I finished my Keep Calm And Carry On quilt this morning and I'm a little bit sorry. I've thoroughly enjoyed making every single block, possibly because they've all been slightly different and all had their own little challenges. And there's been plenty of opportunity to procrastinate over fabric choices, which is one of my favourite parts of quilting. Because, truth be told, I rather like a quilt to go together slowly. There's a luxury in taking my time and enjoying the process that's often absent in the million-and-nine other things I do each day.
I did find it possible not to have a crown block after all. It didn't make the final cut and was replaced by a house block. Or more accurately, a garden shed block. With chimneys of course.
If you'd like to immortalise your own shed in fabric, you'll need:-
1 4½" square and 1 3" x 5" piece for the roof
1 4½" square and 2 1½" x 4½" pieces for the gable wall
2 1½" x 4½" pieces, 2 1½" x 2½" pieces and 2 1½" squares for the walls and chimneys
2 3" x 5" pieces and 3 1½" x 2½" pieces of your background fabric
1 2½" x 4½" piece for the door
1 2½" square for the window
1 1½" x 8½" piece for the grass
{I also cut 4 1½" x 10½" pieces of background to frame my block}
Make the chimney section by joining the 1½" x 2½" pieces of background fabric alternately with the 1½" squares, pressing towards the chimneys; make the gable section by constructing a triangle in a square block, as show in my tutorial, here; make the roof section in the same way, adding the background fabric to only one side; make the door section by adding the 1½" x 4½" pieces of gable fabric to each side of the door piece, pressing towards the door; and make the window section by adding the 1½" x 2½" wall pieces to the top and bottom of the widow piece, pressing away from the window, then adding the remaining 1½" x 4½" pieces to each side again pressing away from the windows...
Join the two roof sections, pressing away from the gable; then join the two wall sections, pressing towards the door; join the roof to the walls (press the seams open this time) and then add the chimney and grass sections...
Ta-da: one garden shed. So much easier to build than the real thing...
Having pieced the top, the next step is backing, basting and quilting. I've managed to find some gorgeous, extra-wide gingham fabric from Bonnie & Camille's Vintage Picnic collection in Sarah's online shop Pretty Fabric's & Trims and am making a scrappy binding with my left-overs from other quilts. I'm using Warm & White batting, which I bought from the lovely Anne at my local quilt shop, Anca.
So that just leaves the quilting and I've decided to hand-quilt, which doesn't take as long as you'd think, but isn't too fast either. Just the way I like it...
Nicola xx