Something Blue
And a little bit green as well. (Not sure why I've got that old wedding rhyme going, it just somehow seemed appropriate to the last couple of days worth of posts).
I didn't start out Saturday morning planning to having anything to do with fabric or sewing machines. But then I asked Mom to help me hem up the edge of one of my cross stitch pieces, which led to a sewing machine moment, which led to the discovery of my mom's travelling sewing machine, Romeo. Since it was Mother's Day weekend, how could I turn down a trip to the quilting store? Where I found this:
And it seemed to go well with a square that I found in that Puzzle Quilts
Mom gave me a basic lesson in the care and feeding and use of sewing machines so that I could take Romeo home and put my sqauare together. Always iron your fabric. Wash it if you're going to wash whatever you're going to sew later. The foot always needs to be down when you start to sew, and the needle needs to be up when you get to the end of what you're sewing. Start sewing a little bit in from the edge. And I did some simple practice stitching. But, since I have something of a fear of sewing machines (they move fast and are not as reversible as ripping out a knitting project) I decided that I needed to get some more practice before I started connecting fabric that I really liked. So I also got myself a little muslin and cut out some test squares and triangles to start piecing together.
Tonight Romeo and I did some bonding over that muslin. I guess it's going to take a little while before we are true partners in this experiment. But it's a beginning. And I've given myself permission not to get too upset about making mistakes, since sometimes mistakes are the best way to learn something new.
Is your mom thrilled that you're spending time with Romeo? I really like the values in the orange-green/blue layout. What will you do for the border? Have you gotten batting yet? I've been using a needle-punched 80/20 cotton-poly lately that is very easy to handle, thin and light, but warm. Can't wait to see what you do next!
Wow those fabrics look so beautiful together.
Sewing can be an adventure. I used to ive in your neck of the woods, and made garb to wear to the Bristol Ren Faire when we were up there. Typical "wench" garb. I somehow managed to put one sleeve where the neck was. I can laugh at it now, but I was cussing a blue streak at the time! I still wear that blouse on occasion, too....
Bias edges?! That's something that 'beginners' aren't supposed to start out with. Bias edges stretch like crazy. Handle gently, or find some fusable interfacing to help keep them from rippling.
the cheating way would be to fuse them all down to an interfacing, and fold, sew, clip, fold, sew. :D
fold along the 'seam lines'.
sew 1/4" seam along the edge of the fold.
clip at the intersections.
fold the other way.
sew your seam again.
But that's cheating, I'm sure. ;)
Your mom probably already told you this, but try a little spray starch on the fabric to stiffen them up a bit and make them easier to work with. Just like that Niagra stuff or whatever. When you wash the fabric, all that nice starch that is in them from the manufacturer gets washed out and they get all floppy!
ooh, also, gain some confidence and it'll go faster. you can feed all those squares through the machine two by two, right after the other. its so fun..saves motions from cutting threads between each set, etc...speaking of quilts, starting one this week for myself. actually, i'm going to go e-mail you the link to some pics of quilts i have made.
Good luck!! Where did you get that butterfly material? My friend has a thing for butterflies & she quilts....she would love that.