Charity, New Fabrics and a quilt-a-long

Firstly I'm sorry but I have a shameless plug my 9 month old baby is doing a sponsored underwater swim with his swimming group Waterbabies in order to raise money for Tommy's. Tommy's is a charity that researches into the causes and prevention of miscarriage, premature birth and stillbirth, if you can spare a £ or $ then it would be greatly appreciated, every tiny bit helps. So if you would like to then please click on the link and donate, just a small amount that you won't miss adds up to a large amount if everyone does it.
Buddys sponsored underwater swim
Thank-you x

Well I feel as though i've been pretty busy this week but I don't have much to show for it. I have however got a nice new package of fabric that arrived this week from the fat quarter shop.

Aren't these lovely.

I ordered these salmony pinks and greys to go into my Farmers Wife blocks and I'm so happy with them, the only problem is that some of the pinks I had now don't really go, but that's ok as I much prefer my new fabrics and so this is what my FW fabrics did look like

and this is what they look like now

It has meant that i have had to discard a couple of the blocks that I have made but oh well, they are so small it's not going to take long to re-make them. I've also got far too many light fabrics but I will just use my darker fabrics more frequently I think.

Other news is that I have started teaching my basic quilt to The Crafty Campers. The first lesson went brilliantly and I think it was throughly enjoyed by all, they are doing some great fabric combinations. Hopefully I will remember to take some photos next week although the light in the hall is awful!
Here is my version that I am making as we go so I can demonstrate.

If anyone fancies doing it then you need

• 6.5 inch square for the centre of your log cabin (this will also be the centre of the quilt). I have chosen to do rainbow colours and have started with a solid red, you could have a large print though as this would work well.
• 6 dark fabrics (approx 25cm of each)
• 6 light fabrics (approx 15cm of each)
• 2 meters of an accent fabric that can be used in your quilt and as part of the backing (i'm using white)

Here are a few links on cutting with a rotary cutter - here, here and here

All fabrics will need to be cut 2.5 inches wide, the lengths are as follows:

Light fabric 1 - 1x(2.5 by 6.5) 1x(2.5 by 8.5)

Light fabric 2 - 1x(2.5 by 10.5) 1x(2.5 by 12.5)

Light fabric 3 - 1x(2.5 by 14.5) 1x(2.5 by 16.5)

Light fabric 4 - 1x(2.5 by 18.5) 1x(2.5 by 20.5)

Light fabric 5 - 1x(2.5 by 22.5) 1x(2.5 by 24.5)

Light fabric 6 - 1x(2.5 by 26.5) 1x(2.5 by 28.5)

Dark fabric 1 - 1x(2.5 by 8.5) 1x(2.5 by 10.5)

Dark fabric 2 - 1x(2.5 by 12.5) 1x(2.5 by 14.5)

Dark fabric 3 - 1x(2.5 by 16.5) 1x(2.5 by 18.5)

Dark fabric 4 - 1x(2.5 by 20.5) 1x(2.5 by 22.5)

Dark fabric 5 - 1x(2.5 by 24.5) 1x(2.5 by 26.5)

Dark fabric 6 - 1x(2.5 by 28.5) 1x(2.5 by 30.5)

 All seams should have a 1/4 inch seam allowance. If you are new to this then I find the best way to achieve this is to get some coloured tape, measure 1/4 inch to the right of your needle from where your needle goes down into the feed and stick a length of tape so you have a guide to follow.

This centre block is a basic log cabin so you need to sew your 6.5 inch fabric 1 to the central block. 

Press your seams as you go, I like to finger press mine open and then use the iron. It is important to PRESS rather than to iron, you want to ensure that the fabric doesn't get stretched or your seams will distort slightly.

Next, still using fabric 1 sew your 8.5 inch strip to the central panel, it should form a right angle around the central square.

Next sew dark fabric 1 8.5 inch strip to the centre square on the opposite edge to your 6.5 inch piece of light fabric 1. Sew your 10.5 inch strip to the remaining side of the square.

Continue on alternating 2 light fabric strips, followed by 2 dark fabric strips until you have a panel that looks like this

Log Cabin block complete - well done

I will bring you part 2 of the basic quilt next week. Please let me know if you decide to follow along, I'd love to see the results you achieve. Also if you find the instructions confusing or hard to follow let me know as any feedback is appreciated.

Linking up with Sew Modern Monday , Sew Happy Geek and Fabric Tuesday, check out all the talent.

And lastly for those of you that donated, thank you again and here is a picture of my Boo when he did his underwater swim a year ago