Blessedness is what can be snatched out of the passing day, and put away to think of afterwards.
~Ellis Peters in The Leper of St. Giles
Quilting
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| Some fabric choices |
Eventually I found two two-yard pieces of quietly printed cream fabrics in my stash {bottom left photo.} One includes a girl in a hat fishing. Now is the perfect time to use it.
This is improv so you won't be surprised to find I cut the fans down quite a bit. Why? At the larger size, only three background could be cut from WOF with lots of waste. That wasn't so bad {Scraps!} but I don't have enough fabric to create all the backgrounds. Decreasing the block size let me fit four across. Problem solved.
There's also a simple trick to pinning: don't pin the seam allowances. Pinning between or near them lets them move and allows the new seam to curve rather than jerk from point to point.
As usual, I cut the outer background with half-inch seam allowances on the two straight sides to give me some wiggle room when squaring the block. I find it doesn't help to make every template larger, just that final outer one.
With the fans sewn it was time to settle the sashing. Another long-held idea was to use the red-and-white stripe. When the wheels were arranged it was too much for all the sashing. So... either between the arcs or around the wheels but not both. A light grey-brown worked as the alternate sashing, contrasting with everything else but not screaming for attention. It's not the same fabric as my original background plan but it's in the same family. So my color idea wasn't completely whacky.
Next I had to pick a post and went with the lighter red on the right. Now I can sew the quarter-circle blocks into larger wheel blocks and contemplate a post for the stripe. {Those reds won't work.} These are not easy blocks for me nor have I seriously worked at low{er} volume before.
I started rereading the Cadfael chronicles, a successful 12th century mystery series by Ellis Peters which also adapted for television. In A Morbid Taste for Bones, Shrewsbury Abbey seeks to increase their prominence by acquiring the bones of a Welsh saint. When the leader of the local community objects, he is soon found murdered and Brother Cadfael must resolve the issues. It's even better than I remembered. This time I appreciated the descriptions of and the differences between the societal structures of the two countries as well as noticing the variations of religious practices, albeit both being Catholic. Of course, I devoured the maps of the region, city and Abbey.
Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate)
The 26 yards of isolation gown material did not come from my stash. {I sewed it but am not counting it in my rate.} Masks total 250. This month's total took 7 more yards while the pillowcases used 7.5 yds. April = 14.5 yards. YTD = 62.5 yards.
Enjoy the day, Ann
This is improv so you won't be surprised to find I cut the fans down quite a bit. Why? At the larger size, only three background could be cut from WOF with lots of waste. That wasn't so bad {Scraps!} but I don't have enough fabric to create all the backgrounds. Decreasing the block size let me fit four across. Problem solved.
 |
| Trimming the fans to a smaller template size |
There's also a simple trick to pinning: don't pin the seam allowances. Pinning between or near them lets them move and allows the new seam to curve rather than jerk from point to point.
 |
| Pin curves of the fan between seam allowances |
As usual, I cut the outer background with half-inch seam allowances on the two straight sides to give me some wiggle room when squaring the block. I find it doesn't help to make every template larger, just that final outer one.
 |
| Squaring a fan quilt block |
With the fans sewn it was time to settle the sashing. Another long-held idea was to use the red-and-white stripe. When the wheels were arranged it was too much for all the sashing. So... either between the arcs or around the wheels but not both. A light grey-brown worked as the alternate sashing, contrasting with everything else but not screaming for attention. It's not the same fabric as my original background plan but it's in the same family. So my color idea wasn't completely whacky.
 |
| Sashing layout choices |
Next I had to pick a post and went with the lighter red on the right. Now I can sew the quarter-circle blocks into larger wheel blocks and contemplate a post for the stripe. {Those reds won't work.} These are not easy blocks for me nor have I seriously worked at low{er} volume before.
 |
| Choosing between two reds for the post |
Reading
Monthly FUR (Fabric Use Rate)
The 26 yards of isolation gown material did not come from my stash. {I sewed it but am not counting it in my rate.} Masks total 250. This month's total took 7 more yards while the pillowcases used 7.5 yds. April = 14.5 yards. YTD = 62.5 yards.
Enjoy the day, Ann