Send in Your Bell Blocks!!

Many of you have agreed to make bell blocks for the Christchurch Bell Quilt - this is just a reminder that if you have not already sent in your block, now is the time to do so. Many thanks to Ernestine Colwell, Pat Masters, Frances Spence, Robin Booth, Catherine Watson and June Nixey whose blocks are pictured above. I am really pleased at the variety of fabrics that have been used.

I have written a short article about this project for the Ringing World (the bellringers' weekly newspaper). It hasn't appeared yet! but perhaps is being saved to accompany some articles about Christchurch bells which will be published in the next week or two. Karen R. from Christchurch will be travelling to the UK this autumn, so perhaps that is the time to hand over the quilt. Hopefully, she will have the chance to do some bellringing while she is in this country.


Here are the copy photos that I will be working from in making the central panel - I will use the larger one. The loss of detail was less than I was expecting - the original photo must have been a good one.

I will be using Ruth McDowell's techniques - you can see that I have quite a collection of her books. I have made three quilts using her patterns, which I did enjoy. I have even met another woman who bought the "Pieced Vegetables" book! so at least two sold....

Here is the pattern for one of Ruth's Daylily blocks - you make paper templates (actually, I just use a photocopy cut up) and piece the block from those using registration marks to piece it all together correctly. I enjoy the look of the pieced blocks and finding just the right piece of fabric. Ruth often uses quite wild fabrics, which is fun too but work surprisingly well.

O f course, using Ruth's patterns is easier than making your own pattern! I'll keep you posted as to how I get on.....