Dogwood Crossing - July 2015 BOM

The "kit" for this month's block contains the usual pieces of fabric and instructions.

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Finally, we are back to some yellow and a lighter green.

The cutting this month was tricky. It was not a simple case of following the template. Some of the pieces called for two template cuts and one of the pieces had you using only a portion of the template.  Maybe that's why I couldn't get the pieces to line up properly.

Not a happy camper about this

If you look very closely at the photo above you will see that the cream colored background is not solid. It is a watercolor print with yellow accents, but the color gradations are so subtle that it's very hard to see. Why bother?

 I was able to force all of the other seams to line up, and by ripping out and resewing some of the seams, I was able to get the points to come out nicely.

Again, the problem with the directional print appears. I have learned from this.  :(

Lesson learned:

Lay it out before sewing. If I had done so, I would have then done a better job matching the green triangles to the green rhombuses, especially at the North and East positions on the ends of the green cross. This is not a place where you want contrast.
 

Pish Pash

I finished it! The "Pashmina" table runner.

SLM thinks this is why it's called Pashmina

I still have to learn what setting to use on the camera to make my photos of quilting come out well. I had some issues with focus, lighting, and color.

I had to take the closeup photos in three sections:

I used wavy lines for the free-motion quilting. It turned out pretty well. I think my control got better as I went along. Practice, practice, practice. Ideally, I would do all of the quilting in one sitting to maintain consistency, but my arms would probably fall off if I tried to do this - especially on a larger project.

I decided to use the backing fabric for the binding. I thought it would look good.

Backing with matching binding

I'm not thrilled with the way the binding turned out on the front. I didn't realize it would come out looking like the stripes on a barber pole once it had been trimmed and folded into a narrow strip. It does look nice on the back, though.

I tried something new (for me) with the binding. Instead of machine-sewing it onto the front, folding it over, and then hand-sewing it down on the back, I wanted to spare myself the tedious hand-sewing. I machine-stitched the binding onto the back of the project, folded it over, and then machine-stitched it down on the front, very close to the folded edge. That was SO MUCH easier.

I wasn't sure how it was going to look on the back. I don't think it looks that bad. In some places you can't even see the top-stitching. In other places you can see it, but it's on the back, so I can live with it.  

You can see the top-stitching a little bit

If I had matched the thread color better, this might have been less noticeable. As it happened, I just decided to use a color I had on hand. It was close, but somewhat darker than the fabric.
 
Lessons learned:

1. Measure twice, cut once.
2. Relax.
3. Give yourself a realistic but not too distant deadline.
4. A solid color might be best for your binding. Test a print by folding it into a narrow strip.
5. Don't be lazy when it comes to thread color.

Simply Elegant Table Runner

Simply Elegant Table Runner. That's the name on the pattern. I actually don't think it's an accurate description of this project. It IS simple, and it IS a table runner, but it doesn't strike me as elegant. I might have called it No-Nonsense Table Runner or Stripped Down Table Runner or maybe Hopscotch Table Runner.

I am using a kit from Timeless Treasures (Tonga Treats line). It came with the fabric and the pattern. The color run I am using (see photo below) is called "Pashmina." 

Pashmina paint

I definitely would not have named this color run Pashmina. "Pashmina" is a "fine quality material made from goat's wool." And - I'll bet you didn't know this - Benjamin Moore has a paint color called Pashmina. I would have called the batik color run Bali Garden or something along those lines.


I started it earlier this year, and then it got put aside while I traveled a bit. Last week I made a commitment to finish it before August 13. 

Yesterday I made the quilt "sandwich" using spray baste and Insul-Bright batting. This is an insulated batting that is perfect for table runners. 

Uh oh! Something went wrong and I didn't have a long enough piece of Insul-Bright. I decided to overlap two pieces and sew them together with a zig-zag stitch. This worked out well, and I don't think it will affect the appearance.
Today I started doing the actual quilting. This is the hardest part for me. 

I am doing free-motion quilting. I am hoping that with practice I will get to the point where I can maintain even stitch length and smooth lines. I'm not there yet. I do hope that Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-Hour Rule doesn't apply to free-motion quilting. I don't know if I would have the perseverance for that.

It is quite a bit easier with my new sewing machine because it has a speed control, but I'm still trying to figure out the optimal speed. I had it set too slow, and my stitches were all over the place. I set it a little faster and that seemed to help.

Today I did half of the quilting and then realized that my left wrist was almost broken and my left arm was falling off. Did somebody say Advil? I guess I was too tense. I will have to wait a couple of days before I can continue.