Saturday, December 31, 2016

Mrs. Lebo's Legacy - the Quilt

I',m learning a few things....Isn't it nice that we can continue learning decade after decade when we become quiltmakers?

First of all, one jelly roll of 42 fabrics is not likely to be enough for nine Dresden plates with 20 blades.

 I did cut each strip in half to yield a lot more variety as I piece.  That means I can cut eight wedges from each strip set.  Had I not decided to do that, each full width strip set would have yielded 17 wedges instead of 16.  However, if I had used the full width strip sets, that still would have given me only 170 blades--and 180 are needed for a quilt with nine plates.  I found some gifted fabric that works with the Bread 'n' Butter colors, but I think I'm still going to have only enough for eight plates, so I'm trying to come up with something creative for the ninth block.

 I'm using the Missouri Star Quilt Company's layer cake wedge ruler.  I think it may have been an add-on to an order I placed with them for something else; I know it's been around here for over a year, but I'd only used it once and that was for some smaller project.

 It was slipping a bit as I cut, so I opened one of the drawers of my treadle and pulled out a small rectangle of rubberized shelf webbing that I use when I quilt on the treadle.  I cut a couple of tiny rectangles and glued them to the back of the ruler with Elmer's water soluble School Glue. That is helping.

 It's important to remember to keep the narrow end of the ruler at the edge of the strip set as we flip and cut.

 Also, I can see that my scant 1/4 inch seam allowance, which I accomplish with a stack of post-it notes, was a bit too scant.  However, since I pieced all the strips and wedges with that allowance, it won't be a problem.  (Each four-strip set should have been exactly 8.5 inches wide.) I've also found that it's easy to let the ruler slip a little instead of keeping that 8.5 inch line parallel to the edge of the fabric.--Little lessons.

 I'm also separating the wedges into two groups as I cut, because that should help me get more of the variety I want.

The next step is to create the point at the top of each blade.
I also need to decide what fabric or fabrics to use for the circles at the center of the blocks.

Happy quiltmaking,....

4 comments:

Needled Mom said...

Those will be beautiful plates. I like the idea of the fabric bits on the ruler.

Unknown said...

This is going to be a beautiful quilt. Thank you for the tips. I've never made the Dresden plate pattern. This will certainly help me when the urge to do one hits me.

Missy Shay said...

Your blocks are going to look great!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Great wedges. You'll think of something for the last few.

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