A Crafty-Ful Day

Well, as I had hoped I've been able to spend most of the day sewing. And it has been so much fun.

I finished all the blocks for my Mod Mosaic Quilt. There are only six but thats okay. I wanted to make a smaller quilt this time. I'm trying to decide what color to set the blocks into, my options are grey or purple. I'm leaning towards purple. I know a lot of modern quilters like to set their blocks on a grey background but somehow I just can't get into the vibe.

 The colors just seem to pop so much better on purple.

I also tackled my Cubes & Illusions quilt. This was a little tricky, figuring out how to set the blocks without having to make y-seams (which I'm horrible at). First I choose a background and layout...

 And then very carefully cut 60 degree triangles and half-hexagons, assembling block on the diagonal until they all fit together. Yay for straight seams! I thought about making the background striped and then appliqueing the blocks onto it but I really wanted the blocks to fade into the background and the stitching around the applique would have prevented the illusion.

And Voila, my finished wall hanging quilt top....

Last but not least, I selected the fabrics for Nana's Quilt.

Oh hey.. the day is only half over. I've still got six hours before I have to go to bed for work tomorrow!

Cubes and Illusions I

I've been playing around more with my 3D cubes. I made the second set of triangles which you can see at the top of some of the cubes.

I have enough matching pieces to make five hexagon blocks but I'm relearning an important lesson: match the seams, not the edges of your blocks!

The jury seems to be out on "proper" pressing techniques. Use steam, don't use steam, use starch, use fabric sizing, finger press, blah blah blah. Here is what seems to be working well for me.

1. Set the iron to low steam. Set the seam by pressing lightly on the closed seam with the iron.

2. Open the seem and press lightly along the entire seam, moving the iron up from the bottom across the seam.

3. Spray lightly with starch and press again.

If the seam presses funny, fold back and reset by pressing the closed seam. Keep pressure light and don't drag the iron, as that can warp the fabric.