When I purchased my first 1/2 yard of Kaffe fabric, I was so excited. It was so bright and so soft. It was the stuff quilty dreams are made of. Then, I bought more pieces as I found them on sale. Slowly, the pile grew. Then came the day to start cutting and sewing. That also became the day of my frustration in sewing. This beautiful fabric has absolutely no body. If I just look at it too long, it distorts and takes on a totally new shape. This would only be a good thing if it was growing, but it is not. Use spray starch, you say? That would probably work, but I have far too many allergies to airborne things to try that indoors. My only solution is to just take my time and summon all my sewing patience. Fortunately for me, I just love the way this collection of fabrics looks, so I will continue using it, even if I do get frustrated.
All of the blocks I am building for this sampler quilt are from tutorials over at 15 Minutes Play. If you are interested in creating your own, using made fabric, head on over there and look in the right column for the BOM tutorials. I am not going to use all the blocks in my sampler. I have selected nine I want to use. I will use the star at the top in the four corners, plus eight others. I am going to have to make much more fabric, but I have enough right now for three or four more.
The other project I started today was the Jacob's Ladder Quiltalong. I have joined The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe in this quiltalong. She has set up a Flickr page so you can see what others are doing. I am using this pattern from Quiltville's Quips and Snips (Bonnie Hunter) for my JL. Here is what I have so far.
I am using floras of the old fashioned sort along with the Kona Aloe. I am going to make two squares of each floral I can find. I think I can get two squares out of one fat quarter. I had this print in a 1/4 cut. Most of the others I have are largish scraps I am hoping will yield enough. I am still collecting, but I wanted to get this one started. In the end, this will be a very scrappy looking quilt. My florals are all over the place colorwise. This will be a longer term project than the BOM sampler quilt.
Tomorrow morning, Tom and I are going on a photo safari, so I hope to be able to post some cool animal photos tomorrow afternoon.
Joyful quilting, everyone.
6 comments:
Ahh. The aloe does look more muted than the jade. And the more vibrant is better with the red. Thanks for pointing out the difference between the two. I would never have thought aloe would have been blue-ish....
glen: looking very nice with those blox too!
Wow! You get the prize for combining prints and solids. I LOVE that red and green. Can't wait to see these in person!
Love the Kona Aloe with your JL block... gorgeous color! You were right about needing the stronger color for the KF reds... perfect choice!
I love the colors you have chosen for each project. Sorry working with the Kaffe fabrics is frustrating. It's not fun to fight with fabric even when it is stunning. The end product will be fabulous though.
Oh how disappointing for you about the Kaffe fabrics, but your blocks look good. I sometimes stabilize made fabric with light iron-on interfacing before I cut into it which can also help to keep the edges of the seams together. I love your Jacob's ladder and the fabrics you have chosen, it's going to be lovely with the aloe. I'm looking forward to seeing photos from your safari, how exciting.
Do you prewash your fabric? I work with lots of Kaffe, and don't have any problems with it. Your comment made me wonder if that's due to my pre-washing habit, which does change the "hand" of the fabric: it gets a bit tighter (shrinkage) and also loses some of that lovely soft, almost slippery finish.
Also, if your machine has an adjustable presser-foot pressure, try a lighter setting. A tight PF can distort the top fabric even on a short seam, esp. on bias edges.
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