Monday, February 25, 2019

BASTING and puckers and pleats, OH MY. Pineapple project will calm my soul!

Basting a quilt top is my least favorite job.  I dragged one table from the garage to the house, across the snow -- it's heavier than I remember.  My top and backing are pressed nicely, batting was in the dryer with a damp towel, all is ready for the job.  This time I decided to use basting spray AND pins.  I did everything else just the same as previous jobs but for some reason, by the time I reached the bottom of the quilt, my carefully measured backing is no longer long enough - uh oh, how can that be?? 

Well, when I thought I was finished but short, I took it off the table and turned it over, oh my gosh, not just a few puckers, but now I had pleats!  Careless, ??? not concentrating ????  Disaster!  The top and batting are all OK (flat), sooooo, gathering my patience, taking a deep breath,  I removed all the pins  from the front, laid the mess backing/puckered side up on the table and pulled off the well-stuck basting spray, a little at a time, starting at the top and slowly smooshing out the puckers.  A yardstick stuck between layers helped to unstick a few inches at a time - laborious! Then I found my long needle and thread and thimble, and hand basted it all over again.  No wonder my backing seemed short, I had INCHES of fabric puckered in the back.  LIVE AND LEARN.  Never again will I use both basting spray and pins.  It didn't help when my last thimble dropped to the floor and rolled somewhere under DH's Lazy Boy and found it's forever home wedged within the under structure of the chair.

Ok, basting is done by hand sewing and this was successful.  Here's the back - you see I had already spent a lot of effort making the backing.  Hey, that's 6 yards of stash!

I am hoping to try some ruler work on this Bonnie Hunter inspiration.  BTW, this top front was made from the same "gift of scraps" from my LQS.  There are 5 projects made from that box. 

And here is another project from that box of scraps.  8-)))   I may make an alternate block, ala Hugs and Kisses, Gyleen X. Fitzgerald.  16 regular pineapple blocks made today.  I added the white fabric. 

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

MORE, from the FREE box of Scraps


That is a LOT of PINK!  There are various "cutsie" strips a child will enjoy.  This is the 4th! project from the same box of scraps given to me from my LQS, and there are still a LOT left over.  This is about 40" x 40". 

BTW, I was planning on practicing "ruler work" , but it looked just terrible and I took it out, replacing the pitiful "ruler work" with large meandering!  IMHO, ruler work looks best on plain areas - it also looks best by people who know how to do it!  8-)))