Saturday, January 16, 2021

I was working on an Alias Grace block today. I knew it was going to be hard because I didn’t have an actual pattern and it wasn’t one I could easily sketch out. But I found a couple of patterns online that were similar and copied them as best I could.

The block was full of curves and I don’t do curves; I have an appliqué work-around that has served me well with my calendar blocks. But that wasn’t going to be an easy work-around with this one so I decided to learn how to do it properly and sew the darned curves.

My first mistake was getting two curves sewn and then realizing that there was going to be a raw edge. I was able to draw a second curved template and use it to press under a hem. It was easier to do on the pieces that hadn’t been sewn together yet and a bit of glue worked wonders.

I had everything put together when we stopped for lunch. It was far from perfect but I decided I could live with it. I even had one set of edges hand-stitched down.

When I showed Pat he immediately noticed where the curves should have met and where they clearly didn’t. He had suggestions on how to fix it. The only way it was going to work was if I took it all apart. From there I could better match the curves but it meant the blocks had to be trimmed down. I kept matching and stitching and trimming until I got a better fit but a smaller block. There is still some trimming to be done.

It’s good to have a critic in the house (some days) as he challenges me do things better.

Friday, January 15, 2021

I finished up one of my scrappy projects today and I got a few extra blocks done for another.

This is the second pinwheel project I’ve done in a row and I’m pretty tired of pinwheels. When I picked this leader and ender project from all the others I could have picked from I thought it was half-square triangles, not pinwheels. I’ll know better next time and I’ll pick something from my book devoted to half-square triangles.

A pattern is emerging for my latest start. This will be my leader and ender project for a long time; 70 more blocks to go!

Thursday, January 14, 2021

On the 3rd day of quilting I’m so sick of scraps – come on, I know you were singing.

No pictures to show today but I’ve been working hard. I managed to finish cutting, pressing and trimming all 300 half-square triangles. I have about half of the blocks clipped together for some leader and ender work. It took me all morning to accomplish just that much. Clipping together the next 50 blocks should be a bit quicker as I won’t have to do any trimming.

This afternoon I moved on to another scrap quilt – this time pinwheels. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think I’m done with pinwheels for awhile. I have a few rows stitched together but I’ll get the centre part of the top finished tomorrow. I should also be able to get the borders attached and I can say I’ve managed a quilt top this week. Stacia did three of them but I don’t expect I’ll ever be able to keep up with her.

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

I did my ruler quilting this morning and it went quite well; I felt comfortable with the tool and it was nice to be doing more than just practising. I stayed focused and didn’t stray from the ruler edge as I sometimes did when I practised. My stitch length varied quite a bit but that happens whenever I free-motion – I keep reminding myself it just takes time and practise. I need to quilt the borders but I’ll save that for another day. Stacia and Deloise both have their projects quilted and probably hung but I’m okay with that. I’ll be a few days behind but I’ll get it done very soon.

I was back to making the scrappy blocks today. I’m a few blocks short of being a quarter done. Each block takes a long time but I’m happy with the results. I’ll finish my way to the quarter-done mark tomorrow and move on to something else. You can see the “something else” under the scrappy blocks.