BLOG 51

It has rained for a week following our arrival back in the UK. Frustrating from the gardening point of view but good for the quilting!

A new great nephew, Ben Luke Osmotherley has arrived whilst I have been away and it is my custom to make a quilt/play mat for any new baby in the family. So this was my need-to-sew starting point this week. I have a basket of pre-cut rainbow squares and child-like prints so the fabrics were at hand. The method now needs to be quick!

Method for a simple 9-patch quilt

All the squares aree cut at 2” and placed by my machine ready to sew with a neutral thread and an accurate ¼” seam. Accuracy in cutting and sewing are vital!

Rainbow squares

The squares are string-pieced through my machine.

String piecing

Thread saver

I sew onto a scrap of fabric, folded to the length of my machine foot, at the end of a line. This allows me to cut away the sewn squares and saves on thread. It also prevents the thread-tangling that sometimes happens when you start to sew.

I decided that there would be a red square in the centre of all the blocks.

Seam allowances

I press my seam allowances from light to dark so that when I join the lines together, the seams butt up to one another. All the 9-patch squares will be pressed in the same way.

9-patch blocks

I intend to join the patchwork squares together with a square of rainbow fabric so a quick design on a scrap of paper was sufficient for me to work out quantities. I only have ½ yard of the rainbow fabric so I need to make it fit the project!

Design

9-patch and infill square

The lines are joined together and the seams pressed towards the rainbow fabric. This will be consistent throughout the quilt top with the result that the seams will butt together when joining line to line. Consistency in pressing and sewing is preferred because it establishes seam directions and makes quilting straightforward.

Joining lines

Another project receiving attention now is a want-to-sew (as opposed to a need-to-sew) piece in my painterly style. ‘Hollyhocks’ has been put to one side whilst I concentrated on my teaching preparation for America. It’s time has come and there will be more of this next week.

Hollyhocks