I have been bitten by the quilting bug. I got nipped over 30 years ago but life got
in the way as it usually does and since I also love to Cross Stitch that one
won out for most of my life. I won’t
lie, Cross Stitch is my first love, but this quilting thing has bite me hard. I think part of it is because it is harder to
see what I’m stitching and watch TV at the same time. I can see close up but not far away. I love to sit and stitch and watch TV. With sewing I really don’t have that issue, I
can see to sew and my TV is pretty close too in the sewing room, it’s usually
on for noise though.
Anyway, this bug started almost 2 years ago when an
online friend posted a link to Bonnie Hunter’s http://quiltville.blogspot.com/
Mystery quilt for that year, which was Celtic Solstice. I loved the idea of working on it week by
week (how fast that didn’t happen is too funny for words). I learned a few things though but working on
it, and no it is nowhere near finished and may not be for a good while. I learned from this experience the importance
of 100% accuracy when cutting and sewing.
I learned the importance and scant quarter inch versus a regular quarter
inch. All my parts and make for this
quilt but they are make correctly as I discovered when I started putting them
together.
Fast forward to last Thanksgiving, a new mystery
came out Grand Illusions and I was ready for that one too J I took what I learned from CS and applied it
to GI and though I am not done yet I promise my parts are accurate and will go
together like they should.
When you do a Bonnie mystery she gives you the list
of colors she used around Halloween and the first clue comes out the day after
Thanksgiving, they are free in her shop until around sometime in June, then you
can buy them in a digital download here http://quiltville.com/shop.html#!/Digital-Downloads/c/13038426/offset=0&sort=normal
if she doesn’t plan on putting in into an upcoming book. You can get CS and GI there now. I have however saved all my clues on my
computer and a flash drive so I can actually get them done.
So the reason for this intro of sorts is to explain
the purpose of this post. Precision, you
have to be very accurate when cutting out your bits of fabric and you have to
be precise when sewing them together. I
have learned the hard way i.e. Celtic Solstice that it is important
to measure and cut right in order to sew it correctly and even that must be
done correctly.
I have my tools, my iron, a very good rotary cutter and mat,
a good ruler and very good scissors. I
also bought Bonnie Hunter's ruler for
making sure I have my scant quarter inch for sewing.
I put some of the flex tap on the back of all
my rulers so they don’t slide when I am using them. I also used the tape to make the quarter inch
on my sewing machine so my seams are all the same. So far it seems to be working well for me.
I am working on clue 4 of GI and will be
doing 5 next week then the real test will begin will they all line up correctly
but that is for another day
J
