BLOG 519

 

Blog 519

 

Even my husband said that last week’s blog was shallow!! And I agreed with him! The trouble was that when you are in the middle of a project, and it’s all about repetition, you don’t particularly want to repeatedly mention the process over and over again! So, instead, I looked back over my week to see what else I had done. On a day to day basis nothing much was the answer, apart from a jigsaw and cat car, so that was what last week’s post was all about. Sorry about that! This week it is much more project -based. I have finished making all the squares I can from the pieces of silk I was given. There are lots of small off-cuts and some heavier bigger pieces which I chose not to use but apart from that, much of the silk has been utilised! I started by placing the lights in the centre of my design wall and worked my way through the medium tones towards the darks around the outer edge. Here is the sequence.

 

Start 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(FYI there is an extra row of dark squares to go along the left hand side; I couldn’t fit them onto the design wall.) Once I had placed all the squares in sequence and jiggled them about, I started at the right hand side and pinned the first row accurately so I didn’t have to re-position them when sewing. I did a string-piecing method where I sewed the first seam and then missed two seams and then presented the fourth third seam (#1, #4, #7 etc.). I clipped the threads at the end of the row and then went back and do the seams that I missed (#2, #5, #8 etc. and then #3, #6, #9 etc.) This means that I didn’t miss a seam and I didn’t waste much thread.

 

Pin the squares

 

Full row

 

Sew the seams

 

The quilt is well underway now and that leap of faith at the beginning of the process has been justified.

 

Progress 1

 

Progress 2

 

And do I like what I have done so far….? No, not particularly! I didn’t really enjoy sewing the silks; they fray easily and are troublesome to cut. I think they are visually ‘flat’ to the eye and they don’t have the visual movement that I so enjoy with Batiks and Bali’s. So my husband suggested that I should decide what I can to it to make myself like it!! If only it was that easy!!