Thursday 14 May 2020

Piecemakers in May

There is no need for me to remind people that we are in the middle of a pandemic at the moment, and social distancing is the order of the day. Although there has been a slight easing of the lockdown, it doesn't look like we will be getting together in the near future.
But there is always a silver lining in every cloud.  While we have all been in lockdown, we have had time to appreciate the important things in life, things we are all grateful for.  So, the committee has decided to ask all members to make a small quiltlet to show the things that you are personally thankful for.  This might be friends, family, your house, garden, chocolate, your dog, the Internet or whatever you like.  The piece, which will not be joined into a quilt but form part of a collection, should measure about 6" and be either pieced, stitched, stamped or dyed, and should have your name on the back.

,,

They can be finished by binding, by bagging it, or by zigzagging.  These are just examples of the possible techniques.  Please join in this project - it will be something positive to focus on. 
I have been spending quite a bit of time sorting out my sewing room.  I have quite a collection of wadding off cuts, which I knew would come in handy one day!  Sometimes I have joined them together to make bigger pieces, although this has rarely been successful, as even if the pieces look square, the results are usually very irregularly shaped! 
So I have learned that it is necessary to square the off cuts first. 

M

This piece looks pretty straight, and ready to join to another. 

,

But, you can see there was a small but significant piece which had to be cut off to make it straight. 


Now it can be easily zigzagged to another piece to make a nice flat result! 


I found it even better to cut strips into pieces of the same length and join those.  I like to use my 12.5" ruler as the strips are a handy size.  The resultant wadding pieces can be used for quilts, bags, placemats or anything.  It's just like having free wadding!  Give it a go!