Lachlan's quilt 12 months on..

Oh dear.... I hadn't realised that I haven't updated Lachlan's quilt blog for over a year. Thankfully the quilt making hasn't been as slow as my blog updating!!!

Lachlan's quilt was my main hand stitching project during the year so it went everywhere with me. Most of it has been sewn in church on Sunday... yes in church during the sermon! Don't be too shocked - there is a reason I sew in church. Since my aneurysm 4 years ago I find it very hard to concentrate when listening to someone talk. I fall asleep which is not a good look in church or in a classroom! I found that by sewing I am able to concentrate on the sermon and stay awake. Not only is the quilt made with lots of love it has lots of God's blessings as well.

Since I have finished the top of Lachlan's quilt instead of showing you that now I will try and update on a few of the things I did and changed with the quilt along the way.

Instead of tacking all of the fabric onto the cardboard templates at the start, I selected six pieces of each of the blues and creams and sewed them into the blocks.

Once the first blocks were sewn I then selected another six pieces of each fabric but this time I needed to place a different cream fabric with the blue pieces. At this time I also sorted the final blue and cream fabrics into groups ensuring that each set of blocks had a different cream fabric.

Paisley block 1 with cream swirl pattern

Paisley block 2 with a different cream pattern

Finished blocks ready to be sewn together

Once the blocks were all sewn it was time to lay the quilt out and sew them together. the biggest challenge was making sure that I didn't place blocks with the same cream patterned fabric together. After a day of laying out and checking pieces I pinned the blocks into rows and started stitching them together.

One of things I changed with making my cardboard templates was to print them on the computer onto card. I traced the templates onto a piece of paper and then photocopied them onto a thick card. This saved so much time compared to drawing the templates onto greeting cards.

Sewing the blocks together was an easy process and with the blocks being 8 inches in diameter it didn't take long before the top was together.

Bag of used templates

As I sewed the quilt together I was able to remove the cardboard templates.  I have kept all of the templates in case I decide to use the same pattern again.

Sewing the edging pieces  

The cream edging pieces were the last pieces sewn onto the top. This gave the quilt a straight edge for the borders.