Last night, although exhausted from my day, I turned on my sewing machine. I had too! I was going nuts. It's a battle for me at times, do I sew or do I read up on my wonderful friends on blog land? It's not always obvious! I think of you as dear friends and the last thing I want is to ignore you. I compromised, a little sewing, a little blog reading! lol
This is the results of last night's attempt. Notice, it's ironed and ready for me to tackle the other side! lolThis is the lattice for the Pine Grove quilt and it forms a star in each corners. This entails sewing 2 inch squares to each end. Luckily, the squares were all cut last week.
Gosh, how much more inviting it is to quilt when the cutting has been taken care of!
A tool that I enjoy using for this type of piecing is the Angler 2. It provide a guiding line for diagonal sewing.Since I'm sewing in the middle, it allows me to keep my block corners in line with the center. I have learned that I need to sew just a hair over the points for a perfect diagonally sewn line. Of course, this is dependent on the size of thread you use. I always do a test run!
I've also used this tool to make half square triangles. The beauty of it is that there are no lines to draw and no paper to rip. It's multifunctional! It's great for those learning to sew, as it provides a 1/4 inch guiding line.
This is how the block will look with the lattice.This quilt is made strictly with fabric from my stash. This is my small attempt at reducing my stash. A few trees were made using scraps. As you can see, some of the fabric is quite old.
It is my hope that I will be able to finish the lattice and sew the blocks together today. The only cutting left to do are the side triangles, as the blocks are assembled in diagonal rows.
Some news on Louise, Kassandra the teen that relieved me yesterday afternoon, came by around 7:30 p.m. and informed me that Louise still had not given birth. That would mean over eight (8) hours of labour. Kassandra was spending the night at their house to take care of the little ones. This morning I saw Derick's car in the driveway, which hopefully means that all is well.
Thank you so much for stopping by and for your friendship.
Have a great day everyone!
15 comments:
I am very glad you showed the Angler 2 in action. I bought one of those quite awhile ago, and couldn't figure out how to use it, I'm embarrassed to say! Your photo shows me the way - thank you!
Love the way the block looks - I can't wait to see more!
hey-missed you totally yesterday--glad to see you're making "me" time. (oh and by the way--we don't spell using all those extra "u" south of the border!!)-that's my zing for the week--
I am with Nan. I bought one of those to many years ago, I don't even remember, but could not for the life of figure it out. I will have to find it and give it a try. Thanks for showing that. The quilt looks like fun. I will await the finished top.
Oh, I'm glad you showed your Angler - I absolutely love mine! In fact I own two - one for my machine in my sewing room and for my machine that goes traveling and retreating with me.
And, you're sewing, you're sewing! I under the 'what to do' challenge (sew, read, handstitch, blog - hmmm) LOL
I'm just like you, Carole, with the choice between reading up on my friends' lives or quilting--and I usually compromise and do a bit of both. About the Angler, I think I have one here somewhere, but you know what I do? I just have a piece of masking tape on my acrylic table that shows where to line up and sew. It works just great!
It sounds and looks like a great quilt: scrappy and stash reducing!
Sewing or reading blogs... I have to sew to show something on my blog and I have to read blogs to get inspired! I would say a viscious circle. Take care.
Good compromise Carole. Your quilt looks like it will be lovely.
Carole:
Happened up on your blog today and had to comment on the angler! I have two of them and use them whenever I have a lot of diagonals to sew such as those sashings you're doing or triangle squares. It takes a few minutes to set up on the machine, so I only do it when I have a lot of them. I love mine! Looking forward to seeing the quilt top put together!
Jacqui in Canada
Glad you were able to find some time to both read blogs and sew a bit. A well balanced day. I never got my Angler out of the package. Maybe I'll give it a try now, too. (If I can find it)
What great trees. I could have a whole quilt with just those trees.
Looking good!
I'm an Angler fan too!
Okay - I need to know more about this Angler. I have been making some quilts using that method to make corner squares and I have been making a pencil line to sew. Where do I get one of these?
At one of my "Quilting by the Bay" retreats we all got a demonstration on the Angler. It does look pretty handy to have. Good to use with making half square triangles out of charm packs.
Hopefully the baby has come by now!!
Love those trees *s*
Sometimes it's a bit of a juggling act to get sewing and blogging time in, I try and do a little of both. Your trees are looking wonderful, great you are using up that stash.
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