Do You Clip?

What I mean is... do you clip your seam allowances on some blocks? 

I have been working on my liberated star blocks for my Gwennie Inspired Medallion QAL quilt.  I am loving the modern/vintage feel of these blocks.

These are always a lot of fun and ADDICTIVE!!  Can you tell??  It's half way through the month and I have 24 done already.... and I usually do not get to my sewing machine at night during the week. :-)

I picked up this technique from a Jo Morton book awhile ago.  She calls it the Clipping Trick.  You clip through both layers of the seam allowance up to the seam line on each side of the seam intersection.  This will allow you to press the seam in the direction it would like to go and reduces the layers.   The intersections get pressed open to reduce bulk.

You don't end up with that lump at the intersections and your block lays nice and flat.

 

I use this all the time, but particularly on star blocks.  Try it the next time if you don't do this already!

So in order to finish this next round, I need to decide what to put the corners.  I have tried a couple options, but no winner yet. (You know how this goes.. lots of trial and error)  However, I am determined this month for this design to not take on a life of its own! LOL

As always, I am open to your wonderful, creative suggestions!  For now I will take a look through my Liberated Quiltmaking book and see if there are any ideas in there.  I am sure there are!

Happy Stitching!

Deb

An Unplanned UFO Project

On Sunday, while I was searching for some pieces I had made for another UFO, I came across these 6 Oak & Reel blocks.  I started these in 2012.  I know that because I had made copies of the article/pattern from the American Patchwork & Quilting April 2012 issue.

As I looked at this neatly packaged project with background squares, templates, and pattern, I still loved the Jo Morton pattern and the Jo Morton fabrics I had chosen, but I also I realized I was never going to make the additional 24 blocks needed to complete this quilt. 

So while I may have outgrown this project, I didn't want to just ignore these beautiful needle-turned orphan blocks and put them back on the UFO pile.

I decided on a simple setting with plain blocks in between the Reel blocks (much like the original quilt) and a Jo Morton stripe (which I had actually bought for the border of the full quilt) on each end.  I was excited by my use of these now orphan blocks in a new runner that will eventually grace my kitchen island.  I enthusiastically basted my new runner together.

I started hand quilting the Reel blocks.  It has been a long time since I quilted something that was not big stitch quilted with perle cotton.  I dug out my hand quilting thread and my good quilting thimble and got to work.

Soon I had another decision to make.  What should I quilt in the plain blocks?  I searched my quilting stencils (buried at the bottom of a drawer) and came up with two options.

I decided on the star pattern and I am enjoying the hand quilting on these... even if my arthritic hands are not so happy!

My assistant of course had to add her two cents worth of fur!

 

Hopefully I can show you another finish very soon.

(By the way, I never did find those pieces I was originally looking for! LOL)

 

Happy Stitching,

 

Deb