Soy Amado No. 15

No. 15 is bright and bold and beautiful.

I was particularly touched with one of the blocks I received from Sheila  who clearly has better machine embroidery skills than me.

It completely makes the quilt for me.

Thank you very much Sheila.

Oh look, a bit more upside down text fabric.

And the front again.

Because I love it so.

Soy Amado No. 14

I love it when people use stamps, not least because it sheds a little personality on their country.
My memories of reading the Moomin books as a child came flooding back when this parcel of blocks arrived from Finland.

What can I tell you about number 14?

Well for a start, it contains some blocks from Emma who is Brianthemessiah (I'd like to know why) on Instagram.

Look how tiny and perfect those triangles are.

Just beautiful.

I just like how it is a mix of the modern and traditional but it all seems to gel together.

I think it helps if you then use the same coloured sashing to bring it all together.

It feels like an homogenous mesh of everyone's best intentions.

And I like that thought.

The {pretty} behemoth

In the midst of all my soy amadoing  a friend celebrated a birthday with an '0' on the end and I asked for present ideas.

She said she'd like a quilt which is always a compliment because then you realise people quite like what you do for a hobby.

In my head I was thinking a lap sized quilt and then she uttered the immortal words 'Super King size.'

My head was saying 'you've got to be kidding' but my mouth said 'fine, no problem.'

She provided me with colour ideas and some quilt patterns she liked.

I ignored the patterns, took note of the colours and decided the only way I was going to get this done was QAYG improv log cabin blocks.

So off I set.

Somewhere into this process, I realised I'd been a little too enthusiastic cutting out fabric strips and came to the bonkers decision that I would improv log cabin the back of each quilt to get a true double-sided Super King size quilt.

When it came time to assembling the rows there was a bit of quilt wrestling going on as it got heavier and heavier but nothing compared to what it would have been like if I'd tried to man-handle the whole thing through my machine's small harp space.

I quilted each block with a variegated thread with the No.4 stitch on my Bernina with a long stitch length, which gives the effect of wavy lines.

It's absolutely impossible to photograph all in one go, especially with no unpaid quilt holders on hand.

Even my go to washing line prop doesn't really work as it's pegged round to the next row on the right.
I can safely say I've never made anything this big before.

And I can safely say I won't be making another one again!

Soy Amado No. 13

Even though there is no row 13 on airplanes or no floor 13 in hotels, I'm going to buck that thinking and bring you lucky no. 13 Soy Amado quilt.

I think this one is so light and airy and it says 'girl' to me.

By this time in my production line process, I've mastered the little known art of getting directional fabric completely this, that and the other way around.

I know there have been comments about how fast I am doing this but really, I'm not.  I've timed myself and I think it takes between 2 1/2 and 3 hours to complete each quilt.

Which I manage to achieve in short bursts of half an hour or so, an hour if I'm lucky.

But there are lots of little spare moments I've used, taking the two flights of stairs up to my sewing room to get a bit of sewing in when I can.

And then popping down the two flights of stairs to re-enter normal life.

Trailing bits of thread behind me.

Apparently.

But the end results are definitely worth it.

Soy Amado No. 12

And I also started putting obviously 'blue for a boy' type blocks to one side as they arrived which has resulted in No. 12

It's a real hodge podge of different styles from different people but it all seems to work.

I love some of the touches on the individual blocks like the spider web quilting on this Spiderman one. Thank you Kathy.

And how about the oh-so-true sentiment in this one.

The back looks like this, with it's one random and unintentional on my part, pink block.

And let's end with another one of the front.

Oh, and remember the fantastic 29 blocks which Karen sent and many of which I incorporated into No.8?
She's blogging again, so please take a peek here.

Soy Amado No. 11

Get your sunglasses on.

I started to take out the pink blocks that were arriving and put them to one side until I had enough for a little girl's quilt.

The quilt is made up of blocks from around a half a dozen different quilters and really is this bright and cheerful- I haven't touched the colours up on my computer at all.

And the back this time - complete with one of the blocks with words on upside down just because I seem completely incapable of getting everything the right way up.

And a vague attempt at a final artistic shot.

Big thank you to everyone sending blocks in. I've kind of lost the plot on emailing people individually to let them know their blocks have arrived so hopefully you are popping in here from time to time and are seeing them appear in the quilts.

Thank you.

Soy Amado No. 10

And we're now in to double figures with a fabric mule quilt.

This gorgeous central block (four blocks worth in size) was generously donated by Jo(anne) along with several other blocks thank you.

When she first posted it on Flickr I said it was a true Mexican pinata donkey.

I've been asked by several people if I'm still putting 'Soy Amado/a' on the quilts and for the most part I am. I ran out of the fusible paper stuff and so Plan B has been to rather amateurishly machine stitch the words instead.

And the back.

And finally, some up close and personal ones.

Oh, and I heard another batch of quilts were delivered to the home today :-)