Achieving in lockdown

So, what to sew during an extended lockdown.

I need no excuse to start a new quilt but I love when someone actually gives a me a reason to. We have a family wedding in April next year and my soon to be daughter-in-law has requested a Wedding Ring quilt. I am really enjoying the process of foundation piecing the arcs and have set myself the goal of 4 arcs per day, which of course is very achievable.

So as I started this new quilt I got thinking about the quilts I have made/finished during our previous lockdowns. I have enjoyed doing some relaxing hand piecing as well as some quick machine piecing. I have spent time designing and sewing new blocks as well as visiting some tried-and-true old favourites. One of the big challenges of lockdown, for me, is the fact that the patchwork shops are closed. I know this really shouldn’t be an issue as I do have a large stash of fabric, but you know how it is sometimes you just need a particular colour or design or size print that is not in your stash.

I have found lockdown to be a great time for scrappy quilts. One of the elements of scrap quilts that I really like is fussy cutting centres of blocks, I love getting my grandchildren to find the flowers or animals scattered around the quilt. Talking about grandchildren the pink quilt in the top left corner is my granddaughter’s first quilt, I have called it Pretty in Pink. The free pattern is available on my website and it is a quick and easy quilt to make.

I think I have made about 9 quilts during lockdowns, 7 of which are in the photo above. The blue, black and white quilt, middle top, was a mystery quilt designed by Laundry Basket Quilts, https://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/. I am in a sewing group of 5 so we challenged ourselves to make this quilt during lockdown 1. All 5 look a little different.

Middle row on the left is a panel I bought from Bella Fabrics, https://www.bellafabrics.com.au/, just before lockdown 2. I always like to cut up a panel and challenge myself with the maths of reconstructing it in another way.

The central, yellow quilt is a pattern I bought at a quilt show, ahhh remember them, from Sommerset Cottage, https://www.somersetpatchwork.com.au/. I love the cheeriness of the yellow background. I hand pieced this one and machine quilted it myself using our group’s quilting machine.

Bottom right is a section of my Cross Roads quilt another free pattern on my website. Again a quick and easy scrappy quilt.

The rectangular photos are very scrappy quilts. The bottom one all started with a block designed by Jen Kingwell, https://www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/, Mega Star. I made about 5 of the Mega Star blocks and then started designing my own blocks and the quilt just grew like topsy turvy. From that quilt I jumped into designing blocks for the other quilt, right hand side. This one has blocks named Beach Ball, Towel, Sea Star etc so I just had to name the quilt Summer.

I may be in lockdown but it does not mean I have to be glum or inactive or negative. Lockdown has given me time to finish quilts, start new ones and do some block designing. In years to come these lockdown quilts will comfort and warm family and friends and might even have them thinking about these difficult times and be thankfull that we all got through them.

Happy sewing and stay safe and healthy

Margaret