Liberty Oakshott Sixteen-patch: WIP

Hi all, hope you have had a good week?  Mine has been a bit bitty (!) but I did manage to sew all Saturday evening, had the house to myself apart from the dog, so I layered and cross hatched this quilt which I blogged about here.

Still just a WIP as I have not hand stitched the binding down: will try and get that done for Finish it up Friday, nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.

However I hope these photos (taken indoors with flash as it has been grey and murky here today) give a sense of the lovely sheen the Oakshott shot cottons have and how well they pair with Liberty. The squares finish at 2" so the blocks are 8" square finished.  Such a simple quilt but pleasing.

I also fancied some speed piecing in among all the other routine jobs which every day brings.  I don't know about you, but I need to sew every day if I can, even if it is just for a quarter of an hour.  I helps me to feel that I am making progress, however slight.  To this end, I have my sewing machine set up in the dining room which is a sort of 'through' room, that is, you go through it to get from the kitchen to the rest of the house

This means that my work is always accessible and I can stitch a bit while waiting for the next thing that needs to be done, whether that is for the potatoes to boil or until it's time to go and collect daughter from the station.  Simple chain piecing is perfect for filling in those gaps in the schedule, such as it is.

So I have had in mind for a while to make a quilt using two Charm packs and some plain - the pattern is Charm Pack Cherry and it is free from Fat Quarter Shop (they have a good You-tube tutorial too).

And I have to say, this went together at top speed over two days - amazing how all those little bits of time add up to something when you put every minute to work.  Hope to get this layered and quilted speedily too.  The fabric is Colour Me Happy by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co for Moda (plus a plain which I think is Kona cotton in Silver but I may be wrong).

I cut my plain 5" squares from yardage and used 1.2 metres (allow 1 1/4 yards minimum) to cut 72 x 5" squares.

I think this could make a great I-spy quilt for youngsters too.  And it is REALLY quick, so a good choice for a charity quilt.

Linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.