I played more with Applique. It started off rough but as I was putting the last pieces on I noticed my stitches getting more accurate. I didn't use a coordinating thread. I wanted to see my mistakes and see my successes. I'm really happy - it's not perfect but with each piece I'm learning and improving. At first I found it a bit fussy and my burnt finger tip which really brings home the fact why a mini iron is worth buying but once I got going & the hang of it I started to enjoy the process. I can't believe how fast time flies when you are having fun!
One thing I discovered - I don't like my work area messy! Closetmaid has shipped the hardware I need to build my 9 cube organizer (excellent customer service - fast and friendly) I can't wait to organize my fabric. Next weekend I'll need to plan for a quick stop at the dollar store for cheap plastic containers to store cut fabric.
Friday night, instead of sewing I started reading through the weeks blogs & I saw a lot of octagon quilts. Looks interesting so I googled and googled looking at different techniques and saw one tutorial where you make half's for easier sewing an no need for English paper piecing. So armed with my rotary cutter I started cutting right down the rabbit hole. The tutorial I was looking at was to cut half hexies not the octagons I originally wanted.
What to do, what to do? I started playing around moving the pieces and ended up doing my first inset 'y' seam. Turned out not bad so I made another with my already pre-cut fabric and joined them. From there I decided to try to make one using a square instead of triangles. Then made a few more to make sure I got it and to work on the technique. These are all concepts I'll need to use to join octagon's so while this wasn't what I what I intended, I was still moving forward. They turned out not bad, so I decided to make a block out of them. Fabric choices are a bit funky, I used the colors that weren't my favorite because it was never intended as a block but as test.
I signed up and got a free octagon pattern from craftsy.com and played around with that. After joining a short to a long angle I decided to set it aside & go back to basics. I think this pattern like the Grandmothers garden, would be best hand stitched (or the way I was piecing it anyway). Something to think about. I decided to give myself a quick sense of accomplishment and begun cutting for a basic 9 patch. I found there wasn't enough contrast in the colors I originally picked so I set some of the squares aside and filled in the gaps..I really like the look of this block. I worked really hard to get the seams to line up properly on the first try and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.
I still haven't tried the embroidery on my machine. I know to get the full effect of any design I need to get more bobbins and more different colored thread.
Last night I started a larger project of an Irish chain. It's going well. I'm thinking this may end up as a pillowcase.
Tip found in blogging today: When you aren't sure what quilt design to use, print out pictures of your quilt top and doodle on the picture to get an idea how it will look.
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