Hello everybody!
This month on the sewalong our theme has been the UN International Day of Cotton. The majority of people doing patchwork work with cottons so the idea of this theme was to keep us mindful of where our fabric comes from and the processes that go into bringing it to us.
I have had a very productive month, and I made 13 blocks all together. There's only 12 in this picture, because I have annoyingly misplaced one block, so I can't put it in the group pics, but you will see it individually later on.
For week 39 the prompt was our Earliest cottons. The idea was to use fabrics from early projects or that we had had for a long time. I found this week really enjoyable, as I love using fabrics to make connections between people and my own projects. I made 3 blocks.
First up, this circle of bears.
This first one uses an old fabric that used to belong to my mother. She bought it in about 1984-5 when we were living in California. She used it in several quilts when we were children, most notably a pair of EPP hexagon quilt that she made for my sister Vanessa, when Vanessa was a baby. She has very kindly taken photos of them for me, the larger one is probably what most people would call 'baby' size and the smaller one is a doll-sized quilt. (Thanks Mum and Dad for taking these photos for me!)
For the next block this week, I used these pink shells:
This fabric was bought by me in 2011 to make a pair of baby quilts for a friend expecting twin girls. This pair of quilts marked my return to quilting after a bit of a hiatus in my 20s.
Incidentally I used the blue version of this same fabric in July under the theme of Water, and I had also used that on their little brother's quilt in 2016. I do have a picture, but this thing is point-blank refusing to actually put it in the right place in the text. I also have an unfinished Before-the-blog post on the making of these three quilts, so you'll just have to wait until I get around to actually finishing that to see what the last quilt looks like. Finally, this flowery block.
This is another fabric that belonged to my mother in the 80s. This one was probably purchased in Australia in 1986. Here's what it looked like before I cut into it.
Mum used this to make a dress for my little sister, which you can see her wearing in the photo below, at our brother's birthday in 1986.
I can actually remember Vanessa wearing this dress! My initial guess was that this must have been a couple of years later than it was, but it seems I just have good early memories - I turned 4 a week after this picture was taken. (Thanks to Alex and Vanessa for letting me use this photo, photography credit to my Mum again).
And this fabric also featured in one of my early works! I used it to back one of the blocks in my first full-sized quilt, Fantasie, made in Colchester, England in 2000-2001, which is the quilt featured in the banner at the top of this blog. Here's a shot of the back so you can see this fabric in use.
Some of the other backing fabrics you can see here are also leftovers from clothes my Mum made for my siblings.
For week 40 we took a break from the Cotton theme for World Mental Health Day. Quite frankly, I objected to this theme as it felt way too personal and honestly quite triggering. I made a single block with this tear drop/raindrop fabric.
Week 41 was back to the Cotton theme and the prompt was Latest or most Recent Cotton. I made 2 blocks.
First up, this pink motif.
This fabric is from my most recent Aldi purchase, a fat quarter bundle of Peppa Pig fabrics. I'm actually not entirely sure what the fabric is meant to be showing.
I think it looks like tulips. My 4-year-old, who is far more expert in matters pertaining to Peppa Pig than I am, is adamant that these are jellyfish. And I do see how she gets that. Whatever they are, they work in this block.
Secondly, this star-effect block.
This second block is from my recent purchases of fabrics to use in my Halloween La Passacaglia Quilt. I chose a section of a motif that wouldn't actually work for that quilt to use here. I do like to try and maximise the use of my fabrics - EPP can leave some strange shaped holes in them, so often the best way to work around that is to do more EPP with different shaped pieces and cut them both out at the same time.
Week 42 was Precious Cotton. I am very much of the opinion that none of our fabrics should be considered 'too precious' to cut into. The whole industry that we are celebrating this month puts a lot of work into creating these fabrics so they can be used and worn, not so they can languish on a shelf. That seems to me to be a waste of all the effort that has gone in to getting them this far. I made 2 blocks.
These both come from the same piece of out-of -print Tula Pink Moon Shine fabric. Here they both are individually.
As I mentioned in the previous week, to maximise the use of the fabric, it often makes sense to cut out more than one EPP thing at a time from the fabric. These two sections create very different blocks, but are actually surprisingly close to each other on the fabric when you take into account seam allowances. So by doing this I have used the fabric I have cut up well, and still left several full deer motifs in tact for future use. After all, just because I think we should cut into our 'precious' fabrics does not mean there is any need to be needlessly wasteful. However, I don't do this just because this fabric is 'designer' and therefore 'precious'. I believe in treating all our fabrics with this same level of respect, whatever their origins. After all, it has all been grown, spun, woven, designed and printed/dyed by someone, whether we know their names or not. And all humans are equally deserving of our respect.
And week 43 was our Brightest Cottons! This was really easy for me to find ideas for as I am naturally drawn to bright fabrics. I made 3 blocks (no group pic, because this is where I am missing one block).
First up, these orange fossils:
I love this fabric, but it is very bright, and doesn't go with a lot of other things. This was the perfect prompt for it.
Next up, some neon green waves.
This fabric is from Tula Pink's Zuma collection. The green colour way of this collection is particularly bright.
And finally, this star.
This is made from a zig-zag Kaffe Fassett fabric. He always goes very bright with his colours. I only have a 10-inch charm pack, which is why the two halves of the star don't quite meet at the edges, but I still think this is an effective block. Annoyingly, this is the block I have temporarily misplaced.
And we rounded off the month with another freestyle week to allow those of us who enjoy making Halloween stuff (like me!) to go ahead and do so. I made two blocks.
First up, these mummies.
This fabric was another candidate for the bright week, it is quite a bright orange. It's a Spoonflower fabric - their colours often don't print as bright and saturated as the designer intends so I think I was lucky with this one. It features in one of the large rosettes of my Halloween La Passacaglia quilt (you can see how I used it in
this post.). I do like how the legs of the mummies join together to form a star shape in this block.
Next up, some pirate skulls and swords.
This is another fabric I bought for the Halloween La Passacaglia. I really the secondary shape created by the way the swords join together.
So that was October! After a week for Remembrance Day, November's theme is going to be Lines, which I am very much looking forward to! Lines are always fun for focus cutting.
Thanks for reading!
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