Monday, March 5, 2012

More play today

Yesterday afternoon, I came to a place where I couldn't do anything right in the studio.  I cut a bunch of fabric for a foundation piece block, and when I started working on the units, most of the fabric was cut too small.  I thought I was measuring so carefully, too.  I also sewed pieces wrong at least three times before I called Uncle and just left the studio.  So, today, with the cold  coming on, I decided to start out playing and making fabric.  There is no wrong way to do that.  I chose some spring colors  in preparation for a Victoria swap.  I will find out my partner and get the pattern on Wednesday.  I know it will be pieced flowers of some kind.  I thought the pinks, purples, and blues were good spring colors.  I hope my partner likes them.

The next thing I did was to prepare parts for this block for another bee I am in.  I made the HSTs a new way to me.  I made all eight with only four sewn lines, and no edges on the bias.  I love short cuts that are useful and don't cause further problems down the line.  Speaking of short cuts, my next project was to get ready to demonstrate another of my favorite ones.

Can you guess?  Tomorrow night, I am demonstrating how to make the no waste flying geese.  I have a tutorial here.  For this, I cut six 12" x 12" pieces of foam board and pieces of heavy flannel.  Tom helped me use spray adhesive to attach the flannel to the foam boards.  Now, I have a bunch of great small design squares I can use to hold the different steps.  Then I got into my stash of deconstructed blue and white shirts and started putting together my flying geese parts, step by step.  This was pretty fun to do, and now I finally have the quilt started I want to do with these shirts.  What could be better than that?
In the mail today, I got another rainbow block and the house blocks from that exchange.  I will put them up and take a photo of them later in the week.  Right now, there is no room on the design wall.
One last thing I want to add is that I am having trouble editing my favorites blog roll and there are a bunch of blogs I have recently found that I want to add because they are such fun and have such wonderful work.  I will keep trying so you can see them, too.
Now, until Friday, joyful quilting everyone.

5 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I have cork boards set for such teaching/display. I can't wait to see what you do with your shirts. I have some prepped for a fall project. I think I need to pick up a few lighter at thrift - as they are a bit dark.

sheila 77 said...

It's funny how pieces can get themselves cut the wrong size. Sometimes I think quilt rulers are just having a laugh. I always like to see your process. Your made fabric is lovely, as always.

Sarah Craig said...

Love your made fabric, and what a great idea for display boards for teaching steps! I'm going to have to try that one.... and your no-waste flying geese tutorial!

Nancy Bowron said...

Miki,
Fantastic flying geese tutorial! I am passing it along to my quilters group. And thanks for sharing even the sad days when things just don't go as planned! I, for one, can relate!

rubyslipperz1052 said...

Your corkboard idea is a GREAT one!! it mite even be nice to have something like this to take to classes...as a personal design wall?

GREAT tute on the "no-waste" flying geese...I NEED to make some. I LUV flying geese. The pattern is fun. The word "flying" sounds so cheerie too.

I also want to make some fabric from scraps. K...I better get BZ in my sewing room! Always sooo many projects...not enough time.

hugZ,
annie
anniesrubyslipperz.com
anniesrubyslipperz.com