Well I couldn't resist the Swoon-along being run by Katy at I'm a Ginger Monkey. I had admired many quilts made from Camille Roskelley's Swoon Pattern on Flickr but dismissed it as too difficult for a simple pimple quilter like myself. However it is such a stunning pattern I just kept being drawn back until I couldn't resist any longer. I read a few posts that made me think maybe it wasn't as tricky as I thought. It turns out the block is made mostly with half-square triangles and flying geese. Now I've attempted these quilting staples before somewhat unsuccessfully but I see soooo many great blocks and quilts using HSTs that I reckoned it was about time I learned properly.
So armed with my new friends, spray starch and Frixion pen I had a trial swoon. Much to my surprise it came out fine yay! My heart was pounding when I sewed the final stitches I was so convinced I'd mess it up and end up with pieces that didn't fit together. I did have to unpick a bunch of HSTs not because the stitching was off but because I'd picked up the stack 3.5" squares instead of the 3 7/8" ones duh!
The starch has made loads of difference to the pieces staying true and not stretching and the Frixion pen is sheer genius. I know I'm late to the party on this pen but what a difference it makes to marking up fabric accurately. Just in case you're not aware of these pens here's a link to a video showing you how the lines
disappear when ironed, brilliant!
These Swoon blocks are a pretty huge 24" so I'll be trying out Quilt as You Go to save trying to wrestle a giant quilt through my machine.
I'll be using this fab bundle of Anna Maria Horner Loulouthi that I've been building up over the last few months.
This will be a long term project so I'll probably only do one block a month. Why not go and take a look in the Flickr Group, there's well over 400 people Swooning-along so there must be just about every fabric combination you could ever wish to see there plus loads of great advice too.
Bye for now, happy sewing!
7 comments:
Your practice block looks great! The mix of solids and prints would be really cool, but I think your Loulouthi will be stunning!
Looks amazing nikki, very tempted to join in! Xxx
This is gorgeous (as are all your makes)! You're so clever! If I attempted something like that, I dread to think what it would turn out like - I'd get so confused!!!
Carly
x
Love your fabric choice! You'll be fine and wondering what all the worry was about by the time you are on your second block. Enjoy!
Yay, congrats on conquering your swoon... I'm not playing with this for now, and I think it might become clear why when I catch up with you next Wednesday lol
I am Swooning too:) Love the loulouthi!!!
Love your block and the fabric looks fantastic. I wont be swooning - but I do want to try some QAYG this year. oh - and the pen - something else i NEED to buy!
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