BLOG 491

 

Blog 491

 

Another week of lockdown and more progress has been made and in the right direction too. I don’t know about you but I’m the fittest I have been for a long while! I have just completed my Lenten fast, something I have been doing since I was a little girl at Sunday school. This helps to keep me trim and if you add to that the daily walks we have been doing up our local ‘mountain’, then I am fit as well! Now that we are allowed only one outing a day, it’s got to be a good one and these restrictions help to concentrate the mind and body.

 

I have finished the top of the scrap quilt which has been in progress for some while. It was to hang for the first time in Gresford this year but that has been cancelled along with everything else. It would have been our 40^th exhibition so preparations were in hand to make it the best ever. It will be something to look forward to next year instead and with twice the time to prepare, the church will be packed!!! This top will now be put to one side with the others I have yet to quilt.

 

             Quilt top

 

Last week I started to do ‘crumb quilting’ using the smaller pieces left over from the above quilt. This will be as far as my colourful scraps will go, there are no more thank goodness (… unless I start sewing numerous new projects and start to accumulate them again…. AAAAHHHH!!!!) I am making 4½”squares and then cutting them in half. I haven’t a clue why yet but my mind is mulling things over and I am sure something significant will come from these endeavours! I have shown the sequence below. I started by sewing the smaller bits together haphazardly to make larger bits and all I needed was one straight edge to sew against. Anything sticking out beyond this was trimmed off after sewing. It is being constructed using a ‘sew-and-flip’ method and there are plenty of references to crumb quilting on line if you are interested.

 

             Crumb 1

 

 

           Crumb 2

 

 

             Crumb 3

 

 

             Crumb 4

 

 As it grew, I measured it against a paper template to give me an idea as to whether it was big enough or, if not, where I needed to add some extra pieces.

 

               Template 1

 

 

 

 

             Template 2

 

              Progress

 

Last week I showed a picture of the ‘get-rid-ofs’; these will be handed over to someone I know after this crisis is over. And now I only have really small scraps left and I need to release them…….

 

I can throw them away.

I CAN throw them away.

I can THROW them away.

I can throw THEM away.

I can throw them AWAY!

 

                Throw-outs

 

 

FABRIC MANIPULATION Part 3

The final stage in the preparation of the cushion square is to add the corner squares and border strips. You will need 4 squares at 3½” and four border strips at 2½” x 14”.

 

              Corners and borders

 

1 Press the squares in half along the diagonal and position them, one at each corner. Tack in place.

 

               Add corners

 

 

              Tack in place

 

2 Place the first border strip RS down onto the front of the cushion and sew from where it lines up with the left hand corner to about 3” from the next corner. Use a ¼” seam allowance and a matching thread.

 

              Border 1

 

 

3 The second border will fit along the next edge exactly. Place it RS down onto the appropriate edge and sew it is place.

 

 

 

               Border 2

 

 

4 Sew all the borders in place in the same way and complete the sewing on the first border.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                

     

 Finish border 1
 

 

             Borders added

 

 

The next stage will be the rolling and sewing of the bias edges.

 

Now that everything is being closed and cancelled or postponed, I am beginning to wonder if anyone from the Nercwys group is following this project. Let me know and I will continue to post details of the sewing phase.