It’s May for the BQL

As I have been posting for the past few weeks, I was once involved in a Yahoo group called the “British Quilt List”. Back in 2009, they ran a challenge to complete a 12-inch square quilt each month, following a prescribed format.

The quilts were all designed by Kandy, and she commented on the last quilt by saying this….

“It was me that thought up all the designs for this year of challenges. It was tricky trying to find 12 different things & stay a step or two ahead! I loved seeing how different people’s interpretations were. Some of my ‘months’ mini quilts I still love, a couple I could easily throw in the bin“

Unfortunately, the quilt for May was not my favorite although I haven’t quite gone to the extreme of throwing it away……

I don’t remember the exact parameters of the challenge, but we were supposed to start with the word “MAY” and then go from there!!

One interesting thing that I see in this quilt is that I did a great “paisley meander” in the quilting design but I don’t remember knowing HOW to do that particular design!!!

So, I guess that I did learn something from this challenge even though I didn’t remember it 10 years later!!!

Like I said….I always learn something from each challenge!!!!

More from the British Quilt List….

For the last few Thursdays, I have been sharing quilts that I made thru the “British Quilt List” (Yahoo group) challenge.

Now we are up to April and this was my absolute FAVORITE quilt!!

We were told to design our own geometric shapes that would finish to a 4-inch square and then use our imagination to turn them into PURSES!!!

I decided to use some fabrics that I had bought in India for the bags themselves and then had SO much fun embellishing them!!

The final quilt is so fun….

…and brings a smile to my face whenever I see it!!!

AND…..isn’t that what a quilt is supposed to do????

Do you have a quilt that makes you SMILE???

BQL – Fun Photo Block

For the last two Thursdays, I have been posting about my entries in the “British Quilt List” monthly challenge from back in 2009.

The March quilt started by picking out a favorite photo. In my case, I used one from a trip to Kew Gardens in 2007……

Step two was to print it out to a 4.5 x 6″ format. In my case, I added a small flange around the photo to bring it to the proper size and also to highlight the photo more…..

The final step was to pick out fifty-two 2-inch scrap squares and arrange them in a pleasing manner around the photo.

When pieced together, these squares made a wonderful accent to the photo……

I kept the quilting simple, following a “trip around the world” design.

The result was a fun “travel log quilt” that reminds me of a sweet day in London!!!

BQL – February

Last week, I posted about a year-long challenge from 2007 that was run thru the British Quilt List….a yahoo group!!

The challenge for February of that year was based on strip piecing, and at that time, I had never tried it!!

It was so much fun to make squares, cut them into triangles and then sew them back together again….quilters are a bit crazy like that!!!

As I looked out my window on that February morning, I could see the Daffodils starting to push their way up thru the foliage……

and decided that I wanted to aim for greens with yellow accents.

The final quilt……

….was simple and fun and a great way to spend a few hours in the studio!!!

BQL Challenge – January

Back in 2007, Michael and I were getting ready to live in Oxford England for two months while he acted as a Research Fellow at Merton College. In getting ready for the trip, I came across a Yahoo Group (remember those) called the “British Quilt List”!!

In 2008, the BQL hosted a year-long, monthly challenge. Each month we were presented with a certain style of quilt and were challenged to make our own version. Oh did I forget to mention that these quilts were only 12-inches in size!!

It was a perfect challenge as it didn’t take forever to make but still gave me a chance to try new things.

The first one was free-hand circles…..

Since I decorate with blue items in January… my “January Blue” collection, I chose blue as my base color but used a little yellow to lighten the mood.

It was a fun start to a year of quilting!!!