Throughout the process of making a video, I test patterns and make a lot of sample blocks. So what happens with those lonely sample blocks?
I found these pink flying geese in my Declutter Challenge last month. I also had a stack of pink and black fat quarters that they came from. The problem - they are not my colours. If you look at my past quilts you can tell I like lots of bright colours, and darker fabrics that play well with them in the colour wheel. Monochromatic is not my style and I never ever use black. I just can feel all my energy dripping from me whenever I’m around a meter of black cotton. However, it became a personal challenge to make them into a quilt top. I had already picked a home for it and felt that if I focused on the raspberry pink fabrics, I could finish it. So I cut my fabric and set my timer for some 30 minute sessions
Good technique can help get you through a tough project. In 2020, I made a video on tips and tricks for making flying geese - which is where the first blocks came from. Using the 4-at-a-time method, the key for me is marking the larger square, not the smaller ones. A good ironing technique helps a lot too. And trimming with a masking tape hack (I used washi tape) to square up.
When I began to sew them together, another important tip I used was the high header from my straight sewing video. By folding a scrap into four layers, as my needle approaches the intersections of the top of the goose I tuck it under the presser foot to get over those multiple layers of fabric in a straight line.
Since I knew going in that the colours were going to work against me, I tried to keep to my 30 minute session but when I assembled the block I tried to cheat a bit... but I found after 60 minutes I was feeling so blah that I didn't try it again.
The flimsy was looking a bit smaller than I intended, so I added a border. The backing was a challenge though... until I remembered that I had this flannel I found during my Declutter Challenge as well. It wasn’t quite wide enough but I had enough scraps to make a strip down the middle. I found a tiny puncture in the flannel before I cut it in half. So I made my long cut through the hole, so the inserted strip might be a bit off centre. And that made an AfterQuilt that was just big enough.
Now the top and back are ready to be quilted. Intend to do some custom quilting on all the geese, since it is for a special project.
Excited to have my first new project of 2022 almost finished!
If you are interested in rewatching some of the videos I mentioned, click the thumbnail below.
