8 Quilt Blocks Done, Yay!! 8 to Go.

Wanna see what my first quilt looks like now?

I have sewn all eight of the blocks I had laid out on my dining room table. They aren’t sewn together yet, just pinned.

I am going to fix the beige “pie” in the block on the left. In the first row. I already changed it once. The original fabric appeared to be stretched. The swapped fabric also looks stretched. Duh!! I do believe the PROBLEM is the curved piece. I will recut it and try again.

After that, I will finish cutting fabric pieces for the 2nd half. My plan is to duplicate where I can and add random additional pieces as fill in. Using the same fabrics as for the 1st half.

Right now my quilt measures 56″ by 28″.

I am learning SO MUCH!!

Today Is Sewing Day

After a million changes, switching, replacing…

It is finally going to happen.

I will begin sewing my first quilt TODAY!!

Wish me luck in lining up the seams correctly.

Fabric Scrap Management

In just a few weeks I have amassed huge piles of fabric scraps, like this one.

I have been trimming and saving the larger pieces but tossing the smaller ones. Then I got to thinking, that’s my money there in the trash. Maybe I should ask the experts what they do.

So… to all you experienced quilters out there, here are my questions on managing fabric scraps.

1. What is considered a scrap?

2. Do you keep scraps or throw them out?

3. What to do with scraps IF you keep them?

4. Where to store scraps?

I have a few ideas.

For one, look at these cute little clear plastic paint cans. From Michaels. I had passed them in the aisles many times. I got to thinking about them when my fabric scraps were piling up.

So, I bought two.

One can is holding any scrap larger than my finger. The 2nd one will hold larger pieces that I can recycle or cut into charms.

And guess what I did with the tiny scrap pieces I had been throwing out?

I am thinking I could hang this up outdoors somewhere and let the birds have at it. They could use the scraps to build their bird’s nests. Just pull the pieces through the mesh holes.

What do you do with your fabric scraps?

New Quilt Block Photos, Ready To Sew

Can you see it? My new layout has a DESIGN!!

Starting in the corner with a brown print, look down diagonally. You can’t see the whole thing but the brown print U-turns on the edge and goes back up diagonally to the top.

My plan is to have the same brown print fabric on all four corners. And make it twice the size it is now. I hope I have enough fabric.

I am happy with this placement. Ready to Sew!!

Not Going To Be A Random Quilter

Finished cutting all template pieces yesterday for my First Quilt and started playing around with placement.

Ten minutes into it and I knew I was not going to be happy with random placement. I need to “see” a design. I took about 30 pictures and think the light fabrics will do better inside the circle. And the darker on the outside along the edges.

Here.. take a look…

These are the fabrics I am working with.

Brown. I LOVE BROWN. Brown, rust, orange, beige, cream.

With a bit of taupe and gold plaid, which by the way, stand out like a sore thumb. I may ditch those two.

I am going to cut more brown pieces, plot them in, and see if I like it better.  I’ll keep playing with it. All the pieces are on my dining room table. I don’t have a design wall yet.  Need to get some flannel the next time I go to JoAnn’s.

The spray adhesive is working great. I tried using my marker pencils and marker pens (have two) but I cut straighter with the template stuck to the fabric. It was a bit pricey. $12 a can. I will see if I can find it cheaper.

How do you arrange your fabric pieces for your quilts? Random or by design.

Made My 1st Drunkard Path Quilt Block

My next project will be this small wall hanging called Circle Safari. The pattern is in Fat Quarter Friendly from Fons and Porter’s For the Love of Quilting Magazine.

I bought this book a couple years ago when the urge to learn to quilt was slowly sneaking up on me. I even spend quite a bit of time flipping through it looking at the pretty pictures of quilts.

The wall hanging I want to make was easy to find. The page had a sticky note.

First thing I did (after reading the instructions a hundred times) was scan the pattern pieces onto hardstock paper.

These are the two fabrics I am using for my test block.

I used my spray adhesive. (It worked great!! I just needed to shake the can more.)

That was Piece B. Here is Piece A.

Cutting done. Ready to pin and sew.

Here is where I had to pause.

And unlearn how I have pinned my WHOLE LIFE!! I don’t pin vertically. Never have. It will take time to learn how to do it this way. I struggled with the yellow ball being in my way. So, I had no choice but to stop and repin.

You can see from this photo I am fighting it. Rebelling just a bit.

Starting just before the center mark, I began sewing.

Then I flipped the piece over to sew the rest of the way in the opposite direction.

And done.

I did make one goof. I trimmed off what I thought was excess on one edge. BEFORE I STARTED SEWING. Turns out I shouldn’t have. Oops!!

I am going to piece it back together. Such a tiny piece, will be hidden in the seams.

I have some questions for you experienced quilters.

• Why does it say to press TOWARD Piece A? When clearly the seam is already nice and smooth where it is, pointing toward Piece B.
• And why do I need to clip the seams? They are not bunched up. ?????
• Do any of you use the Curved Master Presser Foot to make your circles?
• Do you trim the block as you go or wait until all blocks are completed?

Well, that does it. My very first Drunkard Path block. All those set-in sleeves I sewed as a teen-ager paid off!!

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Additional information:

Regarding the Curved Master Presser Foot, I found this about it on-line when I was researching the Drunkard Path block. I am thinking about buying one.

http://siterepository.s3.amazonaws.com/00311201003061141458535.pdf

This is the spray adhesive I used.

New Quilt Books and Tools

Look at my new quilting books I found on the net.

First one. Just 42 cents!! For real. No joke. Regular price $19.95. And there is not one thing wrong with it. No rips, tears, markings, highlighting, pages missing, notes. None of that. A perfect 9″ by 10 1/2″ softcover book. 256 pages. From Amazon.

Can you say “steal”?

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And another great find. Another steal. Also from Amazon.

This one just $5.20. AND IT IS HARDCOVER!! Only thing I could find wrong was a small water stain on the inside first page. Which is blank. And a small rip on the bottom corner of the spine. You can see it in the photo. For five bucks, I will tape that, no problem.

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This is a gift from my good friend, Lennette. A quilting fanatic. And she wants me to be one too. A one year’s subscription to American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. Many, many tips and projects. Surely to keep me busy all year.

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Got these at Michaels yesterday with my coupons. If you haven’t signed up yet to receive coupons via e-mail, what are you waiting for. Every penny saved means you can buy more stuff!!

50% off.

40% off.

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And this I found while searching for something else. Forgot I had it. I tried it and it doesn’t hold that long. Could be the tackiness is gone. I bought it about 3 1/2 years ago.

Well…. that does it for me. What did you do to move the economy along?

And Green It Is!!!!

Once I set my mind to doing something……

OK, going to bed now. BBL

OK, Switching To Squares Now

Thought you might be tired of me showing you my round Quilted Stars.

How about a SQUARE one?

Not sure it is “full” enough. I may add more triangles. But this is how it looks so far. The only difference in making a square star is the way the four corner squares are folded.

Fabric colors are burgundy, wine gingham, beige/wine floral and dark green.

I may swap out the green with wine and have green for the last round. (I know, here we go again. LOL!!)

This is the only thing I could find that measured 8″ by 8″. A ceramic tile.

A ceramic tile that came unglued in a really cute wooden trivet. I am too lazy to glue it back. Works great here, eh, for me to trace around it with my marking pencil? I told hubby I hope I don’t break it while it doubles as a measuring tool.

Lookie!! 2 More Quilted Stars.

I feel a serious addiction coming on. A lot of people told me if I ever tried quilting I would love it.

Well, they were right!! I do love it. In fact, I am dreaming about color combos and jumping up to search through my fabric stash.

Navy, Rust and Taupe

I did end up taking apart the rust one I showed you in my last post. I switched around the dark navy and rust making navy the last round.

I like it better this way. No picture to show you of the back. I used the navy.

Brick Red, Royal Blue and Cream

This one came out great, I think. Though the fabric feels thin. It isn’t as thick as the others I made. But I still like it.

Well, back to cutting….