the whole-cloth cream on cream suits her taste too.  Dad is happy because he is a crafts-person and loves hand-made things.  He also loves that she is happy!

  

Being a king size quilt, there is a lovely lot of overhang down the sides of the bed and it goes up over the pillows, just as they like it. 

Happy smiles all round. :)

One Block Wonder

A couple of weeks ago, several of us congregated at our local quilt group for a wonderful day of sewing, chatting and laughter as two members very bravely showed us how to make "One Block Wonder".

I went to this particular sewing day with no idea of what to expect.  I really struggled with the concept of how to cut my fabric and then sew it to achieve the 'kaleidoscope' blocks which make the One Block Wonder concept so intriguing.  I searched images of "One Block Wonder" before the workshop and it still didn't make sense to me.

So off I went, with my many companions, to a day of intrigue and learning.

WOW!  I was blown away by how knowledgeable our two tutors were and the amazing presentations - these two talented women managed to amaze and stun into silence 24 quilters!  

Here is my starting fabric

A few blocks laid out, ready to sew

 And then, my completed pile of 54 blocks

More the 'One Block Wonder' photos from our wonderful day can be seen here.

The possibilities I can see in fabric now, have changed my thinking.  If it has a definite repeat and movement, there are many surprises to be had when making the blocks.  I can't wait to start laying out my blocks and assembling the quilt top.

Thank you for sharing in my joy!

PS:  Don't forget - if you want to make your own "One Block Wonder", you can purchase or borrow from your library the "One Block Wonder" books.