18 January 2013

Easy Street Mystery Clue 8

I have a very nice sewing machine, but we are not the best of friends ;( Whenever I sit down at the machine, I can feel myself tensing, it is not a very enjoyable experience. I can sit and stitch by hand for hours at a time, but I will never live long enough to make all the quilts I want to if I hand piece them all!
So I limit my machine time, an hour or so at a time, I don't stress so much and I am sort of getting to enjoy it ;)
A couple of hours after Bonnie posted the final clue on New Year's Day, completed quilt tops were popping up all over Blogland. I am progressing at a much gentler pace!

I have all my 'A' Blocks pieced...
All my 'B' Blocks...
And my corner and setting triangles ...
I really love how this quilt is starting to look, now I just need to sew the top together...
and make a choice for the border fabrics...




EDITED - It's not obvious until the blocks are laid out, but I have sewn most of the four-patches the wrong way ;( the orange squares are meant to form a secondary quilt pattern. Question is do I undo them all or keep going and call it finished? I have already sewn some of the flying geese upside down!! I told you I didn't like to piece by machine! This is destined as a well used bed quilt - no competition entering around here! What would you do?

13 comments:

  1. Great fabric choice Elaine and I love the first two selections for the border. Take care.

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  2. the fabric colors look so great! So do you do some of it by hand and some by machine? I am so intrigued by the whole process.

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    1. this was all by machine - which is why there are so many errors... I much prefer to piece by hand!

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  3. Your blocks are beautiful! I love those fabrics. I have a hard time choosing borders so keep that in mind - I chose the first one. I like the brown as the inner border a lot.

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  4. You are way ahead of me! I would never have the patience to piece by hand. It is a true art form and you should be very proud of those you do by hand!

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  5. oh! OH!!! I just *love* your fabrics for this. As you say, the time factor would limit your quilts if you did everything by hand only, and I understand this is a giant quilt. What a lovely, lovely product of your time with the machine. :D

    And I know a lot of folks have less Easy STreet work done than you do, so don't you feel one bit bad!

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  6. I am making this too - not as far along as you yet - will hopefully get some done this weekend. As far as re-doing your little errors go I would probably do one and see how long it takes and decide if you want to take the extra time. I did one of Bonnies mystery quilts several years ago and didn't notice my mistakes til the whole thing was quilted and bound. Your colours are beautiful x

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  7. Your colour scheme looks lovely.

    I pulled out the 4-patches (that I found) that were wrong in mine. But it wasn't on every block so didn't take a terribly long time. Fortunately they are at the edges of the blocks, so it is not too tricky to take them out and turn them.

    Still, yours that are facing the wrong way aren't obvious until you look for them. I didn't see them in your photos until you mentioned them. So maybe if you leave them as they are no-one will ever notice?

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  8. I would probably redo them but I would wait a little bit. I would set it aside for a few weeks and then go back. That way it would seem like a fresh project instead of one that will never end. Personally I would never be happy with the turned 4 patches. Now I want to go back and double check mine before I quilt it. :). Good luck. Your colors are sooooo pretty.

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  9. Elaine, I think your mystery quilt is beautiful and you should leave it as it is!

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  10. Elaine, I think your mystery quilt is beautiful and you should leave it as it is!

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  11. Anonymous19/1/13 00:46

    Since the 4-patches form an obvious secondary chain pattern, I'd change them. I love the soft and muted colour palette you used - you have a very pretty quilt.

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  12. Your colors are so soothing. I would only take the four-patches and geese out if it bothered me. If it's your quilt and it doesn't bother you, then leave it.

    Sorry to hear that you and your sewing machine don't jive. It really makes it hard to quilt.

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