Just found a can of Robin I didn't know I had, probably from the days I had to pleat and form my nurses cap.

I'll give it a go and let you know

Off to get my background fabric tomorrow, a trip to London for the Olympics and I'll be ready to start on thursday.

Hi Marianne, welcome to the forum. Pitch in any time you like. The starch is optional. Some of us who have done exchanges found that if you starch the fabric then it makes it easier to stitch straight. As for the size, I am going for the 6" block.

Wendy, Rosemary's method is very thorough. Mine is to buy Dylon or Robyn spray starch and I spray as I go. Sometimes I will spray the fat quarter and sometimes the cut pieces. Sometimes I just spray the finished block. Depends on how the wind is blowing, tides, time...

Hey don't say that, it's about learning and gaining confidence together so follow all the classes and you'll learn. When we get to put it together we'll talk about quilting and all learn from each other and you'll won't be worried about the quilting. I've not been on the forum long and have got loads of help from others.

I won't be going small either. 6" is a nice size block, there'll be lots of options for quilting.

Thank you, Wendy.
I am no good at quilting and anything large scares the living daylight out of me! Seeing it has sashing strips maybe I can do a "Quilt-as-you-go" job of it. There is no way I will make it smaller than the pattern - that is even more scary
Marianne

Well post away, I haven't been told off for posting in the wrong place yet or for going off post which I do frequently

I reckon it's 42" square - 5 x 6" blocks + 6 x 1" sashing + borders and binding. But some clever clogs on here are doing it half or twelth size so they'll end up with a handkerchief size quilt

Not sure about the etiquette of the forum but I hope it is ok to post a question about the class here. Does it say anywhere how big the finished quilt will be with sashing, border and everything?
A couple of people have mentioned starch; is this a must? I have watched Saly Collins' video but I don't remember her mentioning starch but maybe I should watch it again before I start this sample quilt adventure, could very well be I was not paying enough attention in class
TIA
Marianne

Right so like my mum used to use ? Doesn't it make your fabric lose it's strokeability?

Sorry Rosemary didn't see your post. That explains it clearly, thanks

twiglet wrote: Like Rita says, far less flexibility in the fabric (if you go too mad it is more like paper) which makes keeping the pieces flat & square much easier, particularly if you are working with diagonals.
Lakeland sell tubs of powder starch which you can make up a bit at a time, as you need it and to what ever strength you fancy. Once made either put it into a spray bottle & spray it on or soak the fabric in the bowl. Personally I put a towel down on the floor, place the fabric on that & spray, then keep adding other pieces on top & spraying, until I've got the batch done, and then leave them, usually overnight to dry. Lastly steam pressing to make them nice & flat & paper like. If you do want to iron & use them the same day make sure you leave them to soak for at least 15-30 minutes before ironing them or you will get a patchy scaley layer of starch that is on the surface of the fabric & a gunged up iron - not good.

Wendy, we on this side of the water discovered, through our TQS friends, that if you starch the fabric it makes it easier to piece and it also cuts down on the loose threads. Try it, you will love it.

Rosemary why are you starching your fabric?

Definitely not enough of the yellow for background, and yes dyeing is highly addictive and great fun. I do my dye baths in plastic bags a la Helen Deighan, good for fqs sized pieces and means that you can play with lots of graduation of shades at once (having a large tray to keep all the bags in order is very useful too)

PosyP wrote: I really love your red handed dyes! Can't wait to see the blocks you make from them.

Your red-handed dyed fabrics are gorgeous, Rosemary. When I saw the pale yellow one, the first thought that crossed my mind was that it could replace the white background fabric beautifully, if you had enough of it. I get the feeling you are having a blast doing this dyeing. Can't wait to see the rest!

Just got my hand dyes dried & ironed (excepting the last piece which was a bit pale & wan, so I've made up the last of the yellow dye, and it is soaking it up as we speak)as you can see the jump between the pure yellow & the 5 Y & 1 R is quite a big jump, that is why I am messing about with the last piece in the dye remains, to see if I can get something that will bridge the gap a bit.

Next problem - deciding where to use each colour I am planning on using white for the b/ground

And yes green piping would probably look good with these, hadn't got that far in my thinking.

(PS. hope they don't bleed - I'll find out when I starch them, probably tomorrow)