A Lesson Learned…I hope!

Thursday and Friday I worked on a tablerunner with the new fabric I received from Island Batik for the spring catalog. It’s Gathering Friends, a pattern that I’ve made 3 times (or is it 4??). By pressing carefully, the seams will all nest against each other, helping to eliminate some of the bulk in the seam intersections.

I started with the center block, all the other Friendship Star blocks have to be pressed the opposite directions. I have a flannel covered chunk of 2″ thick styrofoam that I can lay out smaller quilts, and have by my machine as I sew.  I would sew one block and put it back into posiition.The blocks also have to be turned correctly, a quarter turn and it’s not going to match up, the colors are out of place and the seams go the wrong direction.

As I’m sewing the blocks together, one blocks seams were not nesting. I wondered how I had managed to press that block incorrectly.

I sewed it all together, layered it and started quilting. I did all the areas which are dark brown in the center quilt above. Then I did the yellow areas, all of which are pointing the same direction.  When I was burying the threads on the back I discovered two were pointing the wrong way.  I wondered how I had quilted the wrong areas.  I turned it over, and there it was…that block with the seams that didn’t nest…no, I hadn’t pressed the seams the wrong ways, I put the block in a quarter turn wrong. How in the world I had missed that when I sewed the blocks together, or when I pressed it, or when I was deciding on the quilting, I have no idea.  It’s not like the fabrics are close in color. No, there is no way to confuse the two.

So I took out that block, along with the quilting stitches surrounding the block, sewed the block back in the correct way.  Then set it aside, and quilted another runner, also for the spring catalog.

I next started on a wallhanging or small throw for a customer. The panel is from Timeless Treasures. I was going to post a picture of the fabric, but for some reason, I can’t upload any.

So, I guess I’ll just go sew!

Eileen