First Theme

'Centred'

Creating is at the heart of everything I do.

During my Eco Quilt journey I'd like to share with you the process my Blocks take to create, knowing that unless you have identical pieces you're not going to create the same however I hope it gives you some ideas.

There's a couple of things I've learnt while creating the few Quilts I have, techniques which are unique to Quilt making, No.1 - that it's a good idea to keep your Blocks straight & square, if you want the 

the finished product to be straight & square and No.2 - work your way

 out from the centre.

Having decided that the first block would sit at the heart of the quilt it was a very simple decision choosing the fabrics, as the colours were always a given - pinks & greens make my heart sing!

I've used 3 favourite pieces ie. childs cotton shirt & 2 matching embroidered/cutwork doilies.

I've had these filed for years, occasionally pulling them out in the hope they were just what I needed for the REinvention I was working on at the time - thankfully not! 

I roughly worked out where each piece worked best together, while always referring back to my template as a guide to size & proportions.

Having decided to frame my 'heart' with the doilies I backed them with an old cotton pillowcase cut to size, ensuring that the edges matched. 

I eventually want the edges of the doilies to hang over what ever I decide the strips will be.

The 'heart' was then stitched in place. 

This of course is the back view, I did stitch from the right side.

Another section from another old pillowcase was used to back the entire piece, thus forming my Block.

It was essential that the backing was cut square and centred onto the front because it is this backing that will be stitched to the strips.

By using my template all the time as a guide while working out what was going where and then using it to size & cut my backing piece meant everything sat square.

  I'm not sure if you noticed - I stitched the 2 fronts of the shirt to a section of the sleeve, in a way that allows the cuff to still function (not as a cuff of course!) and am thinking of stitching a little something underneath - later.

 So there you go, the Eco Quilt Challenge is a happening thing!
What do you think, are you inspired/tempted to take up the challenge?

Next theme will be posted in a fortnight!

Good luck to those that have joined in already and have their templates & designs at the ready - don't forget to share your journey on the flickr site.