Oops, I Designed Something Again
I was planning to play around with the reverse-engineered quilt block just long enough to see if the construction worked. I had so much fun with it, though, that I kept going. I am only a couple of blocks away from a baby quilt. I’m going to finish it and add it to the pile of things to be published. Why wait? As long as my brain is churning out designs, I will take what it gives me, and gladly.
I’m stopping at a baby quilt size for a couple of reasons: 1) They are useful, and 2) I am almost out of fabric in that color combination and I don’t want to buy more. I pulled remnants from the stash and used them up. At some point, I’d like to make this in a larger quilt size with a few more tweaks to the block, but that needs to wait.
I’ll tease you with a picture, though:
Yes, this block has curved seams. I cut the fabric with my 4-1/2” Drunkard’s Path Accuquilt die. Each die cut two quadrants of a four-quadrant circle. With six layers of fabric folded over the die, you can cut 12 sets at one time.
This is so slick. I especially love that the die cuts the notches in the center of each piece. I have the same die in the 3-1/2” and 7” finished sizes. If I do this pattern as a larger quilt, I might use the 7” die.
Curved seams are not hard. Tricky, maybe, but not hard. One of the phrases I learned to hate as a knitting teacher was, “I can’t do that; it’s too hard.” People get head-faked into thinking they can’t do Y-seams, curved seams, blah, blah, blah—you will miss out on all sorts of fun if you don’t try the tricky things. And that’s coming from someone with a serious spatial perception deficit.
I experimented on half a dozen of these curved-seam blocks before working on the ones in the quilt. You will find lots of advice on sewing curved seams on the internet:
Pin generously.
Use as few pins as possible.
Don’t pin at all.
Sew with the convex piece on top.
Sew with the concave piece on top.
Sew slowly.
Sew quickly and don’t stop (this advice came from the non-pinners).
Starch.
Don’t starch.
I tried sewing these on my Janome at first and moved back to Vittorio, my beloved Necchi. (He is a beloved machine for a reason.) After much experimentation, I discovered that it works best for me to use ONE pin, in the center, and to sew with the concave piece on the top. I sew fairly quickly to the middle, remove the pin, then sew to the end, using the stiletto to help hold things in place. I did not starch; starch controlled the bias—as it is meant to do—but in this case, I wanted to maintain the stretchiness of the bias to use it to my advantage. My seams turned out beautifully.
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I was in Seattle at this time last year. I had driven up there from Portland, having just attended one of our Mennonite Conference meetings where I delivered nine tied comforters for the 100th anniversary of Mennonite Central Committee. While I was in Seattle, I participated in a phone call with my MIL and her oncologist. She had just been diagnosed with gallbladder cancer.
The new year went downhill from there.
Elaine and I got together via Zoom yesterday morning to start working on music for Lent and Easter. At one point, I had eight books spread across my desk—four hymnals and four accompaniment books. Our denomination prepares worship materials for Lent and Advent that provide sermon starts and music and visual suggestions, but it is up to each congregation to decide how to use them. We went through the list of suggested songs for the first Sunday in Lent to see which might be suitable.
It was a challenge. We had to eliminate songs we might have done in the past simply because they don’t translate well to our current hybrid Zoom/in-person model. We’re trying to find the opportunities—with a brand new hymnal, we have a lot of new songs we could learn—but it’s not easy. With only a dozen of us in church, spread out among the pews and masked up, we sing one song together at the end of the service. Our quartet has been singing together since the beginning of December and we plan to continue that through Lent and Easter.
[The other three members of the quartet are two brothers and their sister (Elaine); the guys refer to me as “Sis,” and have for a long time, so I rather feel like an honorary sibling.]
And here I feel the need to insert a disclaimer, because the number of people determined to take offense seems to have grown exponentially over the past couple of years. I walk the middle road as much as I can. I do not want to cave to what I think are ridiculous rules imposed by the government while at the same time respecting that people truly are fearful when it comes to this virus. I wear a mask when I go out. However, I think the “science”—and that word is in quotes for a reason—has been politicized and distorted, as have the statistics. Much of the information doesn’t jive with the science I learned in school. I do know people who have had the virus. Some of them have gotten very sick. I know of two people who have died. That was true in past flu seasons, too—three years ago, I ended up on a ventilator in the ICU for a week after having the flu. I’m not talking out of my armpit here.
However, if we’re going to wait for the government to tell us it’s safe again, we’re going to be waiting a long time. I see it in how we went from “two weeks to flatten the curve,” to indefinite lockdowns. Now we’re being told there are more virulent strains of the virus out there. There will always be another bogeyman. At some point, people are going to have to say “Enough.” I am tired of hearing suicide calls on the scanner. People—yes, even the introverts—are not meant to live in isolation from each other.
So I will go to church. I will sing. I will push my personal envelope as far as I can because I refuse to live in fear. I do not condemn people who make other choices. If Zoom church works better for you, that’s great. We should be glad of the technology. If you want to keep your physical distance, I understand and respect that. But if you wanted to come up and hug me after church, I can assure you that I will embrace you warmly.