Checkerboard Blocks

I've made a few more checkerboard blocks. I thought I'd make some that have a few different fabrics in them, as in the original quilt. How hard could it be? Well I have to tell you that they are going in the 'how hard can it be?' file.


The incorrect sewing together of strips mentioned in the last post was just the begining. I certainly don't think that I have an incorrect impression of my skill level as a quilter. I mean I've never made anything with curvy or circular seams and 'set in seams' do not live here. I can't do applique, hand quilt, do paper/foundation piecing with any ability (this is why the Civil War Diary Quilt is in limbo). I've never made an art quilt, sewn anything by hand except hexagons, can only machine quilt in straight lines and am generally pretty slow when it comes to sewing.

So why do I look at pictures in books and magazines and think 'how hard can it be?' Thinking on it now, these things aren't that hard, it's just that I sew by the seat of my pants most of the time, make things up as I go along, and cut and sew with my mind NOT on the job at hand. The blocks are 9 x 9, and each strip is 10 1/2 inches in length. We can all see that this means you usually end up with one extra strip after cutting. Now I know this, but do I cut off that extra piece and put it aside? No. I sew all the strips together, and then wonder why I have a block that is 10 x 10. Or in the case of the blue one above, I ended up with an 8 x 8 block for the centre, and wondered how that happened. So then I took off the last strip I had added to the already completed checkerboard block, and went about adding the outer strips. Why then did I have a block that was 9 x 10 before the addition of the last strip?? How stupid can you be? As I had been so diligent ironing the seams the right way etc, I had to undo the seams for each row so that I could get the extra row of blocks off. Then I had to resew the ends of the seams, re-iron the seam allowances and add the outer row of squares.

So what starts out as the easiest type of block you can sew, ends up taking for ever as I haven't been paying attention. I've just finished another block which is red and yellow, with a row of a different red running diagonally across the corners and I can't begin to explain the making of that! In the end I had to draw a 9 x 9 grid on a piece of paper and colour in the different fabrics, and set the block out almost square by square to get it right. I haven't taken a photo of that one as my new camera is doing something weird with the colours. I'll have to have a look in the manual - something to do with white balancing I think.

So I made this blue one to give myself a break. How embarrassing.


I followed a link from someone's blog to Jenny Bowker's blog today, where she writes about a quilter who has lost the lot in the bushfires here in Australia. Once you get used to the miracle of being alive, imagine thinking about the loss of your stash? When these natural disasters happen you always hear about people who aren't insured (!) or under-insured for their house and contents. It usually makes me think about my insurance, and whether it's enough to replace it all. How do you put a price on your stash? I mean it's hard enough thinking about the value of sheets, towels, kitchen dishes, books and furniture etc. What has been spent on the stuff that quietly sits in the stash cupboard? Not that you could replace most of it anyway - out of production etc.


There are very motivated people making blocks for bushfire relief, but for the slack ones like me you can send a few pieces of fabric to help this lady rebuild, especially as she is hoping to teach other women in her situation how to quilt.

Fires and Floods

The terrible bushfires happening in Australia are quite a long way from where I live, thankfully. It sounds as though it was a terrifying ordeal for those in the path of the fires. I live half way approximately between the Victorian fires and the floods in North Queensland. I grew up in a town in Northern New South Wales where it flooded a few times a year when I was a child, and my Dad grew up in Ingham which is currently under water.

I saw him yesterday and he was talking about the floods that occured there when he was a child, and said that one day he was looking over the balcony to the flood waters below, only to see a decent sized crocodile swim in through the back gate and then out the front! Scary.

Out of Practise

It's a bit scary isn't it? Stop sewing for a while and end up right back at the beginning. At least I had the right sides together I suppose.


I had a good think earlier about cleaning out the walk in pantry (ie pretty big with a bench in there etc), then I thought 'or I can sew, even though the temp up there is about 36 deg C'. It only took about a nanosecond to make up my mind. I am making these blocks with 2 inch strips (1 1/2 inch finished squares). The original has 1 inch finished squares. There are some checkerboard blocks with only 2 fabrics, and quite a few with more fabrics, but they are still laid out with some sort of order. I can imagine the original maker with all her little squares trying to make the blocks look planned, and she has done a good job. Some blocks have fabrics of almost the same value, some are bordered in a dark blue, one has a 9 patch right in the middle of the block with a lighter fabric, then the rest of the block has just the 2 fabrics.

I need something easy and fast to get going again, but then I spend so much time trying to choose fabrics that I have decided to just go to the stash and choose something quickly, and just go for it.

Then all I need to do is sew them together right...