Sew-Cation, Day 9: Theeee End!

It’s finally time to get back to normal!

I got in around 1am this morning, unpacked and crashed. I feel like it’s been years since I slept that well. It was wonderful! I’ve spent the day trying to clear out some back-log and gearing up for quilts to come. I have my lucky blog-commenter’s quilt pinned and binding made. It’s third in line for quilting. I washed, dried and ironed all my new fabrics. I picked up interfacing that I completely forgot I had to pre-shrink until just now. I put the binding on a blanket. I quilted a small table runner. I am so ready for the week ahead. I am so ready to spend time doing something other than hunching over a sewing machine!!!

As promised, I am going to fill you in on the quilt pattern from the testing. I mentioned before it’s a sampler quilt – meaning, it’s kind of crazy! It’s divided into 7 parts. We started with the Basketweave (top right, in green and orange print). With an accurate quarter inch, it went together very quickly. It is a very gratifying block – speedy results and very pretty. Next we did the Beads (top center, in green and purple). The most time consuming part was marking the blocks for the “cheater corners.” Terry suggested sewing on marked lines rather than eyeing it. The last block we did as a group on Thursday was the Taco Chips (bottom center, purple and orange). Essentially composed of half-square triangles, the basic components were simple. The challenge is in the placement! I ripped this out several times. Later on Thursday evening, I made up the Ladder (top left, in purple). It is so straightforward that we didn’t even do it as a group!

On Friday, I did the Coins (middle right, in purple) on my own. It was a lot of marking for the “cheater corners,” but Terry’s method for making the 9-patch makes it go very fast. As a group, we made the Labyrinth (bottom right, in purple and blue). Again for this block, the challenge lay in the placement. I had to put in my headphones to keep from getting distracted while piecing this one. Last, I finished up with the Zig-Zag (bottom left, in orange). The block itself is pieced from Flying Geese, however, Terry’s method for Flying Geese is the easiest I’ve ever encountered!

Terry Atkinson will be releasing this and other patterns derived from these as a book. If you’ve never tried as sampler quilt, I highly recommend this. If you’ve never tried a quilt, I highly recommend Terry’s patterns for beginners. Not even a year and a half ago, I started my first quilt – All About Me, one of Terry’s many.

I promise she will guide you well as you venture off into sewing.