Take Care of that Cutting Mat

That I have been Off-the-radar-screen is certainly an understatement.  Preparation for my California retreat and vacation took up the first part of the summer.  The trip to CA was wonderful, starting with meeting and seeing old friends, hugs and greetings from Leslie, Melissa and Carson, the retreat was excellent, and the time spent with my children was a precious gift.

While in CA I picked up a stack of beautiful and bright fabrics.  I am in the process of turning them into a pretty wild drunkards path quilt.  Can't wait to finish it!

My cutting mat has been through a lot with me and I have appreciated how well it has held up through the years.  Part of the reason for that is the wisdom of the woman I bought it from many years ago.  She shared with me how to care for my mat so that it would give me many years of use and she was right.

Your mat needs hydration from time to time.  She advised that I soak it in warm water and use a little dish detergent and a soft brush and scrub it.  I try to do this once a year, but more often I'm sure wouldn't hurt.  In between I use a damp cloth and wipe it down.

After each time I use it I have a piece of leftover batting that I wipe it down with to get the fabric particles out of the cut marks.  This helps it to self heal as it should.

Her last bit of wisdom was to keep sharp blades in my rotary cutter and avoid sawing back and forth on my mat.  I could do better at this one.

Let me know if you have learned additional ways of caring for this sewing room workhorse.

Blessings,
Dee

3D Flying Geese Tutorial

The next three posts will be showing you how to make three dimensional blocks with the first one being the flying geese.  Any size will work but we will use the following dimensions for this tutorial.

Fabrics needed;

Two 3 1/2" squares of the background fabric
One 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" rectangle that will become the triangle portion of the block. 

Fold the rectangle in half short sides together and wrong sides together.  Lay the folded rectangle on a background square with raw edges to the top, folded side down.  Lay the other background square on top right sides together and stitch down the right side.

When you open the sewn unit it should look like this.  Turn the block so that the folded side of the rectangle is to the top.

Place your finger into the opening of the rectangle and spread it open.  This will give you the flying geese unit.

Press flat and there you have it.

The next post will be the three dimensional pinwheel.

A Little bit of Starch

When we moved to Michigan my camera went AWOL and my phone is not wanting to send pictures I take to my email or anywhere else for that matter.  Therefore, no pictures until I either buy a new camera or a new phone.

Last month I taught the quilt group how to make a lone star block.  What beautiful projects came out of that class.  There were also questions that I hope I can answer if you decide you want to tackle this issue.  To get the block to come together without the distortion and lump in the middle there are a few things you can do that will help the process.

When you make the strip sets and iron them use spray starch or Best Press to give them stability with all of the bias edges.  I also use it again after I have sewn the strip sets together to make the diamond shape.  For me this makes all the difference in how the block turns out.

This is one of those patterns where cutting, piecing 1/4 inch seams carefully and pressing with starch creates a more successful outcome.   In fact, any block where you have bias edges and need to be extra careful in handling it, starch or Best Press helps tremendously.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.