Thursday, June 9, 2011

Adrenaline rush

St. Peter's raffle quilt is ready for the quilter and this year that's me. 2 weeks ago I brought it home to finish. The rows just had to go together and the borders added. I don't know why, but sometimes I procrastinate and then it is never as bad as I think. This time it was the borders that held me up.  The borders were all done and ready to go, but I reworked them a bit cause some of the fabrics we used in the border weren't in the center of the quilt and they clearly clashed! Didn't see that till I spread it out on my wall at home.


The pattern is called "Pinwheels on Parade" by Pat Speth from her book, More Nickel Quilts. This pattern was a great choice for a group quilt. It didn't matter that everybody sews a different width seam allowance. After the blocks were done, we squared up the blocks to 8" instead of 8 1/2".  The border treatment was my idea. I don't think I could find a single print that I'd  like more. I've never made a border like this before. Besides being easy to sew, it was easy to adjust the length to fit. On 3 sides I had to sew a deeper seam between 3 pairs of strips. It sure would have been a pain had they been diagonal seams.I hope to have it ready for the binding before we meet again on the 21st, cause I ain't doing that part.

While I was procrastinating about that border, I took a half-day to sew at Benny's. Instead of summer quilt club meetings, they are having an all day,once a month, come when you can open sewing session. I thought a mini retreat was in order. They're like adrenaline for quilters. So I packed a suitcase (it's got wheels)  and machine and headed out. Attendance wasn't the greatest, but that just meant more room to spread out.


I cut all the strips for two lap sized quilts using the Accucut Studio Cutter. Then I made these 3 blocks. It's the start of a quilt called "Bali Sea Star" from Kim Brackett's book Scrap Basket Surprises.  Also sewed some random triangles together. Now I am thinking ahead about going next month and using the Accucut again. I will have to put some more kits together.I think I will go do that now.
 Sew long.

3 comments:

Helen in the UK said...

LOVE your group's Pinwheels quilt! I've made that pattern once before as a donation quilt and I definately want to make another version to keep :)

kadyb said...

Love the Pinwheels quilt. The pastels work so well to create movement! I enjoy your blog and the things you share. Thanks!

Little lisa said...

i bet it was fun working on that raffle quilt pinwheels on parade when the seams didnt meet. you have been through it all and done it all and by any means can handle anything that comes your way.