Piece 'o cake, right?
My first hint that this may not be a complete cake-walk should have been the size of the packaging. The parts needed to assemble the entire quilt top comes in a box that is about 4" wide and 6 or 7" long, and not even an inch thick! Since I've had this kit for a while, I decided to throw it in my bag of stuff for my retreat this past weekend at the Upstairs Inn. I wanted to treat myself to a personal project--when you design quilt patterns and books for a living, it's fun to go completely offline with a non-work sewing project from time to time.
The pieces are really small. Nothing bigger than about 2" long for the largest pieces.
Since they are precision cut, the pieces assemble into blocks beautifully! (But not quickly!)
After a full day of sewing, the blocks were good. By the second day, I started sewing the rows together. And that's when the pattern really started to emerge--stars and straight lines that look curvy.
And all of the sudden (okay, not so much 'all of the sudden') the quilt top is done! All 14x18" of quilt top.
To make sure all the points connect beautifully, the kit instructions suggest that the all the seam intersections are furled including all the pointy-points (I love to furl, as you know, if you've been following me for any length of time!)
Making for a really flat quilt top and a really interesting 'wrong side' of the quilt.
Kinda makes me wonder why I brought all this other stuff to work on!
Some old friends were spotted at the retreat, too! Here's Sue's Petit Fours quilt sample on display at the shop.
Melonie spent some retreat time working on her Bloomin' Steps quilt.
The Common Sense pillow looks cozy tossed on the sofa in the Inn.
And Sue always does a beautiful job of displays in her store. All the projects from When Bad Things Happen to Good Quilters were on display ready for the book signing on Saturday morning.
Certainly, it was fun to get away from the normal routine and spend dedicated time at the sewing machine. But the VERY best part of any quilt retreat is the camaraderie of good friends. Don't you agree?
Happy Stitching!
joan
Love your storm at sea! That is one of my favorite all time quilt patterns! I have made 2, both paper pieced, and I can see another one in my future.
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Hi, I love your quilt! I am starting one and I have some difficulty with furling my seams. Do you have any video that shows how to do it, specially in the storm at sea quilt!
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