Finally started sewing my Thanksgiving quilt today. Yeah, it was only two 9-patch blocks, and no, it won’t be done for this year, but I got started. I cut out the blocks a long time ago so it made me happy to finally start sewing!
Quilting
Adventures in charity quilting
I decided to do some quilt blocks for an online charity collecting them to make quilts for the homeless. Any type block allowed as long as it was a particular size but there were some sample patterns provided that would give the required size block. I wanted to use one of these patterns because I figured it would give me an opportunity to piece something new and get some learning time in without doing an entire quilt. So after gardening in the morning I went to my craft studio and started in, excited to get some quilting time. Each block was made of four smaller blocks, so I cut and sewed the strippy portions and was quite pleased with those having never done anything strippy. Then I cut and sewed the four-patch sections and was ready to assemble the blocks. That’s when I discovered the error in the pattern. I was supposed to end up with 5.5″ squares but mine were 4.5″. I sat there with my blocks, ruler and pattern and went over and over it and there was no other conclusion: I’d followed the pattern exactly and it was wrong. I’m sure an experienced quilter would have looked at the directions before cutting and said to herself, “Oh, no. You can’t possible sew together four 2.5″ squares and end up with a 5.5″ square with 1/4″ seam allowances!” Alas, I never even thought to figure like that. So what to do? I wondered what my quilting mentor, Kae, would do and knew she wouldn’t throw them out and start over, she would adapt. So I put some sashing on those four-patches and made them 5.5″.
It took a while and after four of the corrected four-patches were sewed to four of the strippy blocks to make two completed blocks, I decided to forget the other four four-patches and just make the alternate small blocks for some additional practice using another technique. I was almost done cutting out the pieces when Scott came down to talk to me. I told him my sad story and asked him to check my math and make sure I was cutting the correct number of pieces so I didn’t have another disaster and waste more fabric. He said I was correct and then the engineer said we should check the dimensions of the pieces in case there was an error in the pattern again. We did and found there was no way those five pieces were going to make a 5.5″ block with seam allowances. Without seam allowances, yes, but not with. What the?!?!?!? I sat there stunned. After some time trying to figure out how to salvage things, I made up mind. No more time being frustrated when this was supposed to be fun! I sewed the four remaining strippy blocks together (which turned out quite cute), and am sending three completed blocks to charity.
Lessons learned:
- check over patterns carefully, especially free ones from the internet, BEFORE doing any cutting
- use those rusty math skills from high school to do some basic figuring (Alison & Holly will be proud)
- strippy blocks are cute and fun and I can do them
- I sewed my blocks very straight; must read up on pressing techniques
- “When faced with desperate circumstances, we must adapt”, by 7 of 9 on Star Trek: Voyager
Adventures in quilting
For Christmas, Scott gave me a stack of fat quarters in fall fabrics for a Thanksgiving quilt I want to make. I have a landing that’s prominent in my living room and I like to hang a quilt on it to soften it and dress it up a bit. So far I have a patriotic one and last year I made a Halloween one, which was my third
finished quilt. (Did I mention that I’m a novice quilter? Hence the need for more time to quilt. I’ve made 3 finished and hand quilted, one that’s partly hand quilted, 2 pieced tops for charity that someone else finished, and a UFO pieced top made from scraps leftover from the quilt that I’m quilting now. That’s my entire inventory. I’m not counting all the tied quilts I’ve made over the years because what I really wanted to learn was how to piece and hand quilt.)
OK, back to the fall fabric. I’ve been looking through my books and magazines for a pattern that I want to use to make this quilt and so far I’ve been underwhelmed. On July 2 we went to lunch at Archibald’s Restaurant and did some shopping at Historic Gardner Village because it was my birthday weekend and I wanted to. 🙂
Scott sat on a bench outside while I browsed around Pine Needles, looking for bargains and inspiration. I found both! Cute Moda charmpacks 1/2 off and a quilt sample done up on the wall that I just fell in love with. The quilt had a sign on it saying the pattern was “Off the Grid” from Moda Bake Shop so I called over a saleslady and asked her about getting the pattern. Discovery: Moda has oodles of free patterns online using their products. Who knew? Well, all the savvy quilters knew, I’m sure, but I discovered a gold mine when I got home.
So I looked up the pattern, printed the instructions, and found the designer, John, has a blog of his own called Quilt Dad. Which brings me to the Pay It Forward section of my post. (You were wondering when I was going to get to that, weren’t you?) His blog is packed full of cool ideas and I’m linking to one of the best parts: his charity quilting. He participates in quilting bees where members contribute blocks to make charity quilts. Check out his blog!
Back to me. Last week I cut out the pieces to my Thanksgiving quilt and here they are. I can’t wait to get started sewing.
My Halloween Quilt
Scott and Mark gave me fabric on my Independence Day birthday to make a Halloween quilt to drape over our railing. I worked hard and finished it before Halloween. Only a few hours, but still…