Well, I got nine of Block Three for my Deco Quilt completed in the green/indigo colors before I had to take all of the blocks off my design wall and pack this work-in-progress up in a moving box last night. Here's one last glimpse of the design wall:
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| Deco Quilt In Progress, 9 of Block Three Finished |
The only reason I'm sneaking time for a quick blog post when I still have so much packing to do is so I can refer back to this once our move is completed and the dust settles -- I really want to finish my Deco quilt this year and I don't want to waste a lot of time looking for the fabric pieces I cut out, misplaced pattern instructions, and otherwise reinventing the wheel. I packed everything I need for this Deco quilt as well as everything I need for my next NewFO Star Upon Stars (fabrics, templates & pattern) into one box labeled "Current WIPs" or something like that. Fingers crossed that I didn't miss anything!
Okay, here's the real reason for today's blog post, a quick photographic reminder to myself of how I decided to press my seams for Block Three because I'm very pleased with how nicely it turned out:
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| My Personal Pressing Plan for Deco Block Three |
You may recall that I'm not following the pattern instructions for this block. The Deco Quilt Pattern from Lo & Behold instructs you to press all of the seams open, and I don't do that because I want crisp, sharp points and corners and perfectly matched seam intersections and that is much easier to accomplish when your seam allowances are pressed in opposite directions so they nest and lock together when joining rows of patchwork. So I've pressed my seams towards the Indigo fabric in each of the strips. However, to reduce bulk and ensure my blocks lay nice and flat, I did press the seams between rows open as shown above. The Indigo strips that frame the patchwork have their seams pressed to the outside.
Another point I should mention is that I did not employ strip piecing techniques per the pattern instructions for these blocks. Instead, I cut out little squares and rectangles and pieced each strip of each block individually. Honestly, I don't 100% remember why I decided to do it this way. I think it was because I wanted to make Block Three A and Block Three B in two different colors, whereas the pattern instructions call for all of these blocks to be the same. It was easier for me to calculate how much dark green and light purple I'd need for these blocks with old-fashioned slow poke cutting and piecing than it was for me to figure out how many of the different strips and strip sets I'd need to make in each colorway if I was following the directions.
I'd show you a picture of the front of the block but I forgot to take one, and now it's packed away! I have made 9 of these green/indigo Block Three and will need to make 27 more of them. Then I'll need to make 18 Block Three in the purple/indigo color combination.
Wanna see a scary picture of chaos and destruction in my (former!) quilting studio?
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| This Used to Be My Playground... |
That's what my studio looked like this morning. My husband is in the process of completely disassembling my Bernina Q24 long arm quilting machine so the machine head can be safely packed for transport in the original shipping carton. All my quilting thread and rulers for rotary cutting are off the walls but I still need to pack up my acrylic quilting ruler templates that you see on the wall behind my long arm frame. My vintage Singer Featherweight machine, all of my AccuQuilt GO! dies and my Bernina 475QE machine are already in Florida, but today I'm packing up my Bernina 790 Plus, my 700E embroidery machine and the embroidery module into their protective luggage bags. I have the original shipping cartons for my Baby Lock serger and cover stitch machines but I need to figure out how to get the thread stands off those machines in order to fit them back into the styrofoam packing inserts.
My house in Florida is only about half the size of my house in North Carolina and my sewing room is going to be a LOT smaller than this one so I'm going to have to get really creative with how I set up and use the space that's available. Wish me luck!
Oh and by the way -- if you have subscribed to receive my blog posts automatically in your email and you're wondering why this one didn't show up that way, no worries -- I paused my email delivery service so I don't have to pay for it while I'm more preoccupied with moving than with writing blog posts. I'm switching back to MailChimp and I don't have time to get that all set up and tested right now.
Also, quick reminder for my long arm quilting clients that I am not able to accept any customer quilts until further notice -- see photo above of my dismembered long arm machine!! Please do not ship any quilt tops to my address in North Carolina. I will let you know when my studio in Naples, Florida is set up and give you my new address.
Happy quilting, everyone! I'm linking up today's post with my favorite linky parties:
MONDAY
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
TUESDAY
To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt
WEDNESDAY
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
THURSDAY
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
FRIDAY
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty
TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday
SUNDAY
Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué
Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
