A few weeks ago Bonnie released the colors for this year's mystery quilt. I LOVE these colors.
I shopped hard for theses fabrics. It was not easy to find fabrics I like. I was looking for smallish prints. I saw many prints that were quite large and I personally don't like to use them in a quilt with a lot of small pieces. I will probably have to go back and buy more of the prints I bought on my first circuit of shopping, but I can't remember which store some of these fabrics came from.
This was also the first time I had some fabric in my stash that I could use. Yippee! I have progressed towards being a bona fide quilter.
The first clue requires us to make some nine-patches. They turned out to be harder than I expected. I carefully followed Bonnie's very detailed, very clear cutting instructions, and I think I did a good job. I sewed strips together to make strips of three. But by the time I started sewing the strips-of-three together, I was beginning to have problems. They didn't match up at the edges and sometimes the center corners were off.
I ripped out a LOT of seams. I began to realize that I needed to press as carefully as I was cutting, and I needed to pin very carefully, too. These pieces are so small that the alignment can be thrown out of whack very easily.
Finally:
I made yesterday a Sewing Day and invited some friends over. I love having someone to discuss the intricacies of various quilting projects with. The sharing, the exchange of ideas, the feedback - it's a wonderful way to sew. It's also more fun and interesting to experiment when others are around.
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| Susan tested fabric samples to see if they would bleed. Once burned, twice shy. |
Lessons learned:
- Press seams very carefully to flatten out the fold. It can make a big difference.
- Pin carefully to make sure nested seams are aligned.
- Sewing with friends is great fun.
