Monday, February 6, 2017

Conestoga Crossing Month 3: Sewing Days Block


pieces per block: 16
number of blocks: 7
waste HST's: 0



Making the blocks:      

                                                                                        Wait a second..... now this looks familiar.......


This one is pretty straight forward.  No surprises, just lay out your pieces

                                                                                     
                                                                                                           ...I KNOW I have seen this before!
then sew them together in rows.



......Talk about Deja Vu....!


Easy peasy, right?
That was weird......


Something Extra:


Alrighty, now that we are done living in the past let's talk about something else... 
something I like to call:

Working with a secondary project:


So last month we talked about the importance of chain piecing.  I have since discovered that if you can manage to piece an entire project (or at least until you run out of bobbin thread) without lifting your needle even once, then somehow the cosmic powers will align and all will be right with the  entire world!!! Wooooo!
Ok, maybe it's not quite so dramatic of a thing, but I do like to keep my chain going as long as possible.  One way I accomplish this is by keeping a secondary project running at all times.
A secondary project is usually something that is on my bucket list, or something I'm doing to use scraps, a new idea for my waste triangles.... you get the idea.  It can be anything pieced, really.
One important guideline though, is to make sure it is not a project that requires a lot of thought.  Trying to figure out two complicated patterns at once is a definite NO GO for me!
For this reason I tend to choose what I call monotony projects (or idiot sewing as some call it!)

Choose a project that requires doing the same step over and over and over until you have a quilt made up of the same blocks over and over and over.

Here is one that I'm using during my Conestoga journey:

Find it HERE
It's called County Line from the Simple Whatnots Club by Kim Diehl


I know, I know... it's a photo of a photo... Shows nothing of the fabrics... I'll get a photo of the finished project when it's done!  It's my secondary remember!?

Here is another example of one I've used in the past:
ScrapPatch PaddleWheel

Find some other great patterns HERE

Anywho.... If you have your secondary project all cut out, the idea is to use the pieces for it as your "starts" and "stops" while chain piecing your Conestoga blocks.


This project is made up of 15 blocks that are all assembled exactly the same way... 60 squares that are diagonally pieced... twice.  Sounds like a no brainer to me!
The idea is to use the pieces for it as your "starts" and "stops" while chain piecing your Conestoga blocks.... wow this really is the month for Deja Vu!





I keep my secondary pieces to the right of my machine, and my primary project on the left.
When I am at the end of each sewing session, I make sure I stop with one of these about halfway through and turn my machine off while the needle is still down.  This way, when I sit down to sew again, I just have to take off again (my machine requires my to press the needle up/down button before I can start so that's why it helps to be in the middle of the piece.)
Needless to say, the cosmic forces are well on their way to become right in my world!! 


What kind of secondary projects do you work on???

total pieces sewn this month: 112
total pieces in the quilt so far: 356
Waste HST's collected so far: 32

No comments:

Post a Comment