Hey there. It's been a busy year. We are enduring a pandemic. We made masks, we quilted quilts. We voted, we elected, we defended, and we watch and see what will come of the US democracy. Meanwhile, my friend Michelle has written a great pattern. I have so much to say about so many things, but today I will write about "Love Boldly."
https://shop.quiltpatternmart.com/collections/from-bolt-to-beauty-michelle-cain/products/love-boldly
The first time I saw this block, Michelle was working on it during a quilt retreat. Remember those? I really miss sewing with friends. I digress. I got very excited about this block, not only because of the amazing modern design and clean lines., but because it offered so much opportunity to appreciate geometry, which is a subject that never gets old for me. Michelle perfected the design and amongst all her other obligations, which included figuring out how best to manage the education of her two school-aged kids in the midst of a pandemic, wrote it out and edited it.
I highly recommend this pattern because it's great, and it's fun, and because the things that happen to your brain whilst sewing it have got to be good. I made two blocks this morning and they look like this:
This pattern uses an ingenious way of strip cutting two large asymmetrical flying geese units in order to create the bottom half of the heart. scraps created from the creation of these are used in the upper half of the block. Though there is a little waste, it's minimal and it's mostly tiny strips and little triangles. With the larger scraps of triangles, I'll make something cute for the back of the quilt.
I often take short cuts in pressing, not only because I'm lazy, but because my iron is three rooms away from my main sewing machine, and I therefore try to bundle my tasks. This block will reward you for ironing every seam open, and it will make you glad for all the tools and rules you can muster for the task. I have this little device that helps press seams open, especially long seams that are meant to be straight. I rarely use it because my seams are rarely this long, and because the tool is a weird length making it sub-optimal for its most important task. Essentially, it's a covered half round piece of wood trim with a little batting and muslin. For those who sew a lot of pre-cut strips, it helps to ensure that the seam is pressed open in a straight line, avoiding the frequent curving or twisting that can happen. If you are going to buy a Strip Stick, please do not make the mistake I made. I bought an 18" stick which is inadequate for even a half strip. Get the 221/2" one or the 45" one. My tool is a little over 18" long, which turns out to be perfect for this quilt block. I was thrilled about this and glad to put it to use.
I used my Accuquilt die cutting machine to make the cutting of the strips fast, easy and accurate. I won't tell you the exact dies I used, because I don't want to reveal copyrighted pattern information, but here's what my cutting process looked like.
And of course there was the obligatory mess I make, complete with sewing at least one strip set together up the wrong side.
https://shop.quiltpatternmart.com/collections/from-bolt-to-beauty-michelle-cain/products/love-boldly
