A busy day quilting, cutting, sewing and pressing

It was a busy day and I got lots done. I've quilted my Mom's African themed quilt. Now it goes back to her for binding with a facing and embellishing with beads. There's lots of movement in this one. I left some of the spaces in the sky unquilted to create some depth. This is also the case with the huts and the trees. They are all very dimensional!

I'll be sure to take pictures of her quilt when it is completed.

I've been working on the Hexagon and Blue Star quilt blocks. The pattern is in the book Feathering the Next. It is loaded with wonderful pictures of luscious quilts but the patterns are short on instructions. For me this isn't a problem but for an inexperienced quilter it could present a challenge so if you are considering purchasing this book and you are a beginner you may need some assistance from a more experiences sewer. That isn't to say that the pattern is complicated but simply that the instructions are very brief. For example I like patterns that provide pressing instructions but there are none in this book.

I've been sewing and pressing the blocks and they are almost all done. Here are a couple of pictures of some of the blocks up on the wall.

This design is a great way to showcase large prints and busy patterns. I am very happy with how it is looking!

I am pressing the seam allowances open so that they will be less bulky. A triangle is sewn to the upper left of a hexagon and the lower right. You can see a pink hexagon at the bottom of the picture and it has the blue triangles attached. The hexagon is now a large diamond and these large diamonds will be sewn into rows. It is all straight line sewing with no set in seams!

I wanted to stitch some blocks together to make sure that everything will come together nicely once all of the diamonds are made, pressed and lightly starched. I selected two hexagons with the triangles attached and seam allowances pressed open. The little dog ears were not trimmed because they will be important landmarks when I sew the blocks together.

I placed the blocks with their right sides together. In this picture you can see the dog ears.

I lined up the dog ears and pinned through the seam allowance just below the dog ears and then I place a pin on either side of the seam.

I stitched the blocks together and then pressed the seam allowances open. This is how the blocks look from the wrong side.

And here they are from the right side. Using the dog ears as land marks, lining them up and pinning well resulted in a perfect intersection!

To prove it is perfect here is a close-up! As an added bonus there isn't any bulk at that intersection which means the quilting will be MUCH easier when I get to it!

 

Tomorrow is another busy day so I don't know how much sewing I'll get done but I'm having great fun with the Hexagon and Blue Star quilt so I'll be itching to get at it again!

Until I post again, happy sewing!