Thundery Thursday

We had a terrific thunderstorm blow through here this morning. High winds, hail, lots of lightning. There are many trees and limbs are down (though not in my yard) and many people are without power. They are predicting another bad one this afternoon, so today seemed like a good day to stay close to home and get some sewing done.

Earlier in the week I got two borders attached to the blue pinwheel quilt--a navy blue inner and a Kona snow outer. That's what I intended to do many years ago when I started this quilt, so I'm sticking with the original plan. That plan called for some triangle points to extend out into the border as you can see below.

I couldn't wrap my mind around the math that was necessary for me to cut and sew these into the border, so I decided to applique the outer triangles on. It actually seems to be working out okay.

The method I'm using is from an older post by Judy at Quilting with Ragdolls. I wish I could link to it, but the original post seems to have disappeared. What you do is make a paper template the size you want your applique piece to be. Take your fabric and turn the seam allowance over the paper and sew the piece right onto the paper (I'm using freezer paper so it won't slide around). You sew through the paper up until you get to the corner. Fold the fabric over at the corner, and make a couple of slip knots to hold it there, but DON'T sew through the paper at that point. When you finish, press it well, clip the basting threads, and slide out the paper. Since the corners are not attached to the paper and will still have the slip knots in them, they will stay in place and the rest of the piece will be nicely pressed with the seam allowances folded over where you want them.


I have five more triangles to sew. I'm pretty pleased with the way this is turning out and hope to get it finished today.

By the way, if you use Bloglines, you can "clip" blog posts that have good instructions like Judy's and save them. At the bottom of each post that shows up on Bloglines, there is a "clip/blog this" button. If you click on it, you can save it to a clip file which is accessible from the menu on the top of the feed list. I use my clip file as a source for inspiration and for techniques I want to try, like Judy's excellent applique basting technique. Thanks, Judy!