Tools of the Trade

Tuesday was my first quilt class and there were two other women and a man in the class. I was so relieved to find that the instructor was relaxed and open to the creativity students. Although she used precise directions and demonstrations, she encouraged experimentation with fabrics and I found that she made the class a fun experience. The tools, a cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler and how to use each was clearly demonstrated. Sooooo....from those previous fabrics I showed, I cut 3 1/4" strips from both the light and dark fabrics. Then they were stitched with exactly 1/4 inch seams in strips of 3 lights, then 3 darks.
Here is the 1/4 inch seam. This has always
been a puzzle to me...but with "teachers" help, we measured on the ruler so that the needle touched the 1/4 in line, and drew a mark along the edge of the ruler on a piece of masking tape which had previously been laid down on the machine. Simple! That is as long as the fabric is fed so that the line is on the edge of the fabric. Then we stitched 3 pieces of fabric together, pressed the seams and were ready for the next step. More to follow!!

Today, the Mr. and I worked at painting the outside of the abode. We battled the wind, but the temperature was moderate so at least the
paint didn't freeze. I will try to get a picture tomorrow. We got really brave I think in choosing the colors for the exterior. We chose a light olive for the main color, a mossy green for the trim and a reddish brown for the accent.

The trees are turning and this year we have so many trees with leaves on still as late as it is. Usually we have had a couple of major snow storms and quite often the trees don't get a chance to turn colors. The heavy cold snow simply causes them to fall.

This post may be a little dull reading, but I really want to document this quilt project and will post something a little different next time. Thanks for hangin' in there.

~"Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused."....
Anonymous (That's me!)