I know I've not posted for a while, but there's a good reason: I've moved, and my new quilt room is full of boxes. In fact, the whole house is full of boxes, but we are so happy to be all in one state (Michigan) now. There will be a new quilt room post when all the unpacking is finished.
Lots of quilting going on, and one project is preparing attic window blocks for a swap. This is the first time I've participated in a signature block swap.
Why did I sign up for this swap? Because I have such a great time with all the ladies of the Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat that I wanted to make a quilt with all of their signatures, so I could remember them fondly when I am not with them. We have such a good time twice a year in Shipshewana, Indiana. The next retreat is coming up in November, and I thought I'd share how I am making my blocks.
Some people in our group said that they did the signing of the squares first, before the sewing, so that's what I did. My thought was, if I mess up the signature and have the "Y" seam all together, that would not make me happy. If I mess up the "Y" seam, I can do it over. And I'm doing the "Y" seams just because they give me trouble, and I need the practice on them.
Here's how I did the signature part:
(1) washed and dried the muslin fabric
(2) cut it into long strips, allowing a little extra at the top and bottom of each strip, then sub-cut into 5 signature pieces per strip.
(3) drew lines on the strips to show left side and right side edges of a square
(4) Ironed the 4 block strip to a piece of freezer paper (for stability)
(5) Printed out my name and address from the computer in a font I liked, which was "Palace Script MT", available on my Microsoft Word software.
(6) Taped the printout from (5) above to my light box.
(7) Taped the muslin strip on top of the light box, and traced my signature onto the muslin fabric. I used a permanent ink fabric pen, from a quilt store.
(8) Ironed the signature strip to set the ink (Don't know if this is necessary, but I did it)
(9) Cut the strips into individual block pieces.
Now I have to add the attic window two strips (one dark and one medium) to the left side and bottom of the squares. This is what I am working on today.
Here is the first one I made, which is a little wonky on the bottom fabric, but I hope I will improve as I go along:
I'm linking to Judy Laquidara's blog for Design Wall Mondays, (Here) What are you working on today?
Lots of quilting going on, and one project is preparing attic window blocks for a swap. This is the first time I've participated in a signature block swap.
Why did I sign up for this swap? Because I have such a great time with all the ladies of the Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat that I wanted to make a quilt with all of their signatures, so I could remember them fondly when I am not with them. We have such a good time twice a year in Shipshewana, Indiana. The next retreat is coming up in November, and I thought I'd share how I am making my blocks.
Some people in our group said that they did the signing of the squares first, before the sewing, so that's what I did. My thought was, if I mess up the signature and have the "Y" seam all together, that would not make me happy. If I mess up the "Y" seam, I can do it over. And I'm doing the "Y" seams just because they give me trouble, and I need the practice on them.
Here's how I did the signature part:
(1) washed and dried the muslin fabric
(2) cut it into long strips, allowing a little extra at the top and bottom of each strip, then sub-cut into 5 signature pieces per strip.
(3) drew lines on the strips to show left side and right side edges of a square
(4) Ironed the 4 block strip to a piece of freezer paper (for stability)
(5) Printed out my name and address from the computer in a font I liked, which was "Palace Script MT", available on my Microsoft Word software.
(6) Taped the printout from (5) above to my light box.
(7) Taped the muslin strip on top of the light box, and traced my signature onto the muslin fabric. I used a permanent ink fabric pen, from a quilt store.
(8) Ironed the signature strip to set the ink (Don't know if this is necessary, but I did it)
(9) Cut the strips into individual block pieces.
Now I have to add the attic window two strips (one dark and one medium) to the left side and bottom of the squares. This is what I am working on today.
Here is the first one I made, which is a little wonky on the bottom fabric, but I hope I will improve as I go along:
I'm linking to Judy Laquidara's blog for Design Wall Mondays, (Here) What are you working on today?