Friends with Sewing Machines

What better way to spend a snowy holiday Sunday than sewing with friends? I have a new project and I needed a little push to get started so it was the perfect time for a Sewing Day.

I am making a wall hanging as a gift for some friends. It's sort of a surprise so I'm not going to say too much about it yet. It is based on a printed panel I bought. The panel came without any pattern or suggestion or idea for what to do with it. I spent some time surfing the internet and I was able to come up with a plan.

The panel has a nautical theme, and I found that there is a traditional quilt block called "Storm at Sea." I am going to place three Storm at Sea blocks underneath the panel and then put coordinating sashing around the panel and between and around the blocks. My inspiration came from this wall hanging I found on Pinterest. I knew right away it would be perfect. I don't know who made it.

Fortunately, Susan M agreed to meet me at the fabric store to help me pick out fabric. Actually, she insisted on being there. I'm glad she came because it was so helpful to have her input. She has such a good eye for color. She also helped me figure out how to make the panel and the blocks plus sashing fit together. You will see what we came up with in a future post.

Here are the fabrics I came home with

I made an inner border around the mystery panel, and then I started sewing the sashing pieces. They are actually rather difficult to cut and to sew.

Some of the sashing pieces in bad lighting. 

As I write this blog I am taking a good look at the sashing photo and the realization is dawning on me that I have probably pressed the sashing the wrong way. I don't think I can simply press them the other way because some of the seams overlap. I will have to see how it looks next to the batting. 

This is what happens when you are talking to your friends while sewing and working without a pattern or directions. :(

It wasn't all bad.

Susan M fixed a jacket. She shortened the sleeves and embellished it with molas!

 

Marilyn started a purse. She had some gorgeous Laurel Burch fabric.

Rebecca made a couple of blankets.

Sophia made progress on an adorable Elizabeth Hartmann quilt.

Susan DL experimented with knitting a kippah. Not a smashing success, but wouldn't it make a smashing tea cozy?

Now that I have started my project, I hope there will be enough momentum to keep me going without my support group.

On Ringo Lake, Part One - Wading In

I am so excited that Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt has started! I have looked forward to this for months. The mystery quilt is called On Ringo Lake and you can link to it here.

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.

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.