Month: July 2020

My Life, Third Thursday Thread Sisters

What Are You Binding Wednesday, Hard Crackers

suznquilts

A lot of quilters that I know hate to bind a quilt.

I don’t understand that mindset.

I LOVE to bind quilts!

I love the process & more than anything

I can’t wait to finally see the finished quilt!

Today I’m binding a small & scrappy quilt, Hard Crackers.

Several months ago, pre-COVID19,

Heather & I established a new sewing group.

We decided to meet once a month

& sew on the same agreed upon quilt.

We would meet on the third Thursday & so

the Third Thursday Thread Sisters (TTTS) was formed.

Well, the very first month we were

supposed to meet we were under quarantine.

We decided to form a group text instead

to share & to show progress of our little quilts from 10:00 or so until noon or so…

It seems fortuitous now looking back at the origin of our sewing group.

The idea came from a guild presentation.

It was a group of quilters doing the same thing.

They came and showed their little quilts, many from this book.

It just so happened that Martingale was having a super sale!

So, we acted quickly,

deciding on a couple of books to use for the basis of our quilts.

Again, fortuitous don’t you think?

I made the first choice.

Since we had 9 in our group,

I made a smaller version of this quilt

to accommodate our signatures.

Since the quarantine continued, to help us keep in touch,

we decided to sew each Thursday instead of just the third.

These are my blocks from the first quilt…

but whilst making them I decided they were too light.

I wanted them to hang near my new table runner.

Meanwhile, the next 3rd Thursday was approaching…

Bonnie chose Lizzie’s Tents.

I remade my blocks.

I love the quilt!

So far we’ve assigned 3 quilts, one per month.

Since the third Thursday is this week

I was determined to finish my June quilt.

I finished the top last week.

This morning I layered, quilted then sewed the binding to the quilt.

Tonight I will do the handwork to complete it!

Tomorrow we start our next quilt!

Perhaps you should start a sewing group

with some of the quilting friends you’re missing.

I’m so thankful for this connection with

some of my quilting friends

during this surreal time.

Please let us know what you’re binding

& share them with us on my Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SewingWithSusan/

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan

A Quilt Along, Sew-

Quarantiny Quilt Assembly Progress

suznquilts

Yesterday I finally sat to assemble my

Quarantiny Sew-Along Quilt

that has been hanging out on my design wall for a while.

I’m glad that I was able to let it percolate

while I spent a lot of time preparing for virtual Spring Quilt Market

which also involved having a brand new website built.

While it was hanging out on my design wall

I realized the best way to sew the tiny 3″ blocks together

was not by sewing them into rows,

but instead by sewing them into blocks.

So, yesterday that’s what I did.

16 tiny blocks at a time I assembled the quilt.

This June Tailor Cut ‘n Press worked great transporting the blocks

to my sewing machine so I didn’t get them out of order.

Something else I discovered while watching this hang out

on my design wall for so long is that since there was such variety in the blocks,

some 4-patch, some 9-patch yet others not equidistant blocks at all,

many of the seams didn’t line up with the neighboring blocks

which made it SO MUCH EASIER to sew them together!

When I discovered this back in May,

I contemplated rearranging the blocks so no 2 blocks’

seams would line up (can you spell O.C.D.???)

but I decided against that crazy idea!

As it turned out,

very few of the blocks’ seams lined up anyway.

 

I so enjoyed sewing the blocks together!

I put in my new DVD of

 

www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/v22vodart/17008397/p17...

If you know me at all, you know that I love this version too

Little Women (1994 film) - Wikipedia

& have watched it at least 100 times!

OK watched may not be the correct word, more like listened to.

Anyway, soon the 128 tiny 3″ blocks were assembled

into 8 blocks ready to be sewn around my cute sewing machine!

I’m excited & a bit sad that the top is finished & ready to be quilted!

 

This is the first time that I clipped seam allowances to help the seams lie flatter.

Have you ever done this?

You clip on either side of bulky seams

so the seam kind of flip flops directions

in the middle of a seam instead of being pressed all one way or open.

Clip almost, but not quite to the stitches of the seam.

I figured this would not be washed so it should be OK.

It sure makes the bulky seams lie flat!

Look how nice the back looks!

This was so much fun.

Thanks to all of you who sewed along with me!

You can see how others made their Quarantiny quilts on my Facebook group

Sewing With Susan by clicking here.

I’m excited to have it quilted & then to bind it.

Just Keep Sewing…

Susan