I have been trying all week to get a few free moments to show you some pictures. I am off on a trip tomorrow and don’t know if I will get to posting until the first weekend in March, which is why I want to post!
These are the retail therapy fabrics that I bought. I have already washed and ironed them do I could use them in the 2008 Fabric of the Year quilt (see below). I was pretty disappointed in the quality of the fabric in the whole top row except for the multicolored dots on the light background (right). The green and yellow fabric with the white dots are really, really thin. You can see through them and I am sure the seams will show through if I press towards.
I found the other two by searching for violet on the site that shall remain nameless. It turns out that the fabrics are very, very dark. Not violet at all. At least not my definition of violet. [I could go into a whole dissertation on taxonomies here, but I’ll spare you. I’d like to keep a few readers.] That wasn’t the main problem with these fabrics. When I tried to press them from the front, the iron kept getting caught on the fabric. I don’t know if ‘caught’ is the right term, but I couldn’t smoothly move the iron over the front of the fabric. I had to turn the fabric over to press it.
The color is printed on the front and something about the ink makes it not smooth. I love shopping online, because I don’t have to leave my house, but this is a good example of one of the pitfalls: I can’t feel and look at the fabric before I buy it. I could return the fabric, but I have already washed and cut into it. When it is cut into smaller pieces, I am sure it will be no problem.
Here are the two newest members of the Pineapple family. They are both a perfect… 14″. Sigh. They are supposed to be 12.5″. I made these so carefully, I don’t think it is possible to have been anymore precise. I measured each strip to ensure it was 1.75″. I also made sure the blocks were square as I sewed each row on.
I am bringing all the blocks with me this weekend and will work on them when I have time. I also spoke with TFQ about them and some possibilities are:
- the new iron
- the service on my sewing machine last fall.
I decided that I would finish this quilt even if it meant making all the blocks over. Blocks never go to waste, so I could make a lot of pillows!
Here are the new fabrics that I cut for this week.
Here they are all sewn together and integrated into the blocks I made last week.
I’m so glad you’ve decided to finish your pineapple quilt. I was sick just at the thought of all those blocks that turnedo out the wrong size. But you’re right – pillows. And then if you redo the blocks and put the quilt together – it’s going to be a real DOOZY of a masterpiece.
These new blocks – not sure what you’d call them – just two rectangles. A new project? That’s what I get for catching up on your blog by going backwards in date.
Thanks for your support on this. I do enjoy the semi-mindlessness of making the blocks. I really like the dots, so I just can’t give it up. I would have liked to have finished it already so I can move on, but I am sure there is a lesson in this and I am determined to learn it.
Re: the new blocks. They are a kind of rail fence. You may have missed my post on it. Look at: http://artquiltmaker.blogspot.com/2008/01/coalescing-ideas_12.html
They are the fabric of the year project.