Thursday, June 21, 2012

Seam Ripper, My New Friend

My seam ripper and I are becoming better acquainted.  I am experimenting with some more modern/freestyle patchwork, and mini quilts.  I have TONS of scraps and it seems a shame to let them just sit idle when they could be something cute...

My new friend

I began by sewing a few pieces together, cutting so edges were even and I could add more.  then surrounded the patched piece with white Kona cotton.  I am falling in love with solids, slowly.  They have always seemed so plain, but, when you add the quilting lines it suddenly has dimension and texture.  Rather a fun exercise.

After taking off the first binding...

Really loved the quilting process

I got all the way to the binding...which is where the problems began.  I did not want to hand sew the binding.   I was trying to be smart and sew the binding on the back bring it around front and sew down with the machine.  Reading some tutorials I thought I would do a half (1/2) inch seam, which meant there was not really enough binding to bring around to the front.  Well,  my bright idea was to cut off a quarter of an inch and then there would be more to bring around...HELLO WHERE IS YOUR BRAIN????  This meant that I also cut the corners, rendering them useless...

The finished product

The squiggly line of quilting was another bright idea that I decided not to follow through on, but did not take it out


My inclination at that point was to throw the whole thing away.  But, after I calmed down I decided to take the binding off and start over.  This time I read carefully this tutorial on Red Pepper Quilts.  Luckily I had enough of the scraps to make a binding, this time using a quarter inch seam and sewing onto the front and then sewing with the machine.  It WORKED!!!!

The bits of binding I had left from what I had removed I sewed together with some added bits and I have another small quilt, or mug rug.


still needs a binding...will do it right the first time!!!!


Despite the issues it was a fun exercise.  I think I will list these in my Etsy Shop if you are interested.

Have a whole dryer full of fabric to fold.  Won't be ironing today...93 degrees.  Nice in my bedroom with the AC on!!!!  I suppose I could bring in the ironing board...hmmm

Have a great weekend!!

Cindy

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Canoe Ridge Creations




2 comments:

  1. This turned out great! I need to do an exercise like this to get me thinking outside the box. Love it! Sorry about the trouble with the binding. That can be so frustrating, but you are right, the seam ripper is your best friend! At least it is mine!

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  2. Good for you for persisting and not throwing it away!

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