BLOG 291

BLOG 291

Construction is well underway on the Whirligig Quilt. I joined block to block to make a row, pinning them together straight from the design wall. And as a straight edge goes against a seamed edge, it went together easily and quickly. I pinned first remembering that there is always a matching pair of squares side by side.

            Pinning blocks

 Once the centre was constructed, it was ironed thoroughly on the ironing board. This was done by ‘plonk pressing’ as I call it, a technical term for lift and press ironing. If you try to drag the iron across seams going in different directions, they will lift and distort. Plonk pressing is the way to go!

               Plonk pressing

 I tried the quilt centre on a 4 foot bed to see what it looked like and that confirmed for me that it had all been worth the effort. It’s a really joyous quilt.

            Whirligig quilt

And this is the thread saver that I used throughout the construction. It’s a little work of art in itself and it got me thinking what an archaeologist would make of it if it was dug up 500 years hence!!

                  Thread saver

As far as the border was concerned, I wanted to break up the sequence by allowing the odd whirligig to spread into the border. That meant adding 6 ½” strips to the dimensions of the quilt. Here is a sample.

            Border sample

It is impossible to show this quilt in its entirety now as it has long outgrown the design wall. I will probably have this one quilted by cheque book but in the meantime, I will put it away and get on with something else. Here’s a sneak preview …… I will show all next week.

            Sneak preview