My progress on the tumbler quilt has been slow or non-existent a lot of days but I have made some progress. Nothing about this is hard but it takes time and perseverance.
I got the strips cut from all the fabrics. I don't know how many different fabrics there are. On most I cut only one strip, a few I cut two and there were a few pieces where I only had partial strips. Oh well, that's the point to make it scrappy.
Then the fun part started, cutting all those little tumblers. I do not have a tumbler template and wasn't about to spend over $25 to buy one just for this project. I wandered around and looked in all nooks and crannies to see what I could find to use. TA DA! I found a Dresden plate template/ruler that had never been opened. I pulled it out, figured the size I wanted my tumblers and used painters' tape to mark the size for easy reference.
I simply cut in one direction, flip the ruler around and cut the other piece, continuing until the strip is cut.
It was my idea to simply toss the tumblers into a plastic bin and then pull them as they came to sew them.
One of those ideas that worked better in concept than in execution. Since I was cutting strips of double fabric there were always two pieces stuck together and also a number of cuts lying together. So I sat for a while and separated the tumblers into separate piles so that they could be mixed up. When finished, I added them back to the bin in different orders and then stirred them up.
I sat down to start the sewing. Again, the idea works but execution is a little more difficult.
Yeah, I had to fix that one but it was a learning process. I continued to sew them together until I had the row about as long as I wanted it, considering that I would be adding borders as well.
There are 25 different tumblers in that row but it is as wide as I want it for now. There are probably about 15 more different tumblers that weren't used. They'll go into the next row. I'll keep sewing rows of tumblers until it again gets to the size that I want it.
So, that's where the Ride sits at the moment.
We are having a glorious fall day today. Sunshine and mid 60's which is a bit cooler than normal. This should be October weather.
Y'all take care
The initial cutting out part seems like it would be tedious, but I always enjoy putting colors together and seeing the visual affect unfold. It gets more interesting as it goes on, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteThe "random" pulling is never as easy or as "random" as we'd like it to be. Ugh. I find that I sort dark, medium and light...or the various shades (ie: blue, red, yellow, etc.) and pull from each pile as I go. While it is more time consuming, it helps give a more balanced "random" look.
ReplyDeleteIt looks great so far!
I loved making my tumbler quilt. I, also, used a Dresden Plate template that was borrowed from a friend and it worked perfectly. Have fun making yours!
ReplyDeleteHow fun! I have a tumbler quilt waiting on quilting but it was ever so fun to make! Love how you found a ruler in the stash that worked for you! How is the quilt coming along? Would love to see the progress.
ReplyDelete