Collection 15 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 15	Wow isn't it amazing how quickly we are racing through the collections. We are almost a third of the way through. a few people have sent along their photos and it is great to see these. I would love to see more and my photoshopping skills are improving. So why were these blocks named as they are? Searching, hey it's a maze and although you can easily find your way out most times you can't.	C15 Searching
Goldilocks, again this was to me the only choice. Aren't the 1930s fabrics cute. Mind you I'm positive I could never finish an entire quilt using just those.	C15 Goldilocks	e.coli this late at night I am assuming the only thing one can about the naming of this block. Was it on one of our cruises that I made this one or was it the time I ate seafood which didn't smell quite right. We never did go back to that shop.
C15 Bond Street	There are many of my memories within the blocks of Raconteur, the nights of Monopoly and cheers when I held the Bond Street card in my hand - it was my good luck charm. As a child I fought to win like every other child. Now I dislike the game and that same aspect. For every winner there are more losers and I won't play. Thankfully our children have discovered many other games which aren't quite as cut throat though cut throat are still their favourites.	C15 e.coli
September, for some reason the soft blue suggested the cool evenings of September.	C15 September	The star within the star suggested an enveloping of arms and protection.
C15 Bees to the Hive	Bees to the Hive, don't the dots look like small insects and although the hives look like little Pacmen from the arcade packman game of the 70s I took them to also be hives.	C15 Enveloped

Collection 13 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 13	Oops Log Cabin Baskets is upside down. If you stand on your head you may be able to see the basket more clearly... or perhaps not:)	C13 Log Cabin Basket
The design for Argyle Sweaters was taken from a jumper I made many years ago. I must get back into knitting sometime it was such a relaxing pastime.	C13 Argyle Sweaters	Winter Secrets is a miniaturised version of one of the blocks from my quilt Winter Secrets. This was a stitchery which I designed, reworking some of the blocks from Raconteur, for when I was travelling and not wanting to take too much stuff.
C13 Norwegian Wind	The design for Norwegian Wind came from a jumper that my youngest son bought. He lives in Norway and so the name. Carol's version is here	C13 Winter Secrets
Maypole  is made in an interesting manner. I made two identical blocks and then cut sections out from one of them and appliquéd them onto the other reversing the colours.. my appliqué skills were definitely improving although it was just a circle that had to be appliquéd so no points or tricky bits. For a TOTALLY  different appearance check out Carol's two versions here.	C13 Nature's Force	Natures's Force was simply six arcs sewn together. If you check out Carol's block you will see though that it is also easily made using appliqué.
C13 Maypole	Spinning Spokes was my first attempt at really tiny hexagons NOT made with English Paper Piecing and it was a success confirming that this was a method I could avoid for now and the future.... try it. You will be amazed. Carol again showed a total change with her colour choices here.	C13 Spinning spokes

Collection 12 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 12	Collection 12 contains mainly blocks that were designed and made early on in the quilt that became Raconteur.  I hope you enjoy making them as much as I did.	C12 Hidden Extras
Watching was a very easy design to draw..but took several goes before I finally thought to resort to using a machine..at least  for parts of it... to centre the white hexagons I had to sew MINUTE triangle to two sides. I finally worked out it was best to strip piece this section and then it was a piece of cake	C12 Watching	Hidden Extras, look closely at this block and you will see a blue star in the centre. It appears to be  'made' by quilting lines but no I did actually sew those little triangles in separately. I had made a mistake when cutting the fabric and as I wasn't home when I sewed it I couldn't cut out more fabric.
C12 Turnaround	Doesn't Turnaround remind you of those artists who juggle sticks of fire. You can see them spinning and turning in the air. In Sparrow's Flight one can remember the little birds as they flit in and out from the bird feeders	C12 Sparrow's Flight
My youngest son has always participated in many charity fund raisers and Relay for Life was one of these. As part of their 'kit' everyone received a pair of lilac shoe laces.	C12 Relay for Life	There are few movies I remember from my youth and No Roses for Michael is one of those. It came out early on when drugs were becoming more common and was part of a government scare campaign. I always remembered the name and the poor fellow in the gutter at the end. It was probably one of the things that terrified me enough to keep me from experimenting in my youth.
C12 Lemon Souffle	Lemon Souffle was for many years my favourite summer desert. It isn't your usual hot runny version but a cold desert. Light as the name suggests but held together with gelatine.... must make another one soon.	C12 No Roses For Michael

Collection 11 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 11	Well Collection 11 must be the most insane collection.  This collection contains about 500 individual pieces! Yet it doesn't contain the block with the most pieces from the entire collections. these are gorgeous blocks but if you haven't paper pieced before then I strongly suggest you do the exercises in the tutorial I uploaded earlier.	C11 Mandola at Midnight
Don't you just love those little children who hold up an assortment of fingers declaring I'm Three and what could me more enjoyable than a Rose Garden... well a rose garden that is maintained by someone else. I live opposite a TAFE college which taught horticulture. The students practiced on my garden and I enjoyed the fruits of their labour. Carol's blocks I'm Three and Rose Garden	C11 The Rose Garden	Mandola at Midnight - yes I did design this at midnight. I had received QNM just that day but being very busy didn't have the opportunity to read it until bedtime. This became another night of little sleep and so I decided I may as well get up and have a go at designing my own mandola as the directions seemed so easy :) To read more about this block and also to see Carol's block click here.
C11 I'm Three	Lynn Hewitt is a NSW quilter who teaches throughout the state. At one retreat I attended she taught sashiko and everyone in the class agreed it was a most relaxing pastime.	C11 Lynn  Loves Sashiko
Tall Ships was a variation on a block that I found in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. I can't remember which issue but it was an early one. The original block was an eight point star and didn't resemble ships at all... shows you how poor I am at trying to modify something... new block though	C11 Tall Ships	Hunter's Web was supposed to be a log cabin. If you found you way into this cabin you might not find your way out. Carol's block
C11 Winter Sun	I know there is little Winter Sun apparent in this block but it is what I think the winter sun would be like in the cold northern hemisphere where the sun seldom shines in summer. Carol's  block is a lot brighter.	C11 The Hunter's Web

Almost Caught Up

C13 Log Cabin Baskets

C12 Turnaround

C12 Hidden Extras

I would love to say that I have caught up with posting all of the blocks that Carol has emailed me but alas she sews quicker than I edit and upload.

Mind you everyone is fortunate that she is so far ahead as she also edits my patterns for errors. We assume I had been getting stuck into the wine when I wrote the numbers for Log Cabin Baskets as they were all over the place. Thankfully now that has been corrected.

This is also Carol's second attempt at Hidden Extras. Rather than wasting time, like I did, using the same fabric for both the little and the long star points she used two colours so that they could actually be seen.

Doesn't Turnaround  look great with her fabric choice.

Youthful Fun

C10 Fiesta

C12 Relay for Life

C11 Winter Sun

These three blocks were named for events around my youngest son. 

He loves parties and the Winter Sun, particularly now as he lives in Norway and sees so little of it.

He has also always been a willing participant of many fundraisers. While at uni he joined with a group of friends in the Relay for Life. This was his first fundraiser where he discovered that there could be fun in the event rather than just slogging it out to get money for whatever charity.

He related with pride how one night he and nine of his friends managed to come second last in a trivia night...because they had bought nine of the last ten answers. He loved the Fiesta afterwards.

Childhood Memories

C15 Bond Street

C13 Spinning Spokes

C15 Goldilocks

 There are many of my memories within the blocks of Raconteur, the nights of Monopoly and cheers when I held the  Bond Street card in my hand - it was my good luck charm. As a child I fought to win like every other child. Now I dislike the game and that same aspect. For every winner there are more losers and I won't play. Thankfully our children have discovered many other games which aren't quite as cut throatgh cut throat is still their favourites.
Do you remember....
.... the Xmas you received yoru first bike and the Spinning Spokes and those plastic ribbons attached to the handlebars?
..... the story books and characters like Goldilocks and the moral of all of those stories. I am sure they were written with the sole purpose of drumming values into children.
.... the games of hide and seek..Searching for that last kid who always had the perfect spot?
.... and best of all that great big tractor tube, the Childish Tube, which was always found beside every swimming hole? Wouldn't be allowed these days ..OH&S or some other government regulation.

C9 Childish Tube

C9 Rabbits in the Light

C15 Searching

Another memory which would be common to many country kids would be the rabbit hunting and those poor Rabbits in the Lights. A revolting sport according to one of my city friends when told of it later. As a child I simply considered it to be food. Different times. Different circumstances.

Nature Rules

C10 Salmon Run

Salmon Run was made when Paul and I were on a cruise through Alaska. One of Paul's hobbies is researching holidays which are good value and one year he managed to pick up an amazing special on a land and boat package through Alaska. It was the most breathtaking place I have ever been. 

We saw brown bears, close enough to touch had we been stupid/game enough, squirrels, otters, puffins and many others including salmon. Although most of the animals were in the wild the salmon weren't as we went there in April/May but we did walk beside one of the rivers where they 'run' in the springtime.

C12 Sparrow's Flight

Our son's live overseas and we are very lucky to be able to have free accomodation whenever we can stand to make the 20-30 hour flight.

One year we went to England where one son was living and it was there that I finally understood the concept I had always grown up believing..'birds fly south for the winter'. Isn't it terrible of our education that we grew up with all of these 'facts' which weren't changed to suit our location. As so many of our books were published, or at least written in the northern hemisphere we simply learnt and believed these facts. There I saw many sparrows and stopped to think that yes the English birds would fly south, to warmth for the winter. I never understood why our birds would fly to Antartica for winter... a child's thoughts and memories.

C4 Summer's Day

We can all guess when I made Summer's Day. Although Carol had prewashed her fabrics the red still ran here. I had the same problem with a number of my blocks, but it was my fault for being lazy and not prewashing..why does one only learn after the fact...and then repeat the error at a later date.

Mistakes Corrected

C10 Sweet September

Carol has finished another two blocks...I have found a soul mate...someone who must never stop for food or to do horrid chores... how else could she finish so many blocks so quickly. 

In truth once the fabric is cut Raconteur is a lovely project which can be used to fill in a few minutes here and there. 

There are quick and easy blocks such as Hidden Extras as well as other more time intensive ones like Sweet September.

Sweet September is a simplified version of Rhonda Loves Spots in Collection 22. I liked the idea of the star in the middle floating here and tried to develop it further in Rhonda Loves Spots. Failed miserably in that aspect but it is still a pretty block.

C12 Hidden Extra

Hidden Extras gets its name from the fact that in the original quilt the six star arms are made of two pieces each. I had chosen the wrong fabric for some of the pieces but wasn't home at the time so couldn't recut the fabric. As I had run out of other sewing I figured I may as well make it up anyhow.

Raconteur took me an average of 30 hours per collection...error like this one contributed to that time:) I am sure Carol will finish her quilt a lot quicker than I did.

Fear of Curves

Cool Cat in the Outback

C13 Maypole

Carol this week started out thinking that this was not a week for curves. She looked at Maypole and decided that it was not the time to try  those corner circles and so she made Cool Cat in the Outback. If you look closely at these two blocks you will see a lot of similarity. Cool Cat is simply missing three circles. After a bit of deliberation she decided that no circle was going to beat her and so she EPP'd the background, foundation pieced the circles, cut them out and then gathered them over 200gsm paper, ironed them and then appliqued them on top...not scarey at all she said.....apart from the EPP it was similar to how I made them. I still can't understand why people enjoy EPP rather than regualr piecing but Carol appears to be having great fun with this method. Patchwork is such a wonderufl hobby where everyone can indulge their delight.

C9 Portrait Pain

Another block which originally caused Carol some pain was Portrait Pain but as may be seen from her block it oculdn't have been all that painful. Carol tried foundation piecing this one but found the curves just didn't suit it so she then returned to her favourite method of EPP again:)