Saturday, January 12, 2013

Saturday Sewing!....Some Catching Up to Do


Well,  I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted on my blog.  That's what working on a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt can do for you.  I'll avoid filling you in on all the drama in between, and just give you a peek at where I am so far.

I kept up very well with all the weekly "assignments", so when we got to the last two clues, it was easy to start piecing blocks and setting blocks together.  I've been working slowly, but am happy to report that the time I took to trim and press has paid off.  The blocks are going together pretty well.




I've got a little over one-third of this pieced now.  I'm just being a bit of a tortoise on this one.  It may be called "Easy Street" but at over 2,000 pieces, I figure I can just take my time.

I did get a chance to haul out my batiks a week or so ago.  On my shopping trip with Nancy in December, I had a moment of weakness and bought some gorgeous Island Batiks in pastels.  I found a nice Weeks Ringle pattern in the Modern Quilts magazine, "Stacked", which lent itself wonderfully to these pieces:


Weeks recommends pressing seams open, which is not something I usually do.  The first row kept giving me fits.  If I pressed with my regular iron, it kept catching on the adjacent seams and twisting them.  I used my little Clover iron, but it just doesn't always generate enough heat to give a firm line.  Then I grabbed my "presser ham".  I bought one of these about a year ago, to help me shape corners and curves in purses and bags.  It worked beautifully:


The seam to be pressed stays in the center of the "ham", and the adjacent seams fall away to the side.  Here's what a pressed row looks like:


The next three rows were easy to press pretty quickly.  Just a hint you might want to try.

Well, I've got a few more things "in the loop" but haven't gotten any photos yet.  It feels good to get "back on track" with my sewing after the hoopla of Christmas and a bit of a cold I had this week.  Have a great weekend....time to go watch a little football!

Kathy

2 comments:

regan said...

Your Easy Street is looking really good! And I really like that 'Stacked' quilt, too! Awesome!

Farm Girl in MD said...

That first one is really beautiful!