WIP Wednesday

I started working on a new quilt, playing with my design board last Wednesday night. I forgot to take any progress photos... ooops my bad. In 2008 when my Dad died the women who attend Patch n Peace made healing heart blocks... blocks featuring a heart on 6.5" squares of white or cream. Some blocks were crotched, appliqued, some made from lace... all sorts of blocks from a group of women who cared for me in my sad time. I had put the hearts away and not done anything with them, had actually forgotten about them till I sorted through my sewing room a few weeks ago. 

At Patch n Peace this year I saw a quilt made by another retreat member that had a pattern I thought would work with the hearts. It featured 3 different sized blocks - 12, 8 and 6 ". They all basically 9 patches with 8 patches one colour and the centre block a different colour. Last Wednesday I started to play with it the blocks. Because I wanted the centre of each block to be the heart which was 6" finished but I wanted different sized blocks I changed from the 9 patch pattern idea. I went with 18" 12" and 6" blocks instead. The 18" blocks were basically 9 patches. The 12" blocks had the 6" heart in the centre and 3" strips around.The 6" blocks were just the hearts. I made 4 x18" blocks, 7x12" blocks and 17 single hearts. 

For the border I made 5" blocks. Half had 3" square centres and the other half had 2" centres. 

Yesterday I worked on the backing. This quilt is my lap quilt and I love minky. I had some brown minky dot fabric but not enough so I patched together all the rest of the minky dot I had... some blue scraps and some lilac. I was really pleased with the final look. 

Today at Patchwork I got it Pin basted. Now to quilt it I think I will do an all over meander with echo quilting around the hearts. In the borders I might do something more geometric... unless I do something more geometric over the centre and put a chain of hearts into the border... hmmm still thinking. What do you reckon?

I used another UFO up in the backing for my Teddies and Pinwheel quilt. Many years ago I had put together small quilt using a variety of pink and blue nine patches. Many of the fabrics were my hand dyes and it was just a bit small to be the back of the Teddies and Pinwheels quilt which also features a good few of my hand dyed fabrics. I put some white borders on it and now it will be a great backing for the quilt. Now I have to get it basted and quilted. 

The Disappearing 9 Patch with a Twist also needed a backing. I had a piece of polar fleece which is just big enough. I will have to be careful when I baste it to make sure it doesn't shift.

My other big WIP has been the bathroom renovations which are on going. Last Wednesday the builder started work on our ensuite bathroom, ripping out the vanity and pedestal. Thursday the asbestos removalists came in and removed all the walls and the ceiling. Friday the builder started to put in the new wall panels. Over the weekend Fixit Guy started painting the family bathroom. He still has to do the trim but he will probably be able to get to it this weekend. Today they finally fitted the shower screen. Still have to put up the towel rails. 

In the en suite they have done the plumbing and electrical work, have water proofed it and laid the bed for the tiles to go on. They will put the tiles down this coming week. 

Linking up with WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced