Psycho 70's Apple Core

Like almost all quilters, I have numerous projects going on at once.  Below are some photos of what I’m calling my Psycho 70's Apple Core project. 

I’ve been collecting retro 70’s style fabric for a while with no purpose in mind for it other than I thought it was pretty cool and eventually I’d use it for something.  I even had a friend at quilting buy me some fat quarters as a gift when they were on sale because she knew I’ve kept my eye out for some (thanks Liz). 

While browsing one of the quilt shops recently I came across the apple core template – which is absolutely perfect for a hand piecer because there’s no straight line sewing at all.  It’s all curves and it can be a challenge to piece.  I like a challenge.  Looking at this template I knew right away I was going to dive into my retro collection.



From the back



4 in a line

I have to explain to you I’m cheap.  Actually I’m not cheap.  As my mother once explained to me there is a very real difference between ‘cheap’ and ‘inexpensive’.  Cheap is poor quality and never a bargain.  Inexpensive is good quality at a good price.  Anyway I’m getting off the point of the story.... Even though the templates were of good quality, I wasn’t prepared to pay the asking price because honestly I already spend too much money on my quilting habit.  So, I left the store with lots of plans in my head as to how to work this.

My DH is amazing.  He’s the kind of guy who can build a shopping mall with only toothpicks at his disposal.  I told him about the templates and what I was after and low and behold , a few days later I had a set of wonderful Plexiglass templates cut at numerous sizes at my disposal.  What a man!

I set about to cut, cut, and cut some more of my wonderful retro 70’s stuff.  As you can see it’s going to be a really out there quilt/throw when I’m done.  I don’t have any size in mind at the moment.  I’m just going to piece until I run out of pieces or until I’m happy with the size it develops into.  Initially I started piecing them in a line.  I did this up to two rows (hence the table runner looking thing...) but found it rather difficult to try and piece so much curvature in rows.  I’ve now moved to piecing a grouping of 4 to 6 and then putting them together that way to form a wonky block.  It becomes a bit confusing however with so much busy fabric because I’m trying not to have any two of the same pattern next to each other – not that anyone would really notice with so much going on!

Looking alot like a table runner

It’s a fun venture and one I keep coming back to in-between other things.  It’s my new ’10 year’ project.  Don’t laugh – the quilt that’s on my bed right now I started when I first came to Australia in 1997 and finally completed in 2008.  I love that quilt.  It’s seen me through a lot of events in my life.  Maybe my Psycho 70’s quilt will do that as well.