Collection 18 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Wow Collection 18! We are really steaming along these days. Anyone managing to make a collection a week? I didn't when I made the quilt. I could often make one block a day but that wasn't day in and day out. I would often spend a day every now and then cutting out multiple blocks, 10 or so even, and then stitch away merrily. When I had finished those ten, or almost finished them I would then spend another few days cutting blocks.  It was the easiest way I found to keep going.

Anyway onto the point of this post, the block names.
Sunflowers 
(yellow and green in the middle) 
This was to me the obvious name for this bright block. Just as sunflowers stand tall and bright moving to always face the sun this block stares right out to the viewer.

Louis XIV 
(pink & white stripe on grey - top block)
Ahhhhh I mucked up my Roman numerals  This was supposed to be Louis 16th (XVI) but by accident I reversed the letters and it says Louis 14th.  Absolutely no idea of anything about Louis XIV :-(
Louis XVI was the last king before the French Revolution in 1792 and was married to Marie-Antoinette.... of the 'let them eat cake' fame. They married when he was only 15 and didn't have children for many years which wasn't the norm at the time. They ended up having four children and adopting several children of various staff when their parents died. 
He was very insecure and wanted to be liked by his people and in this hope introduced changes to the running of government to benefit the people.
He was beheaded on the guillotine in 1793 and his body was buried in a mass grave with other beheaded people. 
Always found Louis XVI interesting and the fabrics just reminded me of him.

Hydrangeas 
(purple floral on pale apricot- RHS top)
The name of course came from the fabrics. Everyone grew these flowers when I was a child. Did you know that the colour is affected by the acidity of the soil? Blue it's alkaline, red it's acidic.

Writer's Lament 
(blue on white on a purple-pink fabric - RHS bottom)
You have all had those days when you must write a report, letter or something and there is no way you can word it so it sounds OK.

Jet Plane 
(olive green on cream- bottom block)
The shape reminded me of the propellor found on old fashioned planes. These days we don't see the propellers but they are still there.

Evening Star 
(striped on blue - LHS bottom)
I really like stripes and wanted a block that allowed the matching of the stripes. The simplicity of this block made it perfect.

Flights of Fancy 
(pale floral Japanese print on cream - LHS top)
A fancy fabric circling a central pole .. to me it seemed obvious :-)

Collection 17 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 17	Aren't the colours what you would expect in a Fresh Start?	C17 Fresh Start
The Thief of Time  is a clock found on a back alley in Paris. He looks like a tall skinny fellow who would sneak in to your home in the late of the night. I wonder if they will ever fix it so that it works again.	C17 The Thief of Time	My favourite author for many years was terry Pratchett and I love his Discworld novels. They are traditional stories with the characters begin changed to be witches, trolls, dwarfs and even Death. From one of these the Gathering of a coven of witches was brought to mind.
C17 Scattered Jewels	The colours in Scattered Jewels scattered among the floral background gave this block its title.	C17 Gathering
I have never wanted to make a pineapple log cabin and after Pinepaple Mixup am positive that I won't make a quilt using it.	C17 Dust 'n Crumbs	Dust 'n Crumbs is a quilt that I made using those crumbs, small scraps left over from other projects. It may surprise you but I have a large single bed quilt made of scraps just as small as those used in this block.
C17 Pineapple Mixup	One day I will appliqué curves and points just like Merelyn ... if I actually start and practise it could help to improve my skills rather than just dreaming. My version is machine appliquéd and even then doesn't look anywhere near as good as Merelyn's	C17 M's Clover

Collection 16 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 16	Still Too Small was my second attempt at this block and it was as the title says still too small. Solution just add another border.	C16 Still Too Small
Yvonne's Mystery was designed for a friend who wanted a quilt using Flying Geese... well the geese did appear in the outer border!	C16 Yvonne's Mystery	I always thought of a play pen as a gaol and the bars through the middle of this block gave me the same feel :) Warped sense of humour I suppose you could say.
C16 Bull's Eye	What other name would be appropriate for Bull's Eye? Does the name Tim Tam Spread really need explaining.. just think of the effect of a glorious afternoon or two relaxing with a packet, or two, of the food of all foods.	C16 The Playpen
Rhonda is a friend I quilted with for several years. The name Ravishing Rhonda came from Margaret when she was trying to find a way to have Rhonda's name appear at the top of her R names in her mobile phone.	C16 Tim Tam Spread	Or imagine what happens when two dozen packets of Tim Tams split out of their box after travelling across the world in a box poorly packed by a younger brother!
Ravishing Rhonda	Margaret is a wonderful friend who 'loaned' me much of the pastel fabric  for Racontuer. I wanted to make a pastel quilt and there was only one thing stopping me .. an almost total lack of pastel fabrics. Magaret's Choice was one of the first fabrics Margaret 'loaned' me.   I wonder if she wants them back?	C16 Margaret's Choice

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Collection 15 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 15	Wow isn't it amazing how quickly we are racing through the collections. We are almost a third of the way through. a few people have sent along their photos and it is great to see these. I would love to see more and my photoshopping skills are improving. So why were these blocks named as they are? Searching, hey it's a maze and although you can easily find your way out most times you can't.	C15 Searching
Goldilocks, again this was to me the only choice. Aren't the 1930s fabrics cute. Mind you I'm positive I could never finish an entire quilt using just those.	C15 Goldilocks	e.coli this late at night I am assuming the only thing one can about the naming of this block. Was it on one of our cruises that I made this one or was it the time I ate seafood which didn't smell quite right. We never did go back to that shop.
C15 Bond Street	There are many of my memories within the blocks of Raconteur, the nights of Monopoly and cheers when I held the Bond Street card in my hand - it was my good luck charm. As a child I fought to win like every other child. Now I dislike the game and that same aspect. For every winner there are more losers and I won't play. Thankfully our children have discovered many other games which aren't quite as cut throat though cut throat are still their favourites.	C15 e.coli
September, for some reason the soft blue suggested the cool evenings of September.	C15 September	The star within the star suggested an enveloping of arms and protection.
C15 Bees to the Hive	Bees to the Hive, don't the dots look like small insects and although the hives look like little Pacmen from the arcade packman game of the 70s I took them to also be hives.	C15 Enveloped

Collection 14 - Where Did That Name Come From?

This collection is a side collection, used to fill in the side edges of the quilt to make them straight.  This is a quick collection to make as everything here is made with machine piecing and foundation piecing.

Pebbles in the Storm (blue on pink) shows the ripples formed as water rushes down the street and around small rocks during a storm. Don't we all just love the rain ... particularly these days with increasingly long droughts. Parts of Australia have been in drought for many years.

Cheryl's Pendant (mustard on cream) - one of my friends always wears the most exquisite jewelry and this particular pendant she had bought on a trip through the Middle East a few years previously.

Collection 13 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 13	Oops Log Cabin Baskets is upside down. If you stand on your head you may be able to see the basket more clearly... or perhaps not:)	C13 Log Cabin Basket
The design for Argyle Sweaters was taken from a jumper I made many years ago. I must get back into knitting sometime it was such a relaxing pastime.	C13 Argyle Sweaters	Winter Secrets is a miniaturised version of one of the blocks from my quilt Winter Secrets. This was a stitchery which I designed, reworking some of the blocks from Raconteur, for when I was travelling and not wanting to take too much stuff.
C13 Norwegian Wind	The design for Norwegian Wind came from a jumper that my youngest son bought. He lives in Norway and so the name. Carol's version is here	C13 Winter Secrets
Maypole  is made in an interesting manner. I made two identical blocks and then cut sections out from one of them and appliquéd them onto the other reversing the colours.. my appliqué skills were definitely improving although it was just a circle that had to be appliquéd so no points or tricky bits. For a TOTALLY  different appearance check out Carol's two versions here.	C13 Nature's Force	Natures's Force was simply six arcs sewn together. If you check out Carol's block you will see though that it is also easily made using appliqué.
C13 Maypole	Spinning Spokes was my first attempt at really tiny hexagons NOT made with English Paper Piecing and it was a success confirming that this was a method I could avoid for now and the future.... try it. You will be amazed. Carol again showed a total change with her colour choices here.	C13 Spinning spokes

Collection 12 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 12	Collection 12 contains mainly blocks that were designed and made early on in the quilt that became Raconteur.  I hope you enjoy making them as much as I did.	C12 Hidden Extras
Watching was a very easy design to draw..but took several goes before I finally thought to resort to using a machine..at least  for parts of it... to centre the white hexagons I had to sew MINUTE triangle to two sides. I finally worked out it was best to strip piece this section and then it was a piece of cake	C12 Watching	Hidden Extras, look closely at this block and you will see a blue star in the centre. It appears to be  'made' by quilting lines but no I did actually sew those little triangles in separately. I had made a mistake when cutting the fabric and as I wasn't home when I sewed it I couldn't cut out more fabric.
C12 Turnaround	Doesn't Turnaround remind you of those artists who juggle sticks of fire. You can see them spinning and turning in the air. In Sparrow's Flight one can remember the little birds as they flit in and out from the bird feeders	C12 Sparrow's Flight
My youngest son has always participated in many charity fund raisers and Relay for Life was one of these. As part of their 'kit' everyone received a pair of lilac shoe laces.	C12 Relay for Life	There are few movies I remember from my youth and No Roses for Michael is one of those. It came out early on when drugs were becoming more common and was part of a government scare campaign. I always remembered the name and the poor fellow in the gutter at the end. It was probably one of the things that terrified me enough to keep me from experimenting in my youth.
C12 Lemon Souffle	Lemon Souffle was for many years my favourite summer desert. It isn't your usual hot runny version but a cold desert. Light as the name suggests but held together with gelatine.... must make another one soon.	C12 No Roses For Michael

Collection 11 - Where Did That Name Come From?

Collection 11	Well Collection 11 must be the most insane collection.  This collection contains about 500 individual pieces! Yet it doesn't contain the block with the most pieces from the entire collections. these are gorgeous blocks but if you haven't paper pieced before then I strongly suggest you do the exercises in the tutorial I uploaded earlier.	C11 Mandola at Midnight
Don't you just love those little children who hold up an assortment of fingers declaring I'm Three and what could me more enjoyable than a Rose Garden... well a rose garden that is maintained by someone else. I live opposite a TAFE college which taught horticulture. The students practiced on my garden and I enjoyed the fruits of their labour. Carol's blocks I'm Three and Rose Garden	C11 The Rose Garden	Mandola at Midnight - yes I did design this at midnight. I had received QNM just that day but being very busy didn't have the opportunity to read it until bedtime. This became another night of little sleep and so I decided I may as well get up and have a go at designing my own mandola as the directions seemed so easy :) To read more about this block and also to see Carol's block click here.
C11 I'm Three	Lynn Hewitt is a NSW quilter who teaches throughout the state. At one retreat I attended she taught sashiko and everyone in the class agreed it was a most relaxing pastime.	C11 Lynn  Loves Sashiko
Tall Ships was a variation on a block that I found in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. I can't remember which issue but it was an early one. The original block was an eight point star and didn't resemble ships at all... shows you how poor I am at trying to modify something... new block though	C11 Tall Ships	Hunter's Web was supposed to be a log cabin. If you found you way into this cabin you might not find your way out. Carol's block
C11 Winter Sun	I know there is little Winter Sun apparent in this block but it is what I think the winter sun would be like in the cold northern hemisphere where the sun seldom shines in summer. Carol's  block is a lot brighter.	C11 The Hunter's Web