More Lucy Boston blocks

With night duty over, it is now time to move onto more Lucy Boston blocks. In total I have made 45, I was going to stop at 42, but must have got carried away and had more prepared than I thought. So I will continue onto 52 which is how many Lucy made. Then I will have to decide whether to leave it as a coverlet, like the original or do I make it into a quilt. Then onto the decision of hand quilting, all over quilting or custom quilting. The  quilt will be quite large, possibly a king-size after the borders have been added, so quite large to hand quilt and the amount of time it would take as well. I have seen it quilted by hand, all over and custom quilting and have liked all three. Custom quilting is quite expensive and you would not get any change out of $1,000,so with the amount of time and materials already expended would it be worth it and also makes for a very expensive quilt.

This block is one of my favourite, although plain I do love the use of the civil war soldiers, this is fabric that I had left over from my Dear Jane, which I need to put together. 

Miniature quilts

My fascination with miniature quilts started quite awhile ago, I first saw a quilt which was a 4 inch square made out of tiny hexagons. This  inspired me to make a few. In January this year I did summer school with Anne Sommerlad, who designed a miniature quilt which is made up of twenty 2 1/2 inch blocks, foundation pieced. I enjoyed the class and  was quite pleased with the result. 
I also purchased a doll quilt book by Kathleen Tracey and have made one of the doll quilts with my twist. Recently at the Quilt and Craft Fair in the Exhibition building, Darling Harbour, Sydney, there was a display of miniature quilts, the workmanship on the quilts were stunning and a credit to the makers.

 A small tumbler quilt, drawn up by Christine Book.

An adaptation 0f Kathleen Tracey doll's quilts

Foundation pieced 2 1/2'' blocks, Anne Sommerlad design.






Some eye candy from the recent Quilt fair in Sydney

Just a small display of miniature quilts at the recent Quilt and Craft Fair in Sydney

Lucy Boston Block's

After a busy 10 hours at work on Sunday, coordinating medical intensive care teams to sick babies and children all over Sydney and rural NSW, my 40 hours for the week is complete. I will return to  nightduty midweek. On completion of duty Sunday afternoon at 1700hrs, I drove the 45 minutes home, making a few phone calls to pass the time. Arrival at home immediately, got stuck into the house work. Vacuumed, dusted and cleaned the bathrooms. The method for my madness... Monday I want to go to see the "Great Gatsby. I have heard mixed review, so off too see it today. In the afternoon after the movie, will do the ironing, then my few days off will be dedicated to some sewing.

For the last 12 months I have been sewing Lucy Boston's squares, also known as Patchwork of the Crosses. Lucy was inspirational with her sewing and sewed into her 80's, with very poor eyesight. What is intriguing about these squares is the fussy cutting of fabric, how they are placed and the cross that forms the square disappears. I have completed 36 of these squares and not sure if I will do the 56 that Lucy did. I have used a variety of creams around the squares, as suggested by my friend Chris Book, as I complete the squares I sew the 24 cream/ shirting elongated hexagons around the square for completion. When I come to sew them together, I will only have 2,200 1" squares to sew together..