Save the Scraps!
Slow but steady progress has been made on the quilt top. The
wintry weather has made it easier to seclude myself so a little sewing can be
done and a lot of homework đ. Here is a shot from this weekendâs storm:
The column is a decent measure of snowfall! Moving on to the
quilt, a few more cutting steps were next and what should have taken 2 minutes
led to a full day adventure of sorts. This is where I started off with the
focal blocks:
But this is what was the ending of the adventure:
Can you tell the differences? Actually, looking at it now, I
donât see the mistake as obviously. The next step was to create the angles on
the focal blocks, yes more cutting with a dull blade. The 1st and 3rd
blocks were cut smoothly without issue,
but one of the neurons was not firing correctly that day and I ended up cutting
the 2nd and 4th blocks the same way instead of mirror
images! After some brain muscle flexing, I came up with a rescue plan. Luckily,
I saved the scraps from the first round of cutting so I was able to use them to
newly construct the 2nd and 4th blocks so they could be
cut correctly. Though there are some extra seams in the blocks, I am happy with
the result.
Luckily, the sewing commenced centering on these focal
blocks with the sashing fabric added to the top and bottom:
And yes, I am a disciplined sewer; after each seam was sewn,
it was pressed on each side to meld the stitches, then the seam was opened up
and pressed from both the wrong and right sides of the fabric to flatten the seam, and
finally the seam was pressed towards to the sashing (red fabric) as the directions
specified. So the pressing took probably longer than the actual sewing. But it
is worth it, to attain the best look possible. And with the cold weather, I donât
mind working with a hot, steaming iron.
Next, the background fabric was added to these
focal blocks. The angled cutting was accomplished without an adventure this
time.
Looking pretty good!
The final step in this blog installation was to sew sashing
to the vertical edges and then sew the 4 âcolumnsâ together. This is the
result:
I am pleased with how the sashing lined up between the focal
blocks â I used a blue marking pen which was a little stubborn to remove and
that is why there is a lot of wet fabric in the photo. Of course, the 2nd
and the 4th blocks were switched but I actually prefer this new order
as the little people are more widely distributed along the quiltâs length. So,
that is all that has been accomplished in this installment.
I started reading a new book on quilt history in America but
I have just made it to the Revolutionary War so I do not have anything
light-hearted to share in this installment, but I am anticipating to have some
material in the next one.
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