We interrupt our regularly scheduled plan for …

Something new! Surprised? Of course not. 

Cindy called me the other day and told me she picked up a pattern for both of us to practice working with the Quick Curve Mini Ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful—the pattern is Posh Santa. I told her that was great and I’d be happy to demo the technique when some friends came over last Tuesday. That was a laugh because by the time they left, I was still cutting out the first cuts of the design. In my defense, I didn’t have the pattern and any idea about fabric requirements until Cindy arrived around 11:00. 

And I say first cuts because there are secondary cuts that seem to go on and on. But let’s talk about this pattern. 

The premise behind this ruler is to simplify curved piecing by starting with larger pieces, sewing the curved seam, then squaring the unit to a uniform size; in this case, 4”. By the way, you use a 45mm rotary blade for this, which surprised me--I thought you would have to use a 28mm blade. The project is small—28” x 38”. I imagine there are some people that could get it done in a day, but not me. I finished making the first cuts last Wednesday or Thursday. Friday was busy with stuff, and I finally sat down Saturday to start piecing. I pieced all of the 38 curved units and called it a night. 

Why yes, I know I sewed the wrong sides together for this unit. I kept it that way.

Let's talk about piecing those curves. I've never been a huge fan but this technique has me rethinking some patterns I would not have attempted before trying this out. I would recommend using some scrap fabrics to practice if you're really worried about attempting it, but after about 10 sections I realized I was flying through them (well, it seemed I was). Is it a waste of fabric? You bet it is! But that is sometimes the cost for a result that makes one happy. It is what it is.

After errands on Sunday, I started squaring up the units. While the instructions are very clear, the illustrations of where to place the ruler could benefit from being enlarged or by using a magnifying glass. It's clear that there is some margin for error, but my brain wants a clearer measurement for where to cut--but instead of a measurement, you have an image of the unit with the ruler superimposed on it and arrows pointing to where open slots on the ruler should be placed on the unit. I decided to trust the process and soldiered on, but managed to over cut two units and had to remake them. This was where I was before I remade the errant units:

Monday brought housework and work on the new sewing cabinet (yippee!), but I finally got my replacement units made and correctly squared up, but not before cutting off the tip of my left index finger. Yep, after all these years, I cut myself with my rotary cutter. First time for everything, right? And boy, you talk about messy…thankfully, none of the mess landed on the fabrics. Hubs fixed me up with a bandage and I laid low for a bit to make sure I wasn’t going to fall down or black out and a couple of hours later, I had the squared-up units on the design wall. On Tuesday, the main portion of the quilt was pieced. Moving right along, the top was completed Wednesday morning. 

It looks crooked, but that's because I can't stand directly in front of it!

All in all and war wound notwithstanding, I’m enjoying the project. I now have a good feel for using the ruler. The class in September uses this ruler and the standard sized Quick Curve Ruler. I don’t have the Mod Owls Revival pattern yet, but I’m optimistic after looking at the pattern cover that there are less different units (except for sizes from the two rulers) and that encourages me—I really want to make that quilt. 

I also have the Posh Penelope and Posh Snowball patterns—I’ve had those since I purchased the rulers a few years ago and I still want to make those. That’s for another year. 

But now, I’m moving back to the other interruption in this year’s plan and it’s a secret project for a friend. Posh Santa put me behind by over a week and I can’t allow any other interruptions before it gets done. The new secret project has this panel in it, and that’s all you’ll see of it until it’s gifted:

The panel is from the Northcott Whisper line

Oh, and dust has been flying around our home so much that I dare not go outside between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:30 pm. Billy the Builder is moving dirt all day every day to the 3 lots south of ours. While sitting in my sewing room I look out the window and just see dirt flying around all day. The hummingbirds are frustrated--when they head to the feeders and the trucks start driving up our hill, they speed off. Sigh.

I  may attempt to quilt the Pumpkin Pie quilt while working on the secret project—I need some finishing magic to happen! In the meantime, go make!