At QuiltCon in February, I picked up a 1-yard cut of a cute ivory/multi star print. Low volume but with a lot of color variety.
Last week I was in the mood for a little mindless sewing. Nothing complicated, just something that could use the star print and solid colors to go with it, small, for a baby quilt.
While searching in a drawer for something else, I found an old windmill template I had made years ago. Ah-ha, perfect! I drew the quilt design up in EQ to make sure I had enough yardage, liked the result, and started cutting.
And that's where the brain work did not kick in when needed. I had forgotten that asymmetrical pieces need to be cut with the fabric all face up, not with the fabric folded together as it comes off the bolt. Not a problem when using solid fabrics, so my seven colors, cut with the fabric folded, turned out okay.
But definitely a problem when I cut the print with the fabric folded. Half of the cut pieces faced the wrong direction - wrong side up when facing the right direction - and were not usable. Yikes!
Plan B, find some more prints in my stash that I could use for alternate blocks with the star print and the solids. Back to EQ to design where to place them. With a final plan I could recut the pieces needed and kit up the blocks.
With different background prints in some of the windmill quadrants, I had to follow the printout carefully, to sew up the right quantities of the correct combos. So much for "mindless sewing." Then I had to lay them out exactly as planned, no possibility of moving colors around because the backgrounds wouldn't match.
Now, instead of having the star print for all of the background, there are three prints: the stars, a pale yellow batik and a light cream/multi that has yellow, blue, and orange in it.
It's a baby quilt for donation. It's fine, even though it's not quite as originally intended. Maybe it's more interesting because of the varied background prints?
Next time I'm in the mood for mindless sewing, I think I'll stick to strips or squares.
PS - Those wrong-side-up cut pieces of the star print are just large enough to eke out a 2-1/2" square, so I'll find another use for them. The cute fabric won't go to waste.
Link up: Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
I made a Pinwheel quilt from red and white half-square triangles, using the same white shirting print and different reds in each Pinwheel block. I accidentally had some Pinwheels spinning in the opposite direction from most of them. i didn't notice any of those as I put the top together, but saw one after it was quilted. Then I found a few more. Overall, the different ones did not detract at all, and actually made the quilt a bit more interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo, the lesson here is - don't discount the oddballs - they're interesting!
We could say the same for people....
Oh, I can sooooo relate! I’d be tempted to cut more solids to pair with the wrong way up stars and design something…..maybe a row quilt? In any case, they won’t go to waste if they are cut to 2 1/2” squares.
ReplyDeleteI never get tired of pinwheel quilts for kids. Such a fun block.
ReplyDeleteYour quilt turned out so cute. That is definitely not mindless sewing in my book!☺️
ReplyDelete