Thursday, May 1, 2014

Dogwood Revisited

Ha ha, as I typed that title, which was supposed to be "Dogwood Two", but this one popped from my head to my fingers in a blink, I thought of "Brideshead Revisited", and THAT dates me...not that I was old enough to watch it.  I'm grabbing at straws here, I know.

Update:  The no-reply blogger issue is still at the frustrating-I'm-so-tired-of-it-eating-this-much-of-my-sewing-time-UGH level.

Carole from "From My Carolina Home" sent me this link:  (Thanks, Carole!)
http://www.sewsnbows.com/why-im-a-no-reply-blogger/
and this one
http://piecemealquilts.com/2011/09/08/no-reply-no-kidding/

I emailed "Blogger", which went to Google(!) regarding this issue.  I've started typing my email into the body of my comment if it's to a new blog.  However, to avoid spam, Carole said type  "at" gmail "dot" com.  Which I failed to do...sigh.

Onwards.

On January 6, I wrote a tutorial about my "Book It!" method I use to assemble a lot of my quilt tops.  I thought I'd revisit it here so you can see it in action on a regular-sized quilt.  I use this method a LOT.
Bella was NOT amused last night that I was playing with scraps rather than with her

Here is what it looked like last night before I went to bed:
I actually cut the white from 4 different scraps of white!  I put them under my "True Color" Ott-Lite to ensure they "read" the same shade of white, and yup, it looked fine.  I didn't even mix them up throughout the quilt; I just dealt out the squares of one white in order, across the quilt, then went right on to the next until all 49 were filled.  And yeah, it's 13x13 squares.  I'd planned to do 13x15, but realized the weave wouldn't end evenly across the bottom.


Here you see the first 2 columns booked and chain-pieced together
 
The first step, remember, is to place all the squares or blocks from vertical row 2 on top of those from vertical row 1, making "books".  Then carefully pick up the top book, keeping your pick-up fingers at the top of the book, stack it onto the book below, going all the way down the row until you have a stack, in this case, of 13 "books".  Take these to your machine, without changing your hold (because that's the top edge of each book, right?) and chain sew each pair together.  Be sure to leave a tail of thread on the first book as that denotes the top pair or "book".  Cut the thread when the last pair is sewn.  Place a piece of painter's tape on the top book, and label it #1, for the first column.


Work your way across the quilt.  If there is an odd number of vertical rows, as there were here, simply piece the final row together as per usual.

Now, take the first column to the ironing board, and lay them out like this, flipping each book from one side to the other.  Do not cut the threads!  Press closed to set the seams.
One day, when I have a real sewing room, I will have a proper cutting/pressing surface, but for now this works just fine.
Open each book, pressing the seams in opposite directions.  Because you flipped each pair in the step above, you don't even have to think about which way the pair before went!

Take the flippy-floppy column to your machine. Sew each pair to the one below.

I like to work on two columns at once so I can continue to chain piece.  Because the seams of each book are pressed in opposite directions, the seams abut nicely and there is no need to pin!
Perfect alignment!
At this point Bella said, "Please, Sandra, I want to sit on your lap."  She touched and patted my forearm several times!  Maybe she was just wanting to have her picture taken.  I can hear her, "All this nonsense taking pictures of fabric when an adorable gorgeous feline is right in front of her.  Sheesh!"


She won.

Purring away.  Don't worry; she doesn't sit for long.
Take the completed column to your ironing board.  Now you will press the seams of each column in opposite directions.  For example, I pressed column 1 seams down, column 2 up, alternating across the quilt as I completed each column.
Here is what the back of the column looks like:
So neat and tidy!  The seams, not the work surface, lol!
Sew column 1 to column 2, column 3 to column 4, and then sew column 1/2 to column 3/4.  Before you know it, the top is done.  And here is mine all done this afternoon.  It only took a few hours to sew the entire thing!  Now to find an appropriate back.  Hmmm, I think I might have a pretty good selection to choose from. 

I'm hoping the quilting will help to emphasize the woven effect, as I don't think it's pronounced enough.  I think this is due to the different shades of green as well as to the variance in value.  Some of my pinks were quite bright, or the greens quite intense or dark, and so the group of three didn't always read as one colour strip.  Can you tell that I pulled two pinks out as I was chain-piecing the top?  That was the point where I said, enough!  Just go for it!  I was over-thinking it, shocker, I know.  Compare the first pic of the quilt up top with this completed one.

I have plans for "Scrappy Ripple" Quilt #2 as well.  This is addictive!  I think I'm also avoiding the appliqué stage of my Self Round Robin. . . I HAVE to get that quilt caught up before the guild meeting on the third Tuesday of May!!

I'm going to link up this post with Sarah, of Fairy Face Designs, in Ireland!  I've followed her blog for several months, and didn't even think to link this scrap quilt adventure.  Well, now I have.

And I promise I will figure out how to organize my tutorials this weekend so they're all under one tab.  I'm learning!
Off to sew a back for Summer Daze!  And find one for Dogwood Revisited!

3 comments:

  1. Love that, I still have problems with computer things

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  2. It may just be my non-quilter brain that didn't clue in that you were going for a woven effect, but immediately that jumped out at me. I was going to mention that in my comment, but as I read further, you mention it yourself! So yes, it looks very woven, great job!

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  3. Ух, какой серьезный!

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