Tag: Traditional Quilting

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Slow Motion Quilting

I haven’t been feeling well and missed my quilt class this past weekend. I rallied and got my homework together in time for the midweek class instead. I was going to just pay the five dollar penalty for not doing my homework, but I wanted to get back to my normal routine as much as I could.

I sewed this block all by hand, using templates I made from poster board and plastic template sheets. The finished block size is 12 inches square, and 12 1/2 inches square including the seam allowances.

The yellow and white portions of the block are based on a 3 by 4 1/2 inch rectangle. The yellow triangle is formed by drawing a line to the center point of the opposite short side of the rectangle.

The blue and white portions of the block are based on a 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch square. Trace one out on plastic, draw two lines dividing the square into quarters, which divides the square into four smaller squares. Drawing a line from corner to corner of the smaller squares forms the triangle, and the trapezoid.

Once you cut all the template pieces out as I have above, flip them over right side down on the wrong side of your fabric and trace around them with a pencil. A mechanical pencil works best. It also helps to lay your fabric over a piece of sandpaper to stabilize it.

Once all the shapes are traced, cut them out leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance around each one. (The block’s center white square is 3 inches by 3 inches without seam allowances, and 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 with seam allowances.) I then piece them together by hand using a standard running stitch. It takes longer, but I find it is much more accurate and less frustrating than joining small pieces by machine. It is also calming and, I think, fun to do since you can do it anywhere, even while in bed watching TV.

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“The Cow Jumped Over the Moon” One-of-a-kind Art Quilt

Over the weekend I took out a couple of projects that were in need of a small amount of work to be “finished”. I made this nursery quilt back in 2004, when we were having another hot August. It was entirely done by hand. I drew the illustration, traced it onto freezer paper, hand appliquéd the pieces on, and then hand stitched all the blocks and strips together. The one thing I stopped short of doing were the hand-embroidered eyes and nostrils on the cow, and my hand-embroidered signature. This is what I finished over the weekend. It is a glorious thing to behold really, so colorful and cheerful.

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Weekend quilting

Over the past couple weekends, I’ve been catching up a little with my quilt projects. Above is my progress so far on my (mostly) blue and yellow quilt. I’m assembling it as I go it won’t get out of control.

This is the latest block that I did for this weekend’s class.

These two blocks are from Lori’s class. I’ve got three more blocks to catch up with on that quilt. We are now at the putting it all together stage, or some of us are 🙂

I was also repotting my African violets and saw their bowls and pots made an interesting color combination that I might want to use for a kids’ quilt design I’m working on. I’ve wanted to put a free pattern, or set of patterns, on my site, for charity quilts. I’ve been looking at the Project Linus sites in particular, working out the preferred sizes and materials. I have my drawings done, but I haven’t made up my prototypes yet. I also need to figure how to make up the PDF files and put them on the site.

My experiments with color these past couple weeks expanded to my hair color as well. I’m seeing what life is like as a redhead now. I’ve been blond all my life, except for a brief period after birth when my hair was black, oddly. But since it fell out and the blond grew in, I’ve been blond. I’ve only been out and about a couple times since the change, but I have noticed that women I have never met before seem to feel quite comfortable walking right up to me and asking me for advice, so far on such things as calcium supplements and the age-appropriateness of certain articles of clothing. I’m wondering if I suddenly look more knowledgeable. It’s a little startling, but kind of nice.

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Still another quilt class for me

I finished my quilting homework today for another quilting class. In spite of the fact that I am usually behind on Lori’s class, I signed right up for more. This one is supposed to be a yellow and blue quilt, but I bought a pretty pink fabric to make a dress for my poor doll who is still waiting for me to give her some new feet…pink fabric that looked so appealing to me next to the blue and yellow, that I think I may have to use it for my quilt instead. Perhaps there will be enough for both projects, or perhaps I will have to pick out another doll dress fabric, which, in turn, may end up in yet another project.