Having ordered some green fabric for my hummingbird quilt border I have to wait til at least the weekend for it to arrive – I received a very sweet e-mail from the company just after I ordered it explaining that whilst they do have it in stock, it is currently in the back of a van on it’s way to Malvern Quilt Show! Would it be a problem waiting a few days!

So I’ve a few days to catch up with other sewing and quilting…

Each year Kate from Tall Tales from Chiconia makes a quilt to auction to raise money for an Ovarian Cancer charity. Various quilters from all over the world make blocks for her to include in the quilt. The colours are always teal and cream as these are the ovarian cancer colours (like pink is for breast cancer) and the name and theme of the quilt is always a pun on the word teal, so there was Time for Teal, last year it was Signed Tealed and Delivered, you get the drift.

This years quilt is going to be the best one yet I think. The name is Go Teal it on the Mountain, so everyone is making blocks with mountains on, the ones that have arrived so far look amazing.

My first thought when planning what to do, was of course Catbells, my favorite fell in the Lake District. I did briefly wonder though as I’ve stitched it at least five times maybe I’ve over done it a bit, (maybe everyones thinking Oh no, not Catbells again!!) perhaps I ought to try something else, but as Kate then suggested Catbells I was delighted to start planning another one.

I started pulling out my teal fabrics, I had a couple of pretty batiks which I thought would be perfect for Catbells itself and the reflection.

The fabric which I thought would be ideal for the rest of Derwentwater had a slight issue, it was rectangular but the ‘water’ went the wrong way, making it tall and narrow, rather than wide and short. Cut in half it would be plenty big enough but I didn’t really want a seam straight down the middle. After a bit of pondering I decided to be a bit rash with an idea that would either work perfectly or not at all!

I cut diagonally across the fabric and then ‘slid’ the angle down a bit before restitching. So far so good, however I thought it would look better with two diagonal seams, so I cut it again the other way. This time I ended up with just enough for the bottom half of the block, it worked!

Having sketched the simple design on paper I cut out the shapes of Catbells and the reflection. I appliqued them on to the sky and lake fabric by hand, keeping the two halves separate for now. I was then a bit brave and cut away the fabric behind Catbells. Sarah Fielke (of Down the Rabbit Hole) always suggested this as it reduces the bulk when it comes to quilting. I left the Lake intact as the reflection fabric is actually dress weight batik, a bit too light to just be on it’s own.

I stitched the two halves together, embroidered the name Catbells and it’s height in feet and my block is finished. I’m really pleased with it’s simplicity and how the fabrics have worked, I love the main fabric in particular as although the main colour is teal there’s also green and little details of colour which remind me of the trees of Manesty Woods around the bottom of Catbells and the bracken and heather on it’s flanks.

It will hopefully go in the post to Australia tomorrow.