Christmas in July Virtual Workshop

I had the pleasure this year of taking a Christmas in July virtual retreat held by Watergirl Quilt Co.  and Dragon's Heart Quilt Shop It took place over a day and half on Zoom.  Lots of fun and interesting things were learned including how to make a gift bag, a quilted post card and the highlight - a Christmas lap quilt.  There was even a yoga instructor to guide us through some gentle stretches to relieve some kinks from our tired sewing bodies.   

Prior to the workshop, I asked Katie (@lethargiclass) at Watergirl Quilt Co. to choose some fabric that would work for this quilt.  As usual, Katie's keen color sense and fabric design coordination came through for me.  As I couldn't shop personally, I was happy to have Katie make the selection.

At the retreat, the quilt instruction was led by Susan Madu of Modern Blended Quilts.  We had a special preview of her pattern, Simply Modern Christmas, which was to be released shortly after our workshop.  The pattern uses the Corner Pop III ruler and it makes a delightful Christmas tree in each block.  I'll be using this method in another special project I have in mind.

Once the quilt was pieced, I quilted it using random criss crossing lines.  The walking foot on my domestic machine handled that job. I bound it using solid red and it is backed in a lumberjack plaid cotton.  A cozy piece for the cold winter to come.

Quilted Postcard

Gift Bag

 

 

 

Conquered Curves

This Polarity quilt pattern caught my eye the minute I walked into Mad About Patchwork in the summer of 2019.  I have always shied away from curves, but with my DH's encouragement to give them a try, I purchased the pattern and material - mostly dark blues and neutrals in Kona solids.  I added only one  dark blue print to the mix.
 
I procrastinated in starting this project and then we moved, delaying the start even more.

Once my new sewing area was set up I decided it was time to give the pattern a go.   No longer allowing those darn curves  - which I had tried a few times over the years - to keep me at bay.

The pattern comes with a template which I copied and put on a firm piece of cardboard for the concave and convex pieces.  I did a few sample runs with some fabric from my stash.  I discovered after this first try,  I'd have to be careful to match the seams and followed some helpful suggestions that the designer, Stacey Lee O'Malley, from SloStudio, had written in the pattern.

Feeling more confident,  I started the cutting process -  first strips, then squares, then cutting the pieces with the template.

I always am a bit hesitant when I start cutting the required strips and find that I don't get the same number pieces that the pattern says I should get from that strip. I make it a habit to wash and dry my fabric before using and this causes a small bit of shrinkage in the fabric.  Most cottons are a 44/45" width with the selvage being part of this width.  It would be great if pattern designers took this into account, as I have run into this problem before.

The wonderful thing was,  I was able to contact Stacey, the designer, and she had some suggestions to overcome this issue.  I appreciate it when a designer is available to offer help.

 
While I was cutting the first of my pieces with the template, I saw that there was a lot of waste from each piece.  So I did some rejigging and found a way to get more pieces from the material.

I watched several You Tube videos for best way to sew concave and convex pieces together.  Many opinions are out there on which is the best method - pins, no pins, some pins.  I went with the many pins method and things went well.  I used a scant 1/4" seam allowance.

Once sewn, each square was pressed and trimmed to 10 1/2".

Once trimmed, the pieces were then placed on the design board (and design floor) 😊

Although the quilt top was finished, I had to wait for a bit before I got it quilted (pandemic and all you know).  The design I chose was Easy Orange Peel and Jen at Happy Wife Quilting did a spectacular job. 

  

I added a label and chose a binding which was one of the quilt top fabrics (navy blue with small white crosses which show intermittently around the quilt).  And voila, my curved quilt was complete.  

 

I'm really happy with the final result and so glad I rose to the challenge and conquered curved piecing.