After an unplanned blog break due to illness and then work catchup, here is my latest (brilliant if I say so myself) idea for a quilt.

I know, polaroid blocks.  I’ve only just discovered them.  Now they seem to be used for fussy cut eye spy quilts mostly, but I saw the potential here.  Do you see what is in the middle of them?  Embroidered souvenir badges.

The reason I’m so pleased with myself is because this quilt has been a long time coming.  You see I’ve been collecting these embroidered travel patches (with waxing and waning enthusiasm) over the last 30 something (ahem) years.  And there has never been a plan for them, except that I didn’t want to just sew them onto a blanket, because, well, I’m a quilter… So after every trip I add the new ones to the little tin, spread them out, admire them, ponder how to use them, and then, when everyone is sick of little badges scattered on the table, put them back in their tin till after the next trip.

And then inspiration struck.  When did I get the patches?  On holiday.  What do you do on holiday?  Take photos.  What do these blocks look like?  Photos.  Tick, tick tick.  Plus I could choose a different background fabric for each one, to suit the colour or location.  Say no more.  Bring boxes of fabric out and spread all over table.  Enlist help of drummer boy.  Spend happy weekend matching fabrics to patches.

This is the beginning of the process where we decided generally what colour background would suit each one, with my helper learning to audition fabrics.

By the end it was getting a bit chaotic with fabric everywhere.

I have no idea what the final layout will be, but it is enough for now that I have a plan and I love how each one looks.  I love this layout, so some of the polaroids might have different grey around them.  There is a large pile of ready to sew badges and fabric ready for whenever I have a spare moment.

And this is what I have been doing the rest of the time.  Measuring up buildings, ending up with notebooks full of scribbled lines and dimensions, translating it into AutoCad and finally designing.  But I’d rather be quilting.