Thursday, September 17, 2009

Something New To Me........

First...And the Winner IS .....Kahuna24/Donna!!

Thanks to all for leaving the wonderful comments. Donna,  if you will email me your address I will send the pattern your way! (cupcakesndaisies@gmail.com)  I was happy to learn there are other quilters who like paper piecing too!

Second.....I have received a couple of emails from people who have wanted to leave a comment but were not able to do so.  I have updated my comment settings so I think it should be easier to leave a comment from this point forward.  Please try again, I enjoy hearing from you.  This whole blog world is new to me, I amaze myself every time one of my posts actually shows up!!

Now, for today's post!

When I'm waiting someplace away from home, like an airport or dentist office, I'm always just a little bit jealous of the folks who are able to take their hobbies with them.  Knitting an afghan, no problem, it's portable.  Embroidery or cross stitch, you are good to go, companies even make cute purses to tote those projects.  Quilting is another matter.  Or it is for me, since I don't hand stitch or quilt.  Even trying to accomplish a little sewing at home when I'm watching TV with my husband is difficult.  Oh I'll read my quilting magazines, or make To Do lists, but unless I'm in my sewing room I just don't get any "sewing" done.

With football starting I was really wanting to find something to satisfy my sewing fix and spend time with my husband.  Then I came across this!


Peeled-Back Patchwork, have you ever tried this?  Annette Ornelas has created a very clever way of converting straight lines into curves.  Her website is Southwind Designs,  she calls these quilts Dimensionals, take a look, you'll be amazed.

Basically, you create a unit sandwich by placing a folded rectangle between two larger rectangles, sewing, then  opening to create a "Y-shaped unit".  



Then you fold back the bias edge and stitch.

Ta Da...a curve is born.









I  liked the looks her her quilts and thought it would be worth trying, at least once.  (that's my philosophy you know)

But here comes the best part for me.....

After I made my first block, I decided I wanted to hand baste the curves back, so that when I sewed them I would not have to deal with pins.   

Here is the first block I pieced.  ( the block without sashing is 12 1/2 inches square)

And here is the same block after I basted down the bias curves.....while watching football Sunday afternoon with my husband!!

Isn't it amazing what a difference it makes in the block's appearance by rounding out those edges!

I think I'm going to name this quilt "My Sunday Sampler"!

Another plus, since I'm going to be working on this project off and on throughout the football season, I now have a UFO, my first!!  I'm definitely growing as a quilter!

6 comments:

  1. What a beautiful block, and what fun to continue to grow as a quilter. I have one guild friend who only makes Trip Around the World quilts. Never anything else. I would be bored to tears!

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  2. I agree with Lisa D. Even nine-patches, which you can have SO much fun with, would get so boring after awhile! I really like trying new things.... like blogs, for instance! Especially when one has the encouragement of a good friend!

    I also agree with your comment about having some handwork to do, even though I prefer to do 98% of my quilting on the machine.... I just may have to try this technique as well!

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  3. By the way, I did still have to click twice on "Post Comment" to get my comment to post... a word to others who may be having trouble posting... just hit "Post Comment" again if it won't take your comment the first time.... I did notice, however, that I did not have to type in the magic word they sometimes ask for... but I DID still have to hit the button a second time.

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  4. What an idea! Some people are so clever - and then there are people like me who are in awe of their talent. Love your block.

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  5. There are some interesting ideas in this technique - very neat looking. I would like to look at your book should you bring it to Quiltworks sometime.

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