Sandi

Stalling…

I need to work on my Icicles quilt. I’m supposed to have it finished and delivered to the quilt shop this week, along with a pattern. I still love the way it will look, but I’m having a heck of a time actually sewing it. It’s super easy to foundation piece, but that takes a lot longer than regular piecing. I haven’t figured out a good way to piece it without the foundations, though.

Icicles block

I could cut templates and then everything works just right, but… it’s templates. Blech. I tried cutting rectangles then turning them so opposite corners met (it’s hard to explain, but trust me, it gives you half rectangle units). The problem is, when I try to get them exactly the right size, it goes all wonky. The 1/4″ seam doesn’t line up exactly at the points of the icicles, and it is driving me nuts! Cutting rectangles then cutting them in half diagonally and then piecing sounds like it should work, but getting them to line up correctly is a challenge because you have to leave the points hanging off just exactly so much.

Sigh. I think I’m just going to keep plugging away at the foundation pieced blocks. I have three done and I’d like to have at least 12 before I turn it into a quilt. It won’t be huge, but it will at least be a start. Or maybe I’ll just do 6, and make it a table runner… However big I make the sample, the pattern will have fabric requirements for many different sizes. I just need to finish something!

By the way, the fabric is Moda’s “Let it Snow Batiks” by Laundry Basket Quilts.
Okay, back to the machine…

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3 comments

  1. I made something similar to this — paper piecing was definitely the easiest way to go. But why can’t you treat them like half-square triangles? Cut oversized rectangles and sew from corner to corner a quarter-inch from center? (Does that make sense?)

  2. That’s what I thought! Unfortunately, sewing corner to corner gives you two kite shaped pieces, not two rectangles. You can turn the top piece sideways, so you line up the upper right corner of the top piece with the upper left corner of the bottom piece. This gives you the correct shape but you waste a lot of fabric and it’s difficult to come up with the correct dimensions to get a finished 6″ block.

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