Thursday, January 6, 2011

Finally a little bit of piecing

fruit twist runnerYesterday I finally sat down at the machine to do a bit of piecing.  It was extra-fun because I used an early birthday present my in-laws gave me when they were down at Thanksgiving.  My birthday isn’t until this month but they didn’t insist that I wait till the actual day to use what I picked out.  In the end I didn’t have time to play with it until almost the birthday anyway, but I savored the anticipation.
I used my new Lil’Twister tool to piece this table runner.  To use the tool you start by sewing together 5” squares of fabric and adding a 3“ border all around.  It feels like you have a quilt just about ready to go, complete with borders, but then you use the Lil’Twister template to cut it all up again. It does create a lot of scraps, but I’ll find a use for them.
I had made a small sample to help me get my brain around how the squares translate into pinwheels so I could figure out how to arrange my squares to get the pinwheels in the arrangement I wanted.  The sample block below (which was a little rumpled when I took the picture) was made with four fabrics in a plain four-patch with a black border.  There isn’t any border added to the final block.  The pinwheels just float on whichever fabric borders the squares.
IMG_4542
To get the individual pinwheels to float on a background instead of interlocking with each other as in the sample block, I had to piece a checkerboard instead.
IMG_4538_r1




I’m pleased to finally almost have a runner to match the placemats I made with these fruit fabrics a couple of years ago.  The leftover fabric was waiting for just the right pattern.  Now I just have to machine quilt it, which means I need to start practicing.  Yes, piecing this was just an exercise in procrastinating on learning to freemotion quilt!

9 comments:

  1. Boy, what good tutorials we are getting today! Great encouragement and inspiration! I love how those pinwheels look, and I may have to try that method too someday. The triple borders really set it off too! ---"Love"

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  2. I just got up the courage to register for a machine quilting class at my LQS. I have always hand quilted everything, partly because I do love it but partly because I didn't know how to machine quilt. I'm gonna do it! Practice, practice, practice!

    Love your new tool, the quilt looks great! Have fun!

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  3. That's so cute! I love the skinny borders on the top and bottom. And thanks for sharing how to float the pinwheels. I haven't looked at my directions yet, but I was trying to figure out how to make my project a little bigger than connecting all the squares to each other. Now I know!

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  4. Wow your twist it turned out amazing. I did one a little while back that I will need to post. I learned a few things about what not to do! Are you going to make the sample square into a hot pad to go with the rest of the set? You will have one well dressed table!

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  5. This is one of my favorite patterns - I love how you made the pinwheels float. The fabric is great.♥

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  6. Oh, very pretty! Love the colors. Been hearing alot about this little tool. Planning a trip to JoAnne's soon so I will look for it.

    Liri

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  7. Well, it seems you have this gadget figured out. I love your table runner, and I remember the placemats, too.

    Sandy

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  8. Beautiful.. I love your color combination!

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  9. I remember those fabrics on the store shelves;) Have fun learning to machine quilt;)
    Happy Quilting!!

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