All 63 blocks are done and up on the wall. I still have lots more work to do.
I was tinkering around with the Marcus Fabric's free quilt pattern, yellow sky. Like I did with the Modified Betwixt, I experimented with just light an dark blocks v a melange of fat quarters. This is what I came up with. You could do several combinations...such as red/white, black white and come up with an easy, attractive quilt.
I
All of my Ohio Stars are done. I also managed to make a whole bunch more hourglass units than required. Not sure what happened there. The production of this quilt is nothing short of a grind.
My inner Henry Ford has been busily making adjustments along the way. My best modification has been on my HST's (8 at a time), is to cut the bilateral sections only, trim closed using the trim measure on the triangle base seam line on both corners and then cut. As it is a larger piece, it is easier for me to trim--and there is more under the ruler so it is more stable. When you are working with 2" trimmed triangles, you can see how I was inspired.
I worked an insane amount of time over the weekend on this project...and still have far to go. I am reminded how folks in sweatshops had to work. Not that what I'm doing is a sweatshop...but I was very tired from all of the cutting and sewing.
I plan to try spray basting on my design wall. But I had to move my design wall (easy to do as it sits in an aluminum rail that keeps it stable at the bottom, and it just leans into the wall. I need more space to maneuver. I've never tried commercial spray basting as 505 seemed very expensive. But if I can get this tor work well, the convenience will more than make up the expense. I did buy some June Tailor spray which was much cheaper. HOwever, you cannot use this with polyester backing and expect it to wash out. Mine is 100% cotton, no worries. But I made a test with a test block to see how it will wash out...just to be sure.
I'll update.
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.
My first step in making the Modified Betwixt Quilt is to make the 9 patch center blocks for Block 1. I elected to go with just the gold and blue.
The importance of doing test blocks cannot be overstated. I opted to make my 9 patches using the strip piecing method. The strips are cut at 1.5" and then sewn in dark, light, dark strip set and light, dark, light strip sets. Here's where you need to test your 1/4" seam to determine how scant it needs to be with your choice of fabric and thread. I sewed my normal scant, and I ended up with a wee bit wide finish by about 1/8" of an inch. With 1" finished blocks inside your 9 patch, there's not so much fudging room. I was able to make it work.
When working with strip sets, it is very important to press well to (1) not have any folds in your fabric and (2) to press straight so that the strip set does not get wonky. I press and starch.
When I sewed my 9 patches, I spun the seams as you would in a 4 patch. (I'll include a pic later). See pic below. It helped make the block lie nice and flat.
Here's the fornt of the block. I just love these colors together!
I'm really loving my fabric choices. These are both fabrics that I bought at deep discount, and they go marvelously together. I am using Kona Snow as my background fabric. It is a creamy soft white--rather belies the name. You think of snow as being quite bright. It's worth it to get whites, grays and offwhites in several colorways so that you can keep swatches and know the tonal quality against your planned fabrics.
I pl
an to gift this quilt to my son.
