A finish, and a floor

I managed to turn a flimsy into a finish this weekend.  I have seen bloggers write about their favourite quilt being the one they are working on now.  My favourite is usually about 4 quilts ago, and the one I am planning to start next.

This Moda Rural Jardin quilt got as far as a flimsy back in November, and has been hanging in the dining room ever since.  I have now fallen back in love with it, and really like the finished item. 

 I decided not to use wadding and backing fabric, but to attach it straight to a fleece blanket.  Luckily it went on really straight, so I didn't need to trim away any of the fleece, leaving a good size blanket.  I quilted it from the front echoing each side of the blocks

The borders are a one inch dark red, followed by a 2.5 inch lighter red (cut to 3.25, 1/4 lost in joining it to the flimsy, and .5 turned under to finish.).  The final seam is a machine blanket stitch - I finally read the instructions and worked out how to flip a stitch over into a mirror image!

AND A FLOOR...
We went to Ikea yesterday.  We had quite a few things on our list (Brian doesn't do inspiration shopping) but bathroom floor was not one of them.  However when we saw this flooring he was happy to get enough to do the bathroom floor ... AND come home and start laying it.  [Does anyone else see the rail fence block here? I love it!!!]

Rural Jardin flimsy

I managed to get the Rural Jardin finished (at least to a flimsy) yesterday,


and made part of the Secret Santa BQL pressie.


I also finished sewing the 1.5 inch blue blocks into a strip for the Log Cabin Candle quilt, and piece some green piecing to bulk out the tree - phew!


Today - nothing!

We did go to the Remembrance Day Service at church, and I have to share with you the sight as we came out and walked (about 200 of us, with Scouts and Guides etc) past the section which the gas board have dug up, and have had traffic lights for what seems like months ...


How awesome is that? And what's more, the lovely man who arranged it (and came to the service with his wife) donated one to the parish and one to the church!

Rural Jardin Jelly Roll

Jackie and I both got a free Moda Rural Jardin jelly roll when we signed up for a year's subscription for Popular Patchwork at the festival of quilts in August.

Mine has been sat on a shelf while I drooled over it, and waited for inspiration. As I surfed around blogland I saw a number of designs that would work, but this morning, with some help from an inspirational email (thank you Victoria) decided on a sort of rail fence design.

I joined the strips into pairs: a light with darker, keeping reds with reds and blues with blues.



And then ironed them



I then cut the selvedge to selvedge units into 9 inch units















and started to play around with them

I tried using 'twins' in a mirror image,
















and tried dissimilar pairs so it looks woven, and finally decided this was the way I wanted to go.
















I am going to be brave, and have my first go at setting these blocks on point (diagonally).















I was just about to start cutting some squares into triangles for the corners, when I realised they weren't actually square - they had ended up 8.5 x 9 inches. (grrrrr)

So I have put them aside for today, and will get back to them tomorrow night.

By the way, I am L-O-V-I-N-G the Moda fabric - it's the first time I have used it, and it's lovely to work with and so soft.

END NOTES:
Mum, if you prefer the first layout, don't tell me, it's too late.
Jackie: Jardin is French for garden ... I reckon working with this fabric counts as horticultural homework?