Blocks to remember our overseas Christmases

Last year when I was in Germany for the Christmas markets and to visit my friend Claudia, we stumbled upon a lady selling quilt fabric.  It was all Christmas fabric so I chose one to include in my quilt to remember what I thought was going to be our only overseas Christmas.  It's a blue fabric with white snowflakes.

Now, here we were again.... about to celebrate our second Christmas in the UK.  When we were in Birmingham I caught a bus to a quilt store not all that far out of the city to buy some background fabrics.  I saw this red fabric and thought it would be a good one to include as a memento of our second Christmas here.

So here are my two Christmas blocks.

Finding background fabrics

The other day we went for a drive so I could check out a couple of patchwork and quilting shops.  I was hoping to find some background fabrics for my quilt.  Our first stop was Cheadle which is just under half an hour away from Stone in Staffordshire.

The lady in Angie's Patchwork and Quilting was very chatty and helpful. I managed to find a couple of new background fabrics to add to the mix for my quilt. She was very interested in the pattern for the quilt and took some photos of the blocks I had taken along with me as a guide for choosing fabric.

We bought an egg and lettuce roll and a pasty in the bakery for lunch and got back in the car to head to Eccleshall. We particularly liked Eccleshall. It was a pretty little town.  The Corner Patch was a teeny little store and Jane was helpful too. I picked one more fabric to add to my collection and that was it for the day.

A stack of backgrounds

I brought quite a mountain of background fabric cut into hexagons with me when we flew to England.  My stepmum and sister in law were roped into cutting them out when they came up to visit us just before we left.  It wasn't all that long into last Winter that I realized they weren't going to be enough to keep me going.

When Mick went home to Australia in February he brought me back a stack of fabrics carefully selected by Corliss at Threadbear.  I'm ploughing my way through them already!

4-10 fabrics

Here are the fabrics from the 4-10 girls.  The green one at right I brought back from New Zealand when we visited Mick's mum before we left.  It's from Kati Patch.  Mick's mum passed away a few weeks ago so it was the last time I saw her.  This fabric will always remind me of her.  The brown stripy fabric was from Alison... my partner in crime on this project... with instructions for it to be fussy cut.

The finished blocks will be ready to photograph any day!

Progress during our adventure

It's been a long time since I posted on this blog but I figured it was time to start updating it more regularly.  I've been busy keeping up to date on my other blog.  We've been in England since September 2012, living our dream aboard a narrowboat on the English canals.  If you're interested, you can read about our adventures on the link at the top of this blog.

At the last 4-10 group I attended before we left, the girls had each chosen a fabric to contribute to my quilt.  I had so many pre-cut blocks in my suitcase when we came that they've kept me busy for a long time.  Now I'm needing to cut fabric again so I've made it my mission to use each of these fabrics over Winter.  Watch this space.

Below is the first block I made in England.  Mick took this photo for me to email to the 4-10 group last year November.  The second photo is my progress to date.

4 til 10 - Sept 2011

It's nearly time for my American holiday.  I'm very much looking forward to seeing the original hexagon star quilt and taking lots of photos to bring back to show Alison, my companion on this project.

Last week at our 4 til 10 evening we both brought all the blocks we'd completed so far and pinned them up on the wall to see the overall effect.  Wow they looked great!  Alison has more completed than me - maybe 2/3 of the blocks in the photos below.

We've set ourselves a goal to fill this board by the first 4 til 10 evening for 2012.

Alison with our hexagon star blocks.

Close up of the blocks pinned to the wall.

Back to 4 til 10

It's been quite a while since I updated this blog - mainly because it's been quite a while since I've sewn a stitch!  We've been so busy I haven't been to a monthly 4 til 10 evening for a few months.  I missed one when we were away, another when I was sick and last month there wasn't one due to there being a quilt and craft show in Melbourne (I didn't even have time to go!).

Well, tonight I'll get to catch up with the girls again.  I'm so much looking forward to it and I know it will provide renewed enthusiasm to work on my quilt rather than just work or renovation.

With only 6 weeks until my trip to the US - where I'll get to see the hexagon star quilt - I have good reason to stay focused on this project.