The Liberté Egalité Fraternité Cushion - Le Challenge

So not everything turns out quite as you envisioned it but this is my entry for Lucy and Nat's monthly Le Challenge. The theme is geometrics and I used the humble rectangle.

Inspired by Rita's thouroughly modern and bright Liberty Lifestyle cushion, I thought I might try something similar using my Liberty tana lawn charms which I have been collecting from Ali over the last year. But compared to Rita's, this is definitely old school!

I cut the charms in half and alternated the layout so that they resembled bricks. I wish now that I had thrown in some of my low volume charms from Laura Jane's recent swap so that the crazy riot of colour and design was broken up but as I remind myself on a daily basis - it's a cushion (or a quilt). If it's less than perfect or I don't really like it, it really isn't the end of the world.

As frequent nominee and winner of the most unadventurous quilter award, I straight line quilted it by echoing the seams first vertically and then horizontally.

I backed it in some Tanya Whelan fabric that a friend recently donated to me after moving house making a simple envelope closure. The cushion form is 22" and this piece of fabric was big enough to fit!

So this retro style cushion shows that perhaps I really am a seventies child!  Thanks to Lucy and Nat for hosting.  For more adventurous interpretations of the monthly theme, click on the button below.

Pour Le Challenge

While playing with some Liberty charms this afternoon, I reckoned it was about time I make something for Lucy and Nat's monthly challenge aptly named Le Challenge.  Whereever you live in the world, everyone needs a little Liberty love of their own don't they?  So here is a sneaky peek of my make for the challenge - some Liberty tana lawn bricks. I shall reveal all on Monday when the linky opens up.

For more information on Le Challenge, head over here. This month's theme is geometrics and can be interpreted anyway you like and it can be any craft - not just sewing.  Susan has a great guest post today  and there is a great giveaway - a couple of her beautiful geometric inspired pouches.  What's not to love?

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Going through the Bins

I'm sure you are completely fed up with me moaning like a minnie about the heat.  She lives in Morocco, what the heck does she expect? I hear you cry and you would be right but the heat recently has been relentless.  Apart from a couple of days earlier this week, temperatures have been in the high forties (today it's 115F) and it's relentless with minimum temperatures of 26C and that's in the middle of night! We are luckier than others.  We have air conditioning.  Not in every room but where it matters.I try to be  positive...really but the other night I blubbed to my husband and was feeling really down.

Liberty granny square

So I'm getting out...I'm going back to England.  Next week! I haven't yet booked my flight back to Marrakech (dangerous) but we should be there for 3 weeks.

I'm hoping to soak up some post Olympics euphoria.

So I suddenly have quite a lot to do before I leave and it's not sewing weather! Having said that, I ignored my to do list, and whipped up a super size granny square. A few weeks ago I started collecting Ali's Liberty tana lawn charm packs from her folksy shop here as ever since I made this quilt I have wanted to make a big sumptuous Liberty quilt. I have quite a few of the 5'' packs now and one 4" pack. Using some 4'' squares and some beautiful Irish linen, which lovely Karen sent me, I made this mini quilt top. It measures 18" and really is very pretty.  Much prettier in real life.

I'm hoping that if I can get it finished in time, I shall take it with me for a friend.

Thank you for all your clever suggestions about my hexies, and for your kind donations of fabric! If I didn't got back to you it's because you are a no-reply blogger so if you are still interested please email me!

I've decided to keep to the original palette of  aqua, orange and gray.  I had a good root through my scrap bins and managed to find quite a bit of fabric. Sometimes it's been a loose interpretation of aqua but that will add interest hopefully. I think I'm going to arrange them in abstract clumps on a background of perhaps some  crosshatch sketch fabric.  What do you think?

I haven't forgotten about the giveaway.  I shall announce it once I'm back in England and it will be a glad to be back pre-birthday late 300 followers giveaway!