Only two more Spider Web blocks to show for this week. Now I have 24 blocks which is exactly half of my goal.
No worries, though. I have lots of block quarters that need trimming and papers removed. I trim a few up each day if I feel like it (I don't like trimming) and then remove papers while watching TV after dinner. Then I sew them into blocks the following day. Well, in theory that's how it's all supposed to work. Some parts of the process get clogged up sometimes but things are still moving forward somehow or other.
I also prepare pieces for sewing the next day in front of the TV. I think that spider and webs glow in the dark. I'm not normally awake when it's dark so I'm not sure if that's true.
I usually work on 8 quarters at a time and cut pieces for each round as I sew. So I sew a strip each side, get up and iron, cut pieces for next round, sew a strip and so on. I use a tiny stitch setting so papers practically remove themselves when I sew. That means these blocks are thread eaters. I sew with old thread from the thrift store, ends of spools, bobbins that aren't empty in any color. And then when those run out I sew with cheap polyester thread from Dollar General.
As I cut strips I keep two piles of short strips going. If after I cut a piece it looks too small for the first round I put it in a pile. I will sort through it for pieces to cut for each successive found before I cut additional pieces from strips in the shoe box. If a strip seems too small for the end piece it goes into a baggie. At some other time I will sort through that baggie and cut postage stamp squares of 1.5 inch or sew them all together into one long strip.
To make this quilt I've been using Bonnie Hunters tutorial for a 10 3/4 inch block. I'm using 1.5 inch scraps that have been accumulating for quite some time.
In 2012 I made a Spider Web quilt using a tutorial from Quilt It and a varied widths of scraps. That tutorial uses a fabric foundation that is cut away so I felt there was a lot of waste.
But I've saved that "waste" all these years and I've been sewing some of those scraps together into larger pieces of made fabric to cut and use for some of the center kite pieces for this string quilt.
9 comments:
this pattern looks like it is a really good one for scraps!
Love the spider web fabric you are using for the spider web quilt. This quilt has been on my to-make quilt for a long time.
The black webby fabric is great for these blocks! And thanks for sharing your process.
The Spider Web quilts I made were also very wasteful of fabric, drawing “kites” onto large background triangles and then cutting off the side pieces. I would also change to Bonnie Hunter’s pattern if I make another Spider Web which I can imagine I will because I LOVE them: the making and the finished quilt.
Only you could make spider web fabric look fun.:)
Good progress and colorful strips.
Bonnie's method looks about the same as MSQC's tutorial I'm thinking, and a lot of other Quilter's do it that way too.
Yes, less waste.
I hate removing papers, but love trimming scrap and string blocks. I find it very satisfying to neaten up those ragged edges. If I was close by, I'd come over and do your trimming for you! Now trimming HSTs, that's not as much fun. They look good already, so trimming is just tedious neatness for squareness.
I need to try this method sometime. I've done two spiderweb quilts using the pattern in the book 'Quilt's from the Quiltmaker's gift'. I love the look of them, but the pattern uses two template wedges to square off the blocks and they were a pain to get right. But first I have a mess of other projects to get finished.
Pat
Thanks for sharing your process. Sounds like you have a good plan.
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