Tuesday, January 12, 2021

It has been so much fun today working online with Stacia and Deloise – and we have a couple more days set aside for this.

At Christmas I gave both Stacia and Deloise a set of postcards (I had a set for myself) that had patterns for miniature quilts; there was one postcard for each month. Today we all worked on the January quilt. Not surprisingly Stacia’s is done and quilted. I have the top finished and Deloise is just a couple of borders away from a finished top (she made hers twice the size so it took longer). I want to quilt the piece with my new quilting ruler skills; I thought I’d leave it until next week to do it but I may change my mind and do it tomorrow.

I moved on to another scrappy project that I marked a long time ago – it is from a 2011 calendar. All the coloured bits are scrappy and there are four different background fabrics. These are quick to make but a little boring after a few (hence my decision to quilt my miniature).

The two projects combined made quite a dent in my scrap drawers.

Monday, January 11, 2021

In spite of the fact that Deloise said I was cheating by sewing the lines of my half-square triangles before we start our session tomorrow, I finished the lines on mine. They haven’t been cut, pressed or trimmed so there will still be plenty of work to do after we officially start.

I did a bit more work with my quilting rulers today. My first attempt didn’t go well and I thought I had either been very lucky last week or I had lost the knack for it. I was able to sort out the issue by raising the foot; I think the sandwich I was using today was thicker than last week and the foot was too tight against the fabric and it didn’t move well. My hope is that next week I’ll be able to quilt the small project I am working on this week with Stacia and Deloise.

I also put a couple of rows of another quilt top together. For every row I stitched I had to do some reverse work so decided it was probably time to quit.

I have a Zoom meeting tonight. I think I’m prepared for it but there are always a few things I think of at the last minute.

Sunday, January 10, 2021

A little of this … the first instructions for the Ornament of the Month stitch along I’m following. It is more difficult to stitch on red than I thought it would be but I have a package of this red fabric and another of green fabric (purchased I might add from the craft shop I owned in Yellowknife) and a Christmas-themed pattern seemed appropriate for it.

A little of that … I’m working my way through the stitching on these half-square triangles. I won’t cut, press or trim them until Stacia, Deloise and I actually start sewing together but I wanted to have them prepped. I stitch rather slowly (in comparison) and I’d like to say I was able to get at least few blocks done during our three-day session. Having these stitched even this far will help.

Saturday, January 9, 2021

I thought today would be an easy day. I’d get my Alias Grace block finished and stitch together a few squares for half-square triangles. I knew the block I was making wasn’t a common one; it took me a long time to find a pattern than I could copy as there was no way I could figure the pattern out from the photo on the chapter cover.

The pattern I found had both templates and paper piecing instructions and I decided on the paper piecing method. The pattern called for several different colours but I was doing mine in only two colours so that complicated things. Some of the units had to be larger so the coloured bits and the background bits worked with the photo in the book.

When I was ready to start paper piecing I realized I could take the sizes from the pattern and piece the various parts of the block together. That worked but when I came to put the blocks together I wasn’t getting the pattern right. My spools in the corner just weren’t working out.

I had to add some coloured edges onto the centre. My flying geese weren’t the size they should have been but, because I didn’t paper piece them, I probably had the measurements wrong. I ripped apart a corner piece but when I finally figured out how it all fit together I needed to make another one – the way I did it in the first place was correct.

The block is done now although it isn’t the right size and I may lose some points when I stitch it to the other blocks.

Those half-square triangles should be easy work for the rest of the afternoon.