Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Aftermath.

Walking on the beach, almost dumped by a wave, seeing dear relatives, eating an awesome Thanksgiving dinner, seeing grandkids, hiking in Joshua Tree National Park, driving across the Mojave Nat'l Preserve, 300 miles of gridlock north of Las Vegas, enjoying the red rock canyon of Moab, returning home to our Dixie dog and the mountains (even if they are hiding in the fog). Wonderful memories and lots of pictures.

Joshua trees - a variety of yucca!
Piles of eroded rock in Joshua Tree National Park.
Monumental hunk of red rock.

Colorado River and the red cliffs of Moab, UT.
I haven't gotten back to sewing yet, but will tomorrow.  DH ran over to our storage and brought home a styrofoam board to put behind my design wall, which is currently the backside of a tablecloth. I decided I would like to be able to put my paper-pieced blocks up by sticking a pin through them.  They won't stick to the flannel with paper on the back.  With styrofoam in back I will have the best of both worlds.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you time to energize in the midst of the coming holiday chaos.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Thanksgiving

Best wishes to all for a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.



Eat heartily and enjoy your family and friends.



Have fun!


Sew some happy seams this week if you have time.  I wish you a time of fellowship, love and gratitude.


Monday, November 13, 2017

Cross-learning

Is there really a word or concept such as "cross-learning?"  I don't know, but sometimes I get creative with words as well as fabric.  What I mean is that you may learn a new technique and then decide that it is not for you.  When you move on to a new project you suddenly realize that something you learned in the discarded technique will be helpful now.

The quilt I am re-working has lots of seams and points that require matching and/or aligning.  This is tedious and often requires post-stitching adjustments, which are a nuisance, so I made a proactive, minor adjustment.  Below is the original pattern:

Six points to bring together perfectly.  Urggggggh!
Notice that six points come together in the center.  This can be a challenge, and with the high contrast any displacement will be noticeable to the eagle eye of a judge.  I changed the the pattern so that the larger triangles on top are combined and cut as one big one.  The two bottom parts are stitched together and the single, big triangle is added last.
One single triangle.  Now to put it onto the bottom pieces.
This is where my experience with paperless paper piecing comes in.  I folded the seam allowance over heat resistant plastic, painted starch on the fold and then ironed.  This provides a straight, crisp fold.  In the photo below it doesn't look very straight because the heat-resistant plastic warps a bit up and down, but the edge actually remains straight.  I had to stick pins through the plastic to hold it steady as I couldn't manage to hold it, turn the seam allowance and paint all at the same time with acceptable results.  I only have two hands!

TIP:  Try cork board under your ironing board cover.  This is where it is extremely useful.

Folding the seam allowance.
Next I laid the triangle right side up on the lower part of the block (also right side up), aligned the crisp fold carefully so no points had cut-off tips.  Then I squeezed a little clear Elmer's glue in the seam allowance and pressed.

Pinned in place ready to glue and press.
After pressing I opened up the big triangle and stitched along the seaming crease.  Perfect every time!  This saved time, curse words, hair pulling and un-stitching.  The crease you see in the triangle from tip to bottom assisted in matching the center of the triangle to the center seam of bottom piece.

Creases help in the attempt of achieving perfection.
TIP:  I had to stitch in the crease over several layers of fabric in some places.  I found that a stylus helped me to stay in the ditch of the crease as well as kept the seam allowance from rumpling up under the needle.

TIP:  I know I sound a bit OC (obsessive-compulsive).  I'm not, but I make every quilt as though it is going to be shown.  If you are interested in showing a quilt and maybe winning a prize you must start at the very beginning by being as fussy as possible, and that means perfect points.

Stitching all done:

All it needs now is to have the edges trimmed.
This is a perfect example of a part of a discarded technique being used to good advantage elsewhere.  It is amazing how the little things you learn along the way can help solve future problems.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish you the opportunity to combine techniques for a satisfying outcome.



Sunday, November 5, 2017

Stitching Away

Progress on the second incarnation of my quilt is going beautifully.  Happy dance!!  I took time to figure out how many of each kind of block I need.  There are three end pieces on the pattern that are different colors so every block is not quite the same.  Having a plan to do a bunch that are the same is speeding up the process.  Chain stitching with paper piecing does not work for me, but doing several  blocks that are alike helps in the efficiency department.  Today there are no problems to address and no photos of any interest.

I mentioned a while back that I make birthday and graduation cards for my grandchildren with photos of them.  I use Photoshop to create collages.  Reports are that the kids love them so that is gratifying.  One of my readers expressed interest in my cards so I will use today's blog to share some.  I know, they have nothing to do with sewing, but they have everything to do with creating.  I get antsy when I don't have anything creative going on.  The cards are each printed on half of an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of card stock and are folded in half.  Below you can see the front and back.  On the other side of the paper (the inside of the card not shown here) are a couple more photos and a personal note.





Sew some happy seams today.  I wish you time to spend with your family.

Bagged the Bag

My first attempt at a picnic bag was a fail.  You saw the pictures last week.  I kept revising the design.  I clipped where I shouldn't ...