Friday, July 22, 2011

As the Village Quilt Shop says....

As the Village Quilt shop says (Lake Orion Michigan at Canterbury Village) Reuse, Recycle and I'm adding Repurpose! That is if you can! LOL
Last night I just wanted to sew, I did not care what I worked on, but I do have somethings that I *NEED* to work on right now! Often times though my mind says, no work on this instead....you can play catch up with that project later, lets start a new one!" oh joy! me, myself and I having a discussion!
~a little funny note here~ I just walked into the kitchen to get a refill of coffee. (We have 4 birds: 2 cockatiels and 2 Quaker parrots) The birds are still covered up and they are suppose to be asleep right now, it is 8:15am, they are not asleep...they are waiting very patiently for Steven to wake up and uncover them so they can tell the entire world about their night! Anyway, I am pouring my cup of coffee and Henry the Quaker hears me...he hears everything....and then I hear "Good morning" I giggle and say "good morning" back to him...he continues this Good morning, good morning, good morning game until I no longer respond....Sometimes he will just hollar when I stop talking back to him....other times he will say other things to me such as " is it good" "eat" "give me a kiss"  Henry is quite the character...Gracy on the other hand is a sweet bird, she is the other quaker...she likes giving kisses and she is learning more sounds and beginning to talk like Henry. She is about 7 years old though.
Back to quilting!
Here is what I did last night. Since 2 1/2" strips are in and reusing, recycling, repurposing is so "in", I ironed a lot of fabric (fat quarters, 1/2yards, yardage...) then I cut 5- 2 1/2" x wof dark strips and cut 3- 2 1/2"x wof light strips. Sew your strip sets as a usual 9 patch formation (DLD-2 strip sets and LDL-1 strip set), cut into 2 1/2 segments and sew your 9-patches together.
Next: I used my Companion Angle ruler made by EZ Quilt, I cut medium to dark 3 1/2" x wof strips with my 6" wide strip cutting ruler. Now pick up your Companion Angle ruler and do the cut and flip method to make triangle units. Lay the Companion Angle ruler on the bottom of the strip of fabric on the 3 1/2" line and the tip of the ruler should rest at the top of your strip. I layer cut!! 4 Layers! If you have 2 strips folded in half and placed on top of each other you can do this. I get at least 4 cuts from this, you could possibly get 5(20 triangles)....I was being lazy last night and stopped at 4(16 triangles). I wanted to sew!
If you are unfamiliar with EZ Quilt rulers, you cut and flip with these. You make the first cut with the ruler then you flip the ruler. Just look at the directions that came with the ruler or go to their website you can download the instructions.
Back to the block. Last night I made 16-9patches. Take your 9 patches and find the mid point on all 4 sides, either pinch to mark or place a pin to mark. Next you take one of the Companion Angle Triangles (*****You are working with the bias!!! Don't stretch then, don't press them roughly, treat them gently***), I place the same color of triangles around 1-9patch. I also fold the triangles in half so that I get mid point on the base of the triangle. Line the midpoints up, triangle to 9patch, and sew. Go around all 4 sides of the 9patch with the same color triangle...I know I said that already.
This is going to be a king size quilt.....choose your colors, I want mine to look warm and scrappy... I will be making my 9patches and triangles from a variety of colors.
I will post more tomorrow.....Happy sewing!!!

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