A quiet week !

I am generally a healthy person - no more than my fair share of coughs and colds etc. But one thing I am plaqued with is migraines. The proper ones with nausea, disturbed vision, endless vomiting and a head that feels like it's made of glass. They are getting easier as I get older - I haven't had one for ages ( touch wood ) but I am prone to less severe headaches and these come in batches. Last week was one of those weeks where my head did not feel like it belonged to me and was basically a wasted week as I did not feel up to anything. Things have improved and I am raring to get back to my quilts :-) Thats why I've been so quiet.

Anyway I did manage to get some more mile a minute blocks done and have decided that I will make a quilt that will live in my car ! If we go for long days out the kids always feel sleepy on the way back and I think this quilt will have a useful life as something to snuggle under when they're tired. And at least it will have a purpose - lol !

Instead of joining all the blocks together and struggling to quilt it with my domestic machine I have decided to make it quilt-as-you-go. I have done this several times and love the method. Here is a quick few photos to show how I do it.

Because the blocks I made are only 6 inches I decided to first make them bigger by sewing groups of 4 together seperating by sashing. The sashing strips are cut 1 inch. Repeat with other blocks.

Layer each block with wadding and backing fabric and quilt how you like. Then trim wadding and backing level with block.

Next I cut 2 strips in the same fabric as I used for the sashing. These measure 1 inch and 1.5 inch. Both by the length of the block. So these were 12 iches long. Fold the wider strip - wrong sides together and press.

Place the 1 inch strip - right side together with the block you want to join and place the folded strip on the back of the block so all raw edges are together. Sew along here.

Then line up the other raw edge of the 1 inch strip along the new block you want to join on and sew along here making sure you don't catch the folded strip on the back in your stitches.

The front will look like this

And the back will look like this

You just need to flip down the strip and slip stitch in place - just like doing binding.

I usually do all my rows first and then do the same again - joining the rows together obviously with longer strips. You just need to keep measuring.

I have made 2 really big quilts using this method and it works well for me as I hate wrestling a huge quilt through my machine. All this will of course be abandoned when I get a long arm machine in about 20 years time - lol!

You can also add borders - just keep using the same method. You can either use a contrasting fabric that will stand out or one that blends in. I have used red in this to seperate the blocks a bit and to add even more brightness - as if it needs it !!