Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Work In Progress Wednesday - Align Twice, Sew Once

Madhuri quilting fabric collection by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake
I decided to get brave on Block #2 of my Madhuri quilt and use a directional print in the block's "frame" and.....well.....it definitely involved more mental gymnastics than using solids.  The most important thing I learned from this block is to double check the "alignment" of your directional print before you sew any diagonals.  Just hold your fingers down where your plan on sewing, flip the fabric open using your fingers as a seam and make sure that your print is going in the right direction.  And yes.....I learned this the hard way.  I sewed all of the "frame" pieces for this block, CUT off the excess fabric from the diagonal seams and then realized I'd done them ALL wrong.  Yup.  Time to start over!  Oops!

Soooo....the moral of my story is NOT to scare you off from making this quilt.  Far from it.  It's a GORGEOUS quilt and I'm having so much fun making it.  I just want to let you know this isn't a quilt you can rush through.  You just need to slow down.....be methodical......carefully double check before you sew.  So instead of saying "measure twice, cut once" I'll just say "align twice, sew once." 

And if you look closely you'll see that most of the frame pieces aren't even attached to the center of the block yet!  This is kind of like a dress rehearsal to make sure I don't mess up again!

This week's stats:
Active WIPs:  UP TO 7! 
-Madhuri Quilt - almost done with 2 blocks 
-Little Lady - Haven't touched it in a week! 
-Going Coastal Granny Square Quilt - STILL ready to be sandwiched and pinned!
-Dollhouse Bakery - Oh how I miss "playing" with my dollhouses!
-Hooterville:  On the hand quilting phase....but haven't touched it in months
-Little White Dollhouse - STILL sitting next to my sewing machine.  

 -Vintage Valentine:  In a box....patiently waiting....
Must Make:  14
 
Back Burner WIPs:  4
Ready To Go: 12

New Projects:  None
Forgotten/Abandoned Projects:  None!


Happy Sewing,
Jenny

P.S.  The quilt pattern I'm using is called Camping In Style by This and That Designs.  The fabric is the Madhuri collection by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake Designs.


3 comments:

Shannon said...

Definitely worth the extra time it takes - the block is gorgeous!

ShirleyC said...

It turned out very nice! Directional prints sometimes drive me nuts when I'm sewing. However, I still find myself using them. :)

Anonymous said...

That's going to be so beautiful finished with the twisted frames surrounding the larger prints. I've never seen that Madhuri fabric before and LOVE those elephants.