UfO Number 1

Aboriginal Dots

It’s only just over a year since I began this sampler quilt. Quite a short time in the long line of UfOs waiting in line in my workroom really!

It was the first thing I made when I was over the moon at finding Mel’s class. It was the first thing I made after I discovered the joy and the temptation that is the wonderful Calico Kate shop in Lampeter.                              Lampeter or Llanbedr Pont Steffan, or  locally known as Llambed, this quiet Mid-Wales town is the smallest university town in the UK but more importantly for quilters it is the home of Jen Jones’  Welsh Quilt Centre (find them here on Facebook)

and the most amazing collection of fabrics ranged across twelve mouthwatering rooms at Calico Kate.

This little sampler quilt was also my introduction to the mysteries of foundation piecing. At the time I hadn’t a clue about this particular wonder of patchwork and as I began to find out I realised it may be quite a challenge. It is!  A challenge that I’ve loved and will continue to develop. Thanks Mel!

The Welsh Quilt Centre in Lampeter has hosted the talented and inspirational Kaffe Fassett as a speaker and tutor on more than one occasion. I was totally blown away by the colours of the Kaffe Fassett Comes to Wales Exhibition when I visited. He has been a knitting and weaving hero for me over the years and now here I was quilting only to discover his amazing quilts.

So it’s only fitting, of course, that Calico Kate stocks a good range of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and since then I have used a few. But for this project the focus was on the piecing so when I chose I went for a limited range from the Aboriginal Dots collection. Like all of his fabrics it comes in many hues but the ocean, teal and silver appealed to me on the day;  I added some of the shot cottons from his range and a fat quarter given to me by Mel.

We made a block each week and I think the only one that wasn’t new to me was the nine patch. I learnt a lot about points and pinwheels  and about half square triangles –  including that they are known as HSTs and are the basis of many more complex blocks.

 I made my first log cabin blocks; a large one and four minis that became the four quarters of a larger one.                                                             I can’t imagine ever tiring of making a new block for the first time, it can be frustrating, baffling, exasperating and totally troublesome but it makes me happy and if I’m not satisfied with the outcome I’m compelled to make another!When all the blocks were pieced and the top complete I sandwiched the wadding and the back and even began quilting by ‘stitching the ditch’ and trying out some free motion on the sashing but then I was distracted by the quilt I was making for my sister’s 50th birthday (see the post here). More to the point I wasn’t happy with the stitches wandering  in and out of the ditch and so it slipped down the priorities until one day I began unpicking. Somehow over time I got better at staying in the ditch and eventually the next stage was complete.

Stitching in the ditch – a few wobbles but nearly there!

This week in a pre-holiday rush it suddenly became imperative that I finished at least one UfO before leaving and this was it.

I trimmed the edges, made a random binding strip from the scraps and hey presto, finished! Hooray!