About a week ago my husband used my iron to apply adhesive strips to the edge of a kitchen cabinet he is fixing for me. I used that iron to press a skirt and found adhesive on the skirt. I’ve since ordered a new iron, but it has yet to arrive, so my work for the week can’t be pressed and shown off to good advantage. Therefore, my presentation will be a bit different this week.
It’s worth mentioning that I have a new work area which I am enjoying. My husband got tired of my work being scattered about the living room and dining room so he gave me his office with his big mahogany desk. The photo above shows my work near the end of this week. I’ve actually finished quite a bit, and am on the verge of being ready to join rows four and five to the quilt top.
I’ve remade #15 Buzzard’s Roost. I cannibalized the previous block to obtain the papers for the remake. I have an idea of how I might use cannibalized blocks, but that can wait for another blog post.
I remade #10 Bowtie. I continue to be annoyed by the fact that the first version of this block has escaped my notice. I’ve looked everywhere I can think and still can’t find it. In any case, I like this version much better. Once #15 and #10 are pressed I can commence to join row four to the quilt top.
I’ve completed #19 Checkerboard, #20 Churn Dash, and #21 Contrary Wife. They were actually completed in reverse order from the way they appear here. I was working my way down row five from the top to the bottom. I found myself stalled on #22 Corn & Beans. It was not that it was difficult, just that it was tedious. I was once again tempted by the low hanging fruit of easier blocks, and I moved forward to work on them. You can see #22 partially completed in the first photo, and farther along here in the photo below.
She has one corner completed. I’ll get back to her soon; after I finish the block below.
I got excited about the red/violet area, and could not resist starting work on #17 Cats & Mice. It is not completely obvious in the photo above due to the lighting, but these two colors are very clearly in the red/violet category all by themselves. No pure red or pure violet is being used in this block.
This week I made a major decision about how I am going to handle the triangles along the edge of the quilt. In keeping with what I have already done with the upper left corner, I will be doing the three triangles in each additional corner with one color.
Then I will be filling in between corners with colors changing every two triangles. I feel the same sense of comfort about this decision as I did about making the rules about how my sashing would be colored. Imposing order on this quilt makes me feel happier and calmer.
Above you see Orange repeated.
And here you see Watermelon repeated.
I have precut some sashing, using all the sashing pieces in the setting package. Now I’ll have to pull sashing pieces from blocks I have not yet made in order to keep up with my preplanning of sashing colors.
Another big decision about sashing was made this week. I’m going to be inserting a red/violet set of sashing on the left, and a yellow/green set of sashing on the right.
All the new finished blocks will be pressed and introduced with their respective color choices once the iron arrives.
Wynne said:
I enjoy reading your posts Terri. And I like how you are altering the detail to suit your sense of order. That really appeals to me. As for the iron, have you tried cleaning it with a solvent? We find “Solvent N” is essential for cleaning sticky gunk off all sorts of gear, including an iron that I mistakenly applied to the wrong side of iron-on interfacing. It is made by the people that make Ados glue, and should be available from a good hardware store. I also keep meths and turpentine handy for similar tasks – like removing label glue from old jam jars.
Terri Schurter said:
I bought a product called Faultless Hot Iron Cleaner which I handed off to my husband. I was kind of looking for a good excuse to get a better iron, so he did me a favor when he messed up the old one. Thanks for your comments. I am glad you are enjoying the process.
Jodi Paverud said:
Love your process! This quilt is going to be so beautiful!! Also for your iron. Trying ironing a used dryer sheet – like Bounce. It works great for cleaning off the iron. I know it sounds weird but it should work. I’m excited to continue watching your quilt grow.
Jodi
Terri Schurter said:
Thanks for your comments. I really love the feedback. As for the iron, I will suggest that to my husband. He has inherited the old iron. I did receive the new one today. Photos are taken of new blocks. They will be posted to Facebook today, and I will do a new blog post tomorrow or the next day with the blocks. Glad you are with me on this journey.