My Quilt in Progress

I thought that I would give you a bit of an update on  my progress on  my quilt.

I’m really enjoying making it and am learning a lot as  I go.  I’ve already got ideas on how I would make it differently if I was do it again and have already got some ideas for other patchwork projects in the future.

Here is a of picture of my progress so far . As you can see it is a bit of a mishmash of fabrics,  basically as this is my first attempt I’m taking the frugal approach and using remnants of fabrics from other projects and also some old clothes that I liked the pattern of. I'm keeping the structure very simple using a four square centre block and then a border of  two rectangles.

 This probably isn’t traditional or correct but  I just wanted to keep it as simple as possible to get  started. I think the biggest challenge coming up will be to work out how to piece it together to get some semblance of balance  with the colours so it looks  appealing.

During this  project I have been searching around for examples of more adventurous  patchwork quilts  and block ideas to inspire me for future projects . Here are some of my faves

Image from  http://www.thelovelyroom.com/2009/09/patchwork-quilt-club/ image originally sourced from courturier magazine.

image from  http://www.katharineguerrier.com

Image from guardian.com quilt made by  Elizabeth Chapman dating from 1829. Photograph: V&A Images 

The thing that I love about all these quilts is the complexity of the different component shapes within the quilt block structure meaning that no matter how may different patterns or cours are used within them the overall rhythm and feel of the quilt comes from the intricate shapes used instead.

Well mine may not be anywhere near as beautiful or complicated but its a great starting point for further projects.

Let me know if you have any hints or tips about patchwork quilts  ( especially the actual quilting part as this is the bit i'm finding most daunting ) or if you have any project ideas you would like to share.

I'll keep you posted on how my quilt is going very soon.