slow un-stitching Sunday

After the frustration and tears of Saturday, I took it a bit slower on Sunday. I kept being reminded of a saying my mother had when I was a child, “more haste, less speed”. I didn’t understand it then and, half a century later, I still don’t really understand it. I gather she wanted us to move quickly but…

Cambridge Dictionaries Online explains:

said to mean that if you try to do things too quickly, it will take you longer in the end

Apparently it’s a uniquely British saying, which makes sense since my mother was born and raised in Kentish Town, north London!

Anyway, I digress. Back to the quilt I showed you in yesterday’s post. The eagle-eyed among you would have noticed that the blocks should have alternated horizontally and vertically but the column I had just attached was identical to the one beside it!

Of course, the first step to fixing it was to rip out two 66” inch seams. That was slow going because real ripping (in which I just use the seam ripper to tear at the stitches) results in seams coming undone that I want to stay sewn. Even so, I had to sew a few seams back together before proceeding. I was tempted not to but I knew I would regret it.

The pictures show 66” of ripped out sashing and the offending blocks removed from the top.

Then came some pressing with my new Semco cordless iron (WM reckons I bought it because it’s purple but I’ve wanted a cordless iron for years. And this was really inexpensive. I will talk more about it in a later post).

And lots of pinning (yes, I’ve learnt that lesson).

And moderately slow stitching.

All of which resulted in a finished top which is now basted and is in the process of being quilted on my normal machine. {Yes, I know I have a quilting frame but the garage is still hot! Despite the fact that it’s autumn, the temperature is forecast to be over 32°C (90°F) every day this week! And the humidity… phew!}

I do my basting in class as much as possible. There is a big table which I can use which saves me crawling around on my hands and knees and ensures that the backing and top are pulled tight enough (I always have a problems with one or the other if I attempt to baste either on the floor or on my quilting frame). But the best part is my teacher and the store owner, sometimes even my class mates, jump in and help which gets the job done in record time and makes it much more fun!

Now the race is on – will I get it finished in time for a big reveal for Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday (which I am hosting this week)? Or will I have something else to show? Is it possible that I will host and not have a finish?
Y’ all come back then to see!

one of those days

You know the kind I mean.

Where you seem to take two steps forward and one step back.

Where more ripping takes place than progress.

I started out with these:

When I first started at Caring Hearts Community Quilters, no-ne told me what size to make the quilts, just “single bed toppers”. I didn’t know what that meant but then I remember that the wraps I knit were also single bed toppers and they are 40” x 70” (28 ten-inch square in a 4 columns, 7 rows configuration).

And so I pieced this quilt top in the same way. It came out 44” x 77”. I pieced the backing to be two inches larger all round – 48” x 81”. 
There it stopped. I never got around to quilting it.

A few months passed and I found out that the quilt size required was approximately 54” x 64”.

Clearly this quilt was too narrow and too long. I have known that for several months but have only just got to this UFO.

It should have been no problem. Remove the bottom row. Make two more squares. Cut some more sashing. Put it back together.

Cut the back down and find a way to make it wider. Ah yes, ten inches wider. Three sashings at 2” each plus a four inch panel of the main fabric – just as well I still had some of the fabric in my stash.
~~~~~~
I decided to work on the backing first – it’s more straight forward. First cut it down to 70”. Then unpick two 70” seams to remove the pieced panel.

Cut 2.5” strips WOF (width of fabric). Join the strips to make sashing 70” long. Sew the first sashing to the pieced panel. Oops! Should have used pins – unpick the whole lot! Re-sew.

Pin the second sashing to the other side of the pieced panel and sew. Good job. Uh-oh! What’s this? The sashing has been sewn on upside-down so that the joins are facing the outside. Unpick 70” of stitching. Re-sew.

Iron and cut two four inch strips from the main fabric. Join to make a panel. Sew sashing to panel. Perhaps I should have used pins? Err. I think I’ll get away with it!

Join two narrow panels to each other. Sloppy! Should have used pins! Rip. Re-sew!

Sew the narrower of the two side pieces to the stitched panel. Haven’t you learnt yet? Use pins! Rip. Pin. Re-sew! Pin last piece of backing to the panel piece, sew!

Backing finished – go and have a late lunch and read for a couple of hours!
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Ah, feeling better. Time to face the quilt top.

Rip the bottom row. Assess the situation. Find some appropriate scraps. Fortunately I have some strips of three of the fabrics that are used in other blocks. Measure the original blocks. Cut strips. Iron. Cut more strips. Sew strips in pairs. Join pairs (Look, mum, no pins!). Continue until blocks are made. Press, measure for size. Oops, too small.

Find another strip for each block. Rip one seam in each block. Add new strip. Press. Trim to size.

Cut 2” strips WOF to make sashing. Cut two 9” strips. Pin. Sew to blocks. Measure. Cut two 11” strips. Pin. Sew to blocks. Attach one block to the top and one block to the bottom of the four blocks that had previously been removed from the quilt top (because they have been made from the almost the same fabrics and need to be separated). Join sashing strips. Pin to side of blocks. Sew. Press.

Make another sashing strip. Add to other side using pins. Sew. Press.

Collect rest of quilt top from the family room. Look at it. Shake head. Look again! Realise the last sashing added wasn’t needed. Rip off newly sewn sashing.

Pin completed block column to rest of quilt top. Sew the last seam (finally). Begin pressing! What’s this ?!*^~*?

Can you see the problem here? Look closely at the top two block on the right and the two below them.

Leave it in tears. Go back to book!

update and sewing "progress"

Thank you to all who sent good wishes for my recovery from sinusitis. I'm now on my second course of antibiotics and am feeling much better than I was but am still a little "stuffy".

Today I tried to do a little sewing for the first time in three weeks. Perhaps I shouldn't have tried to piece this block.

I cut the pieces as accurately as I could. I sewed and ripped and sewed and ripped and sewed and ripped and pinned and sewed and ripped... well, you know what I'm saying.

I couldn't sew a straight seam. Not even for two and half inches. Everything was slipping and sliding all over the place (Yes, it's quilting cotton). The square in the centre of the block was not square (although it was cut perfectly square). It had curved edges and a corner that was definitely not square. The white strips were more curved than straight.

I think part of the problem was not knowing which way to press the seams to prepare properly for the next step. I know I should press towards the dark fabrics, but my seams didn't want to lie that way.

Even when I tried to square the block with a rotary cutter, it looked more like a kindergarten child had attacked it with a pair of scissors. I gave up in the end and really felt like giving up sewing for good!

Fortunately, I have enough fabric left to cut some more pieces and try again!

I couldn't even get any decent photos for you! Taken with a flash at night, they were still out of focus! What's wrong with me?

Do you ever have days like that?