Leah Day has been doing UFO
Sunday (see the button in the side bar) to encourage herself and her blog
followers to get those UFO (unfinished objects) done. UFO’s are common to most quilters (and other
crafters, I suspect). I know I have a
bunch of them. Everything from stacks of
blocks yet to be assembled into tops to quilts that are pin basted. Today I got one done that has been basted
since last Christmas! I got the middle
row quilted and then got distracted. In
the meantime I have finished 2 baby quilts, four placemats, two notebook
covers, a pillow and 2 art quilts. But
this quilt has been blocking me from making any progress on some larger
projects. So this week I decided, no
more excuses, let’s get this sucker finished.
I just did. YAY!
It is now blocking – after it
dries, it will need trimming/squaring and then binding.
About blocking – I always do this
to a completed top before I baste it, so I know that it is flat and square
before I start quilting. I also know
what its dimensions. After quilting, I
block it again, trying to achieve something close to the beginning
dimensions. I use one or more tailor’s
boards, which are made of corrugated cardboard and have grid lines on them. That helps me pin the top square. I dampen the top with water from a spray
bottle. This relaxes the fabric and
makes smoothing it easier. I pin the
edges about every 2 to 4 inches with fairly heavy duty sewing pins. I first roughly pin one edge, following a
grid line. Then I start smoothing the
other sides. I use the flat of my hand
and stroke the quilt from the middle outwards – firmly but not too hard. I don’t want to over stretch or distort the
quilt more. I use seam lines, sashing
lines and the board lines to help me slowly work around the quilt until it lays
flat and as square as possible. I
respray as needed. I might have to go
around the quilt several times, but it is totally worth the result. I spray it one more time and let it dry – at
least 6 hours, sometimes over night.
Ideally when I pull the pins, nothing moves. Otherwise I do it again.
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| My finished quilt that is blocking. |
This is the first larger project
using my rubber finger tips. I hate
gloves and saw these recommended in a book by Nancy Zieman. They are cheap, too. However, I didn’t like that the fingertips
weren’t free – so I cut them off. I now
have the grip I need, but my hands are able to do fine motor things like
cutting and burying ends, threading the machine, filling a new bobbin, without
having to take them off. I find one on the thumb and one on the first finger of each hand enough.
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| Rubber fingertips I use to quilt. |
Now to tackle the second quilt I
have pin basted. I am out of pins – so I
really need to get these projects done before I can baste the other two tops
that are ready.