Sew What's Next: Blue River Quilt part 2

I updated the template for my blog, as was recommended for those who were having issues with posting, etc. Even if it doesn't fix the particular problem I was having, it made the blog look better! I have more control over colors, fonts, etc, and the text area is wider than before...less wasted space on the sides. I was nervous about upgrading at first...afraid I would lose all I had already written...but no, it worked beautifully and was easy!

I have been working on the blue river quilt. Both Marilyn and another friend, Shirley, gave me some more fabric scraps to use, but most of this was not ‘just right’ either. I used some of it, but finally, I decided I would HAVE to dye some of it to get it to better blend with what was already used. So I ran out to the store and got some TEAL Rit dye and overdyed several of the pieces. This is for the upper part of the quilt...the 'sky' area, if you can call it that!...so it needed to be less-bright/more-greyed...and this did it. Afterwards, I was advised that Rit is probably not the best choice for this project…that it might not be light or color fast on cotton…but it was too late! Plus, this won’t get lots of washing, so hopefully it will be fine.

The more it ‘grew’, the more unsure I was that I loved it. Then I decided that is normal for me…I felt that same way last year as I worked on the frog quilt for my son (that was before blog…maybe I’ll show it later). But I kept plugging away, and, eventually, it began to grow on me again! I rearranged a few components, eliminating one of the sun/star pieces and adding two new trees. Better!

To create a background for the ‘sun’ piece, I used my pattern drafting software to create a foundation to which I applied various strips. I used a ruler to draw lines on it at ½ and ¼ inch intervals…I *could* have done this in the software if I had thought of it before printing!

The circular piece in the center of the ‘sun’ was a bit tricky to do. My first attempt at turning under the edges was to use the facing method…lay a bit of interfacing on it and stitch all around, clip, then slash the interfacing and turn right side out. This resulted in a not-so-smooth perimeter! Then I remembered the “Perfect Circles” templates I purchased at the AQS in Nashville last summer. I only had the larger set, as the y had run out of the smaller ones, but the smallest template in the set was close enough…just barely larger than the pattern called for! I used it on the larger of the two ‘sun’ blocks that I had made and it worked fine. For this one, the smaller sun, it was a bit too large, but still better than nothing! However, this smaller sun won’t make it into THIS quilt.

The quilt background was created in sections. I sewed tiny scraps together to make larger blocks, then added larger strips as needed. Then I added this section to the last, etc., working around the river, which was just pinned to the background as it was created.

Once the entire background was assembled, I removed the river to work on it.

The river had been drawn on examining table paper and the fabric was sewn to that foundation. I needed to remove the paper from the back, as well as fix a couple of spots where it was ‘skimpy’. Plus, I resewed a seam or two to change the angle…the ‘flow’…of the river, to position it just a little better on the background.

Then I turned under the edges of the river using a hot iron and some spray starch. This took a while! Next, I used the iron with some washable glue to ‘baste’ the river into place. This is how the sun pieces were attached also. These will be stitched soon!