I mentioned last time the call for quilts for those affected by the recent and very tragic Grenfell Tower disaster. Both Novenka Bex Priestly and the London Modern Quilt Guild are coordinating their own quilt drives. Both have very wisely avoided having one type of design so it’s had all of us quilters rummaging through our WIPs looking for those half finished projects to get dusted down and finished. The distribution date is in August so getting on with it is important. The response has been amazing one Quilters Guild on the small island of Jersey in the Channel Islands has produced over 40 quilts!!!!

Of course I should be finishing off the quilt for the Festival of Quilts which is on an equally tight time scale but I’ve done nearly all the blocks and have a vague sense of where I’m going with this improv quilt. And I needed a break.

This quilt WIP sprang to mind….

Its using a lovely selection of Cotton and Steel fabrics of yesteryear. They always seem to blend together beautifully. Rather than using a solid white I’ve used a print which I think is quite effective.  I’m not really a solids girl I’m afraid. It also has the benefit of being on my FAL for this quarter. The original plan had been to gift it to the daughter of a friend of mine.  But that plan changed when Nikola made this beautiful quilt for her baby sister with a bit of help from me….

…and so enthused was she that she wants to make her own for herself. So this quilt was a perfect choice for Grenfell. The blocks were all done as it had been my retreat project when I was at the Thread House retreat in January.  The drunkard blocks had gone  together well so I confess I didn’t even bother  to trim them. Personally this abandonment of normal practice was in rebellion for all the precision and tedium of the blocks for the show quilt… Mindyou, helped by the relatively loose weave of these Cotton and Steel fabrics they easily fitted together with a bit of a tug in places….

Our new kitten Felix is learning on the job and was so sweetly curled on the quilt while I was sewing on the binding. I had to harden my heart to shift him. Mind you his adventurous spirit means he rather unnervingly thinks the moving arm of the sewing machine is a play thing. I really don’t want a trip to the vet because I accidentally impaled his foot with a sewing needle.

 

I was going for a random look to start with but as I was using a limited range of fabrics I thought the alternate look worked best.  By the way there’s a mistake in the quilt which I decided to leave.  If you like those sorts of puzzles as I do  then see if you can spot it.  Clue at the bottom of this post. The quilting is just my usual curvey swoops which I do free motion style. So quick and gives a nice all-over look.

 

And the mistake? Here it is.

 

I’ve plans for a couple more #quiltsforgrenfell firstly a bee quilt so that must get done and if there’s time another from stash.  These are some rather pretty pink child’s fabrics that could be made into something quite simple. Really hope I can stretch time but I have roped in another sewing helper now mum has gone back to London. So beware don’t express an interest or you will be kidnapped for sewing slavery!

This is a FAL finish blogged here.

linking up with Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts

Kelly of My Quilt Infatuation, Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts and Anja quilts for TGIFF