Disappearing acts

After disappearing beneath an avalanche of paperwork for ten days I’m back!

I have a brand new profile pic too, after sources close to me hinted that the one I was using made me look like … well … a rather stitched-up old schoolteacher.

Now this was not too surprising, since I do have *ahem…* a few years under my belt and was, in fact, a schoolteacher many moons ago.

However these days I’d prefer to look more ‘groovy granny’ than ‘sober schoolmarm’, so I asked a friend who always makes me laugh (guess who!) to take some portrait shots – and with a click of the “delete” button the old pic has disappeared.

One of my greatest joys is being part of St Mark’s Quilters, a wonderful group of women who’ve grabbed with both hands the opportunity to make quilts for those in need of a comforting hug. It’s almost two years since two dozen newbie quiltmakers made their first quilts for the children at the KU Marcia Burgess Autism Specific Early Learning & Care Centre at Linda Hungerford’s Stitchin’ Mission course, the only one ever held outside the USA, but the legacy continues.

Today’s workshop was all about the Disappearing 4-Patch, a perfect block for the tiny Blankets of Love we’re currently making for Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Newborn Care here in Sydney. 

Di B was the teacher and used samples to demonstrate each step in the construction of this very useful block. You’ll find Linda’s excellent tutorial here.

In the photo above Gail and Di are pointing to the block after the 4 patches have been sliced, and just before doing the big ‘switcheroo’ resulting in the layout in the photo below (Barb’s block). Poof! Those 4-patches have disappeared!

You can design countless variations on this theme, using just two contrasting fabrics –

or as many as you like, as Linda’s done here in a larger quilt.

Whichever way you do it, that rather ordinary little 4-patch block, once sliced up, disappears completely, with minimal effort and just a little concentration, to become a block that’s very attractive indeed.

Margaret and Moo were content to stitch bindings on their latest projects rather than embark on Disappearing 4-patch quilts of their own.

Sarah auditioned her fussy-cut snowball blocks on the design wall - and liked what she saw! She’s hoping to have this quilt all finished before the disappears overseas on her big adventure.

And our group’s mascot, the lovely Matilda, just hoped I’d disappear soon and take my camera with me, after my lame attempt at posing her as a quilting diva.

OK, I’m out of here

Di