Third time lucky!!

This is my third attempt to post a blog, both times I have lost everything before I have finished despite the little message at the foot telling me that the draft is saved - I wonder where it is saved to?  I can't find it............ So here goes.
I want to share a photo of a lovely little bouquet

This was looking so cheerful at our Tuesday stitching day, unlike the weather - however, the storms seem to have passed and it was good to see the sun today.

One of my friends commented that I hadn't told of my love affair with five inch fabric squares.  I checked with Hazel of Grandmother's Garden and she said it was about twenty five years ago that she put an advert in the then Radio Times offering 5" squares of each new fabric imported - imagine trying to keep up with that nowadays! 

Other shops did the same sort of thing with the sizes varying up to seven inches.  I soon had a large supply and when I moved house after the death of my husband, I downsized and to start with did not have a sewing room, so until my studio was built I had only my trusty Bernina machine, my fabric squares and strips - I put the strips onto safety pins and onto metal clothes hangers - all ready for log cabin etc.  The main fabric stash was in storage.

I saw a photo that appealed, and when I realised it was constructed in rows I decided my newly sorted fabric squares labelled Black and Insipid would be perfect.

The quilt that started it all

As you can see one rows is a half square triangle then a solid square and the other row is a four patch then a half square triangle - perfect for five inch squares.

The more I looked at blocks and patterns the more I realised many of them could be simplified and worked well starting with squares - much like these days, many quilts are made starting with a Jelly Roll.
One such block  - I don't think it had a name, was a Block of the Month at Wellington Quilters.  Sharon Perry - who is also very keen on 5" squares - showed her method and quilt - I just simplified it by sewing first and cutting afterwards when I decided several months later make a quilt.

You put the two squares right sides together, sew down the outside edges, then cut one and a quarter inch from the cut edges, then repeat for the piece left - or you can leave the last pair unsewn to use for a border.
You then have three pairs of strips and it is easier to sew the pairs together to make up the five inch square.
Sharon's quilt was large and set with the blocks alternately up and down.  When I decided to make a few samples I pulled the squares at random - I thought - and when I had a dozen or so ready I put them on the design wall - and once again, they wouldn't go up and down.  I realised this was to be a strippy quilt and I searched my stash and found the perfect fabric - it must have been in my subconscious because all the blocks I had made went with it!

Here are some close ups to show the fabric between the blocks, and the border and binding was a batik.

I wanted to show you the other side but blogger is playing up and I do not want to lose the whole post again!!
I want to show you some more of the antique tools but that will have to wait until next time - oh and I have the Jabra working in my car and can listen to my music again, the locator map thingy is in the car also, I am still getting to know the camera and this weekend I promise I will get the digital photo frame up and running!!
Thanks for visiting, take care
June