I've been involved in an online quilting group for many years and have been quite active. But as happens with a lot of things, I chose to leave the group where I spent too much time daily, and concentrate on my blog instead. I have much I would like to share and this is the best way.
Last week I posted a pic of this quilt on Facebook!
This was a Stack and Whack quilt as opposed to a one block wonder. There is a slight difference and there are two groups on Facebook that will advise you of one or the other. I prefer this style because of the way the triangles set off the "kaleidoscope flowers". I have a guild friend who sews a lot for our charitable purposes and she had carried around this border fabric on a bolt for sometime. She just didn't know what to do with it. Its a Jackie Robinson fabric called 40's roses I believe or something like that. Certainly not available for purchase and I wasn't familiar with Jackie but she does have a company called Animas.
At any rate, I thought the border and colors were beautiful and wanted to try my hand at creating a stack and whack with it. You have to carefully pin together 6 layers of fabric, cut 3 3/4" or so and then cut 60 degree triangles out of the strip. Those triangles create the flower!
Maybe you can see it better here draped on a chair. I usually take my photos of quilts on the floor as above because I can spread them out. But one of my HS friends on Facebook saw it and thought it was a rug so I have to explain that to her. But another friend saw the quilt, loved it and bought it for his granddaughter. I hope she loves it.
The fabric was so beautiful I just had to miter the corners. However, you can see in the top photo, bottom left corner I didn't have enough fabric to miter all 4 corners. So in that last corner I sewed the excess cut offs together to create a border and then appliqued a rose in that section. No one but me would notice or pick it out.
I had mitered corners before but it wasn't until I purchased a mitered border tool that I got good at it. http://www.sewbizmarion.com/shop/c/p/Quick-Easy-BORDER-Mitering-Tool-Large.htm
I had purchased the small tool which is perfectly usable even for a large width fabric. It made a difference in my mitering abilities!
Until next time, have a happy quilting day!
I bought one of those $300 irons from a quilt show that lasted maybe two years. I sent it back to have a new heater put in it. Cost $55. Lasted about 6 months and died. My husband went out and bought a Hamilton Beach $25 iron from Big Lots. It is going strong still. I never use steam but my son decided to use steam with it and it leaked all over everything. I said no more so husband went out and bought an iron just for them. Even though I had one sitting on the shelf. Mine has an auto shut but only after sitting for a while. I like that part. Because sometimes I walk out and leave it on all night.
I like Jo's idea of going to thrift shops to buy irons for $2. Hopefully, they put a tag on them that says WORKS like hers did. How do you know it works if you can't plug it in? I dont go to Thrift stores very often as I certainly don't need anymore junk. I need to get rid of the junk.
I do have several irons sitting around the house but I do prefer the Hamilton Beach one so the rest never get tried. I keep a spray bottle of water in my sewing room and I also have Best Press. I was cleaning out my closet this week and found a gallon of Best Press I forgot I had. Time to refill all the small ones. I really dont use either very often but will when I need to.
In an online group recently, there was discussion about setting your seams vs not setting your seams. I have never gotten into the habit of seam setting but I did notice, that when I tried it, my blocks were flatter. Maybe they were onto something, those folks who always set their seams. There was a quilter in my group whose name was Ruth. I watched her once in a sewing session and she always set, pressed, flipped and pressed. She had quite a way of doing it quickly. Ruth has since passed but I will always fondly remember her for her smile and her pressing abilities. Until next time, sew your heart out!