My mock up wasn't exactly like that picture she showed me, but I thought this might be a bit easier. Plus I was able to give her the dimensions of her quilt and fabric requirements so that she wasn't flying completely blind. One of the worse feelings in the world is not having enough fabric. The thought makes me cringe.
When I arrived at her aunt's absolutely beautiful log cabin, I was quickly greeted and into the sewing studio we went. I had to look like a toddler visiting Toys R Us for the first time in my life. Her aunt's sewing space was to die for. I think if I tried I could possibly live under the sewing machine tables and she wouldn't even know I was there. She has plenty of space to hold small classes, do custom long arm work, and display and create gorgeous pieces.
Ok, back to our project. It truly was a group effort. While Courtney sewed away at her HST unit's, the rest of us worked on squaring and ironing them.
Of course we took breaks for the delicious pumpkin cookies Courtney's mom made. I have to get the recipe.
After all the trimming and pressing was completed, we could finally start on constructing the quilt. We used a technique where we arranged the fabric squares on a fusible layout grid. I have to admit I had never tried this method before, but it made the quilt come together much quicker than I imagined it would with all the little pieces. After we had sections laid out, we ironed our squares so that they would adhere to the webbing and would not move.
We had to build the quilt in four separate sections that would have to be combined.
Why do I always looked stoned in pictures...urg. |
After the first section was laid out and pressed, Courtney was able to start sewing, while the rest us continued to lay out the quilt. She would fold a row of the squares together and sew 1/4" seam.
Then she could fold the next row and sew. She continued on until all the vertical rows were sewed. The horizontal rows could not be sewed until all the sections were joined together.
So for the time being we had a bunch of smooched long olives. We also decided it would make a great creepy eye ball pattern for Halloween.
Once all the vertical rows were finished we could begin connecting the sections and sewing the horizontal rows.
So after several hours of team work, Courtney was able to leave with an almost completed top. The only thing left to do is add borders after she grabs more yardage. And I'm pretty sure she graduated to confident beginner :)
I'm so thankful that she called me and let me help with her project. Not only did I get to spend the day quilting and talking about quilting, I was able to learn a new technique that would work great for making teeny tiny miniature quilts. I hope if they get together for another family sew day, I'll get a call back. Do you ever get together with friends and family for sew dates? I need to figure out how to convert my family and other friends into quilters. Bwhahahah
Come joint the party! Today day I'm linking up with TGIFF hosted today by Anja Quilts, Creative Goodness at Quilt Shop Gal, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confesstions of a Fabric Addict, Richard and Tanya Quilts, and Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.
15 comments:
What an awesome joint effort. Aren't sewing get togethers the best?
It looks like you all had a great sewing day together. I have heard of that fusible technique before, but never had tried it as I always seem to make too large quilts. I never thought about making sections. This is a really cute quilt. Is there any special significance behind the "olives"? Your design appears spot on. Thanks for sharing.
What a fun day! Thanks for taking all the pictures of progress (and gorgeous sewing room! and yummy cookies!). That's a neat method I may have to try if I have to make a quilt with a lot of small squares. Also, something weird happened as I was scrolling down the web page on the final shot of the quilt, the eyeballs...ahem, olives...seemed to roll around! So, yeah, great Halloween creepy eye pattern, too!
That looks like a blast! I have only sewn with others a handful of times but it really is so much fun...the time goes by way too fast.
Olive it! Hee hee.
But, sorry. I'll never be a quilter. I'll have to use my other super powers.
Fun and friends that's one of the best things. Let's not mention running out of fabric.
I love the olive theme! Sometimes you need a non-quilter to come up with something new, outside of the box, shall we say. I get together once a week to sew with friends I made at my local guild. I have to say though, that sometimes we don't get much accomplished. ;o)
Cool project to be asked to advise on! Sounds like a martini quilt is needed to go with the olives, though.
Love the olive design! Sewing with someone else is always much more fun than sewing alone, it sounds (and looks) like you two had a blast!
An Olive quilt - how fun! I know someone who would love a quilt just like that! Courtney did and great job and all the different olive fabrics in each olive are amazing. I'd never tried that piecing method on larger squares. What a fun day you all had together Tish!
I just heard about using the grid fusible interfacing two weeks ago, and a I am cutting my most recent projects I've been saving all the 1 inch square offcuts to try this! Thanks for the quick lesson and I hope you finished that plate of cookies :)
What fun. I love sewing with others. Super cute Olive quilt too!
QuiltShopGal
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I have always wondered how that fusible grid works. thanks for explaining the process. What a great sewing space, jealous!
It is so nice to sew with other people. I'm lucky that my mom, three aunts and my Grandma all sew. I've also got two of my cousins into sewing a bit.
Sounds like a lot of fun. I love quilting with my two quilting buddies although we tend to talk to much and not get a lot done. I love the Olive quilt.
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