Monday, April 17, 2023

Carnival Flower - Part Three

This is a continuation of two previous posts about the making of Carnival Flower, a Judy Niemeyer technique quilt.

The third class covered the pieces that were next from the outside in.  These were quite difficult, but had some interesting and new techniques to me about foundation piecing from strips.   Long skinny points were a bit of  a challenge!  The instructions are very detailed and so well thought out.  I especially appreciate the TRP lines (temporarily sewn so that pieces can be matched). This quilt is not one that you can take to retreat and chat with other people while you're cutting and sewing!  It takes complete mind focus in order to do it without making mistakes.  

Here is the picture with these pieces on the design board.  


I hope you like it so far!

Monday, April 3, 2023

Selvage edges - Adding black

I recently went to a retreat with the Clark County Quilters.  One of the organizers led a class on selvage edge piecing and before you knew it, we were a pack of hungry wolves going through the enormous pile of selvages.  I came away with a sack full of mostly green and blue selvage edges.

Since I have a bolt of black fabric, I decided to make half square triangles with one half done with selvage edges and other half black.  I didn't actually cut half square triangles, though.  I cut 8" squares of the black fabric and stitched down the selvages to the black background.  The sewn line was 1/8" or so from the edge of the selvage. 


The next piece was placed over the raw edge of the first one and sewed down in the same process.  I added antique green bias strips to give it some cohesion, although they are tiny pieces of green that nobody else may even notice.


I especially liked the selvage edges that had colored dots on them, but occasionally, I picked a piece that had words on it.  Here is what the top looked like after it was complete.

It's 45" W x 60" H.  I hope you like it!