Sunday 29 January 2017

Is there madness in my method?

I've been working on a new quilt design.  It's a bit back to front because I did a draft and took it to my Thursday night class. I hadn't written the pattern so it was just in diagram form. I wanted to know if anyone was interested in doing it.  Two ladies said they did - problem was they wanted to start straight away so they actually started sewing before I did.  This is it so far:
Photos are not good again this week because of the light.  Although there was a bit of sunshine this morning - a golden light shining on the evergreens outside.
So, on Thursday one of the ladies was ready to sew the basic block together (see my version below)
It's a simple Jacob's ladder variation but it was a fraught two hours as she tried to pin and sew the four units of the block together.  She is the expert unpicker.  Like me, she cannot mirror image things very easily and hasn't yet learnt to be methodical about piecing.  Even though she had all the pieces stacked up in the right orientation she twisted them this way and that as she prepared to sew them.  They were all coming out wrong.  Luckily she has a good sense of humour!  I'm not sure what will turn up next week because she likes to work at home.

So this weekend, with Will away in Norway and no baby sitting duties I eventually got round to doing the sample quilt. I am just realising how methodical I am and I hope to be share that with the class next week.

Might I just add that I am sitting in extra warm woolies as the central heating boiler is on the blink and a new part won't be here to fix it until Tuesday morning.  No heating or hot water. Thank goodness for quilts!

So when I start I clear surfaces, get all the kit out ready -  scissors and pins by the machine, ironing board up.  I cut out the pieces, then I mark any pieces that need doing
and stack them ready to sew.
Cut, stack stitch, press, press press!
All those bunny ears!
More stacking (48 blocks each with two four patches and two half square triangles)
But you'll have to wait until next weekend to see the finished result. I've pieced all the rows and have three of the eight rows sewn together but it's dark now.  No mistakes so far and I put that down to working really methodically, cutting marking, stacking and pressing - no madness, no unpicking, just method.

I've been crocheting away at night after work but the Crochet-Along is at week four now and I have just finished the stripes for week one.  I love it so much.

I especially love the limey green and soft heather colours together.  They make me want to sing with the sheer joy of colour.  The little markers are placed every ten stitches so that I never lose count of the pattern. It doesn't feel like extra work it's all part of my methodical approach.  It's all part of the rhythm and process which I love. 



2 comments:

  1. I love the colours in the crochet-a-long. I try to avoid getting sucked into CAL's now as I always fall behind and get stressed to death with them, but I love to watch other peoples progress. Yours is coming along nicely. The tip about the 10 stitch marker is brilliant. One for me to try and remember.

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  2. Thanks Bernice am loving this. I got the 10 stitch marker idea from some of the people doing the crochet along. It's certainly stopped so much unpicking!

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