Step Seven and the StarLit Dreams Quilt

  Sorry, I haven't been posting last month because I am having trouble with my blog because they are changing things around.  Hopefully, this is fixed now.  The first square I did it your way and ironed all of my seams to one side.  I had a lot of bulk where the gray square met the half square triangle.  So, I stopped doing this and did my good seamstress way of ironing open the seams and this really did reduce the bulk.  I would at least do this where you are going to have many seams coming together.  Never in all the years I have sewn have I ever been told to iron seams your way.  I know you butt your seams together, but I think I can match better with my seams open. 

This will just have to be my preference and every one can do it their way.  I have a lot of these to make and it takes longer than I thought it would.  I have another post ready, so it will be coming along soon in a day or two!  

Squares Are Finished!

 I finished up the squares this morning and pressed them.  

After checking with the ruler, what I did notice is that some of the squares are not exactly square.  I  also wish I would of made the 2 1/2" white squares for the triangles and little bit larger when I cut them out. This way after I sewed them to the gray squares, I could trim them down a little bit more accurately.

 

Some are almost perfect and some are off a little bit.  I don't suppose it will show and I really can't correct that now.  What I learned is maybe as I sew the white triangles to the squares, I could stop and measure to make sure things are accurate and not wait until they are totally finished.  Since I cut everything out by hand, I am sure they will never come out totally perfect.  I think I can correct any mistakes as I sew them to the next pieces if needed.  

As you can see, I got out my Alto Fabric Cutter.  Does anyone still use one of these or are they obsolete?  I thought I could just trim them evenly with this but I will have to dig out the video and watch it again because I don't remember how to exactly set it up.  It was pretty expensive and I should not just let it set there unused in the box.

Also if you are new to the blog, I did not realize that my link to join was removed.  I have replaced it now, so if you want to join the blog and follow along, I just need your name and email address!  Thank you!

Great Grandbaby Home From Hospital

 I thought I would just give you a quick update.  You know I watch my little one and two year old great grandbabies several days a week.  I know this child, the one who just turned two.  I have explained to doctors since last November what the problem is with him.  They act like I and my granddaughter are crazy and really could care less.  They would say let’s just put him on an antibiotic.  I know that it is not good to always be on an antibiotic, so finally I said no more.  We went to Akron Children's hospital and got no help and then we went to Nationwide Children's Hospital and met his doctor.   Finally, one doctor took an interest and he knew what was going on with him.  He can't breathe, his nose runs continually 24 hours a day, thick flem. We had to follow him all day long and wipe his nose, or it, not to be gross,  goes into his mouth.  You wipe it, he turns around, and it’s there again.  When he would sleep, he would stop breathing, then gasp, and take a breath.  I never left his side when he would sleep here.  His oxygen level would drop and my granddaughter had to get a machine for the house to keep an eye on him.  Then this doctor took over and set him up to remove his adenoids and tonsils.  We took him down and he went into surgery.  After about 20 minutes into the surgery, we get a call from the nurse saying the doctor wants to talk with us.  My heart dropped to my toes.  I thought why would he call during surgery unless something was really wrong.  It was ok though, he wanted to put tubes in his ears also because they were full of water and the right one had a big glob of infection that he said has been there for a long time.  The surgery went well but the doctor said his adenoids were so large it totally blocked off his nasal passage and he could not breathe through his nose at all.  This is why his nose would run out so bad because it could not pass down his throat.  He said he would have a lot of swelling and still would not be able to breathe for about another two weeks.  Then we went back to his room and everyone came rushing in and said his oxygen level is very low and he can’t breathe right and he needs to be watched.  I told them this is how he breathes normally.  Then they came in and said they were putting him into intensive care to be watched.  So we moved up there.  As soon as we got into the room, this respiratory doctor, a woman, comes in and our baby’s nose is running down into his mouth and she just glares at us and said you brought this child for surgery when he has such a bad cold.  Well this really, REALLY. upset me.  I said, he doesn’t have a cold.  I have watched him every day to keep him well for the surgery.  She says he has a bad respiratory infection.  I said, if he has a bad respiratory infection, then he has had it for the last nine months. This is just how he lives.  She starts calling for tubes and starts shoving them down the babies throat while he is screaming bloody murder.  I was pacing the floor back and forth and trying so hard not to grab her hands to stop.  I know she probably thought she was doing the right thing, but I am so tired of no one ever believing us on how this child has lived.  Then she flips him over and starts beating him on the back she says to break up his congestion. This poor babies little eyes are just begging us to make it stop.  Now they bring in an x-ray machine and take a picture.  The respiratory doctor leaves and a nurse come in and tells us his lungs are totally clear.  The respirator doctor never came in again!  Gee, I wonder why!    His oxygen level is still very low, but by the next day he started to feel better and his oxygen is coming back up.  Thankfully.  this doctor was so wonderful, he told us exactly what to expect.  He said you will not see any change in his breathing.  He says the adenoids are out but the swelling is so bad, we have to wait for that to go down and then this poor little guy is going to have the best night’s sleep he has ever had in his little life. He said his nose will stop running, because it will be able to finally drain down his throat naturally. It’s been a week now and every day, I can see such improvement.  I only wiped his nose twice yesterday and he actually slept for his nap and he no longer gasps for air.  I am so happy!   Yesterday he was eating fritos, so I know his throat is getting better.  One more week and all this should be part of the past!  Thank you God for helping our baby and for our wonderful doctor!!

A Little Bit Of Quilting Finished

 Well I started sewing the squares at a diagonal seam.  I had a real problem trying to get a scant seam stitch.  I must of practiced about 10 times to get it right.  The only way I knew it was correct was when I folder over the diagonal piecing it fit the square exactly.  I must have a lot of positions on my sewing machine because I kept adjusting down a number at a time and it took so many adjustments to get it correct.

Here are the numbers that I am using.  3.5 needle position and 1.50 stitch length.

I sewed the diagonal pieces to both sides of my 4 1/2" square and then I trimmed them down to 1/4" seam allowance.  I had all of these little pieces left over and I was just going to throw them away and then I felt guilty.  So I sewed them all together making tiny square triangles.  Thinking some day I might be able to use them.  It only took me about 10 minutes.  I just fed them in one right after another.  I am not going to cut them apart until I decide to use them.  Maybe I will sew them into the back of the quilt somewhere as a little bit of design.

I do want to say that I have never quilted with this scant seam.  I see now why it is important to get it correct when making these diamond shaped blocks.  One thing I discovered is to be very careful of how you are sewing them.  You can't sew one in this direction and then how ever you grab your next one, sew in maybe flipping it over and sewing it from the back side which you would think would not matter.  Well it does because that scant seam needs to be on the left side of the seam so when you fold it over it fits.

When you sew with the scant stitch and you must make sure you line up your drawn seam line. Make sure you follow the line.  Do not look at your needle when you are sewing because your needle is not sewing on the line that you had drawn.  This kind of was throwing me off.  I thought, oh my, I am not even sewing on the line and you won't be.  You want to follow again the line you drew.  You can see in the picture that when I have my drawn line where I want it you will notice the needle is not in the same position.  it will be sewing away from that line to give you the scant seam.  If you don't understand this just let me know.  I hope the pictures make it clear.

Look where my line is and where my needle is. Follow the line.  Normally you would think your needle needs to be on that line but with the scant seam it won't.  This tiny bit of room allows the fold of the fabric to meet correctly to make your square.

QUILT SQUARES ALL CUT OUT!

 I have all of my quilt squares cut out and ready to go.  I kind of got way laid last week; I had a special request from my daughter to do some sewing that needed done immediately.  Of course, she comes first.  Now, I thought I would be able to sew this week, but the daycare for my great grandsons is closed for Covid for a couple of days.  My one great grandson is scheduled again for surgery.  So I am going to have to watch them all this week and next to keep the boys healthy.  He was supposed to have surgery last month but when we took him to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, they said he had a fever of 99 degrees and was too congested to do the surgery.  He is always conjested.  Now it was postponed to August 2.  He is just two now and he can hardly breathe because his tonsils and adenoids are so large.  It just is so scary to watch him sleep.  If he tries to breathe through his nose, I think he stops breathing.  I just feel like I have to stay with him every minute to make sure he is breathing.  This started last November and we have been trying to get him help since then.  Sooo, we must keep him well for this next scheduled surgery.  So it will be a slow process on the quilt for a few weeks.

Back to sewing, I will say I am lousy at cutting out fabric for a quilt.  I am particular but when I use the rotary cutter and get to the top of my ruler, it always moves.  I have that plastic on the back of the ruler to help hold it in place, but I just still seem to have trouble.  I did finally figure out something that really helped me.  Now don't laugh but here is the picture.

This helped me tremendously!!  That ruler never moved a spec.  I then took my iron and put it on the bathroom scale and it weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces.  This will now be one of my favorite fabric sewing items and it is just so darn cute.  One thing though is that I sure can't imagine ironing with this iron!!!  Those poor women really worked hard!!

Also here is a picture of my cut out fabric all organized and ready to sew.  I might be able to squeeze in an hour a day in the early morning!!  I hope so!!

Getting Fabric Ready For Cutting My Way!

 I never skip this first step and that is to serge the two cut seams on the ends of my material. This keeps the fabric from unraveling on the ends.  When that happens you can actually loose alot of fabric to get it cleaned back up.  This is my very old and first serger but it still runs great.  I have learned how to adjust it and I keep it well oiled and it runs perfect.  I only keep white thread in it, so if I need a quick serge, I can use it.  I very rarely change the thread on this serger so it is always ready to use quickly.  I have another Janome serger that I use for all of my regular serging.

I then washed my quilt fabric in cold water with a small amount of detergent.  Now the next step is probably unheard of in this day and age.  I have clothes lines in my basement and a line in the backyard.  I hang my material on the clotheslines to dry.  I use the line outside in the Spring and Summer and the one in the basement in Fall and Winter.  I use the same process for both places.

After the material is dry, I spray both sides of the material still hanging on line,  with StaFlo spray starch by Purex and I usually find this at Walmart.  After spraying it comes out to be a little bit damp and it takes about 10 more minutes to dry.    I make the spray myself.  The recipe is on the bottle, but it is one cup of Staflo to 2 cups of water.  This works really well.  After the material drys from the spray starch, the fabric feels a little stiff and you hardy have to even iron it.  It comes out that nice. I do and it goes quickly because all you do is give it a quick pressing!  I don't have to keep stopping to spray my fabric with starch.  Just a quick pressing and your ready to go!

I hope you will try this process and see how you like it.  

Getting Started On The Starlit Dreams Quilt

 I have all of my material now.  I really wanted this to come out looking just like the picture.  So what I did was a sent an email to Shannon Bowie, the designer, and asked her if she would give the names of the fabrics that she used.  She was kind enough to do just that.  Two of the fabrics I found in a Amish Quilt store around my home and the other two I had to order off of Etsy.

The Black fabric is a gingham called Apricot & Ash by Corey Yoder

The center gray fabric is from - Moda -  Sanctuary by 3 Sisters.  It is called Floral Bloom in Zengray

This is actually a full white fabric and it has tiny whike polka dots on it and it is by Quilting Treasures called Quilting llusions - Dots- White on White.

Moda - Sanctuary by Three Sisters Adopt the Pace of Nature

The pictures did not turn out very pretty, the fabrics are all gorgeous.  Now I just have to get everything cut out.  Will be starting to sew soon!