Block 3 and 4 of
Natalia Bonner's 9 PatchalongThis one was a beauty...continuous line design, always looks great. Of course, mine was not entirely continuous as I got confused. I am certainly learning a lot in terms of thinking through your stitching path before you actually have a go. I made myself a little folder on the Ipad with these blocks and an accompanying stitching diagram, because no doubt, next time I look at it, I will have forgotten how it goes.
My accuracy is definitely improving and I am finding the ruler work increasingly easier. The stitch regulator on the Capri is a big help as I can focus in on the stitching without having to worry about the stitch length.
The next block was interesting
Lots of straight lines and again some concentration was needed to follow that stitching path to make it a continuous design. Easy to execute and looks also good when only stitched in one direction.
Today then I tackled the border. Followed Natalia's suggestion of stitching a loopy design above the scallops, however then encased this with a wiggly design (Natalia cut her border off past the loopy design which I did not want to do). I used the HQ Wiggle Wave ruler for this exercise
This ruler is fast becoming my favourite wave ruler.
The ruler makes it very easy to fit your waves into the border. All I did was measure my border and determined how many repeats I will fit into the border. On the long side I was out by half the repeat. If you look on the ruler, half of the length would have ended me up on a high point in the corner which I did not want, as I started on a low point. In order to end on a low point and make the corners look the same, I then needed to reduce my waves by 3/4in across the length of the border. I normally struggle with this when drawing out a border, but with this ruler I find it is quite easy as long as you keep track of what you are doing. So, as I am stitching along the wave and stop in the valley or a high point, I shift the ruler by about 1/4in to elongate the curve, 3 times before the center and 3 times after the center. Without fail this works a treat and I arrived smack bang at a low point in the corner, making my corners appear identical. The only marking I did was an approximate position of the repeats so I knew I was on track as I was stitching along. I could, of course, have chosen a different starting point for the corner, however I thought it was safer to start at the beginning of the repeat as I get easily confused with these things. Maybe next time I try a differently shaped corner by starting on a high point or somewhere in between.
Anyway, more ruler work coming up in the border. I am thinking of going around it one more time with a piano key design...not sure yet what width though or maybe a pinstripe arrangement. We'll see.
Thoroughly enjoying this quilt along.
Karin
This is looking incredible, Karin! I struggle with planning and remembering an efficient stitch path, too. I wonder if my brain would "click" and get better at that if I did more of it, or if it's just something that some people can do better than others -- like how my husband has this amazing sense of direction and can retrace his steps anywhere that he's ever been before, figure out short cuts just from his memory without looking at a map, etc... And I'll be in the passenger seat, completely lost and confused until suddenly we pop out from an obscure side street and we're in a totally different part of town from where I thought we were. This is like me trying to quilt one of these elaborate ruler designs in one continuous path... :-). Your scallop ruler, and your explanation of how you use it to get the corners right, is HUGELY helpful, too. Thanks for linking up with Long Arm Learning!
ReplyDeleteHi Karin! That is a great idea, making a folder with stitching instructions to remind yourself in the future. Brilliant! I can definitely see myself wanting to use these in the near future but totally forgetting how to make it continuous. I, too, am thoroughly enjoying this quilt along! ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilting!
ReplyDelete