I've been working intermittently on my Modified Betwixt quilt. It is probably the most challenging quilt I've undertaken. The challenge has to do with the meticulous cutting and piecing necessary to make a 9" nine patch. Small, precise pieces.. I have to get my bent precision tweezers out to lay the pieces together. (I am also glue basting to ensure no shifting--small blocks = no room for error). It's just alot of !#$%$%#&^ 1.5" HST's (128) and flanking triangles (256) and large triangles (128) in 4 of the 5 blocks that comprise Block 1. The middle block is a 9 patch (1.5" each), and the remaining 4 squares are blissfully 3.5" squares. My Stripology ruler zipped through that in no time.
The PFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTT! (credit Bill the Cat) is earned as I was sewing the flanking triangles to a batch of HST's I turned the piece incorrectly on the second flank and ended up with a disaster. Luckily it is not a huge number of mistakes, but the seam ripper came out. Unsewing...I've not done it in a long time. I should have looked at my reference block again and double checked the angle of the triangle to ensure that I got a smooth HST when joined and not something that looked like it was run over by a car...all crooked and pointed the wrong direction.
My Havel scythe seam ripper works beautifully. And...they are @#%#$^ small blocks. So I only had to cut 4 threads and then I could pull it out cleanly on the other size with my precision tweezers.
I did a little fabric shopping at Hancock's. They had the beautiful Willow Line of fabric Windham on Sale. Well, I was able to obtain all of the fabric that the original Betwixt pattern called for except for 2. I made acceptable substitutions. I frequently troll looking for bargains.
I purchased. 2 fat quarter bundles of Marcus Fabrics, Las Flores. Twelve fat quarters for $20 was a very good deal. Additionally, I bought 36 yards of fabric for an average price of $4.62 per yard. That's a good bargain! The fabric was already discounted at 50% off and I had another 15% coupon.
So no more fabric purchases for the balance of the year. I'm going to work through what I have and complete my quilt tops (binding/backing/quilting) so I don't have a ton of UFO's.
I never buy fabric that is specified in a pattern (and I rarely make patterns), but the Betwixt pattern is so beautiful and the fabric is so sumptuous, I was glad to have stumbled upon it.
I will need to treat the 63 blocks in this quilt as a marathon v. a sprint. The nice thing about working with fabrics that you love is that they are a joy to work with--even if you are unsewing.
It is physically demanding to cut, trim press this magnitude of blocks. Nevertheless, I'm confident that I have efficient processes --and I need to refresh my reference when sewing the @#%$#^% flanking triangles.
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