Oakshott and Alice Apple: Squares

Sometimes I need to go back to basics.  Ignore the pretties on Instagram, blogs and elsewhere and just do something simple and let the fabric do the talking.  This quilt top was made from a stack of Oakshott fat eights of Italy (kindly sent by Michael), a charm pack of 37 squares bought from Alice Apple and a few random light and vintage squares from my scraps.  144 x 4" squares in all, 

Organising rows and 'randomness'.

Chain piecing.

Nesting seams.

No bells or whistles, just lovely shimmering colours.  The Italy bundle was a great match for the vintage style colours of the Alice Apple squares,  a very 1970s palette and the silvery grey warp thread that runs through this range has a subtle shimmer.

A quick flick through one of my older inspiration books whilst I was taking these photos confirmed the happy marriage of simple shapes and bold patterns and colours.  These are all from Patchwork Simplified by Alice Timmins- a great source of vintage patchwork eye candy with English paper pieced maxi skirts and slightly disturbing toys.

The 1970s with its rather variable aesthetic (note the green long shag pile in the bottom pic, urgh!) was very much my decade.  Combos like this make me feel so at home.

Shallow and Material things that make me happy

A few hours left to enter my Accuquilt Go! Baby giveaway here.

My car had pretty much had it and at rather short notice I had to buy a new (to me) one.  It is the first time I have bought a car with a year's warranty rather than the wing and a prayer that I usually receive after handing over a few thousand pounds.  I am the sole driver in our house so the onus on car purchases is firmly on me.  This one is a honey, even I can get excited about it and I am not fussed about cars.

I knew a new car would come around now so I have been saving and saving- I am very risk averse and loans are hard to get so handing over such a big wodge of money was hard but a relief, I don't think this car will need attention for a long time, no more trips to the garage.  My blood sugar needed something to recover with, my local shop still has a few of these...

Cadbury's creme egg are my favourite chocolate sweets.  Strictly speaking only around for Easter, these must be close to being out of date but hey, there are only three and I've eaten one already.  A bit of reading matter to go with the cup of earl grey and the choc- how about McCall's Quilt It Book II-1974  magazine picked up in a charity shop today.  It has patterns based on some traditional quilts. I liked this Ocean Waves quilt until I read of the 2000 triangles that made up the design.

This curtain is a great way to showcase  the Rob Peter to Pay Paul pattern, and some random wicker bird cages.

And who doesn't feel the need to have a Yo-yo vest of many colours- click on the pictures to see them larger and in eye watering detail!

I'll do the accuquilt draw tomorrow and kick off the Courthouse Steps pillow tutorial- I am going to spread it across a few posts..x