I've made Drunkards Path blocks before. Traced and cut out the template, marked my fabric, cut the pieces out with scissors, and hand pieced them together. I've always thought I'd like to have a small quilt made up in this block, oh, but the time!
And now, in 2011, I was able to cut these is less than 30 seconds.
Fabrics Etc has an industrial Accuquilt Studio, it's big, it looks expensive and it is simply amazing! Carol and Tracey had it out Sat afternoon for demos so I took some fabric down to try it out. No, I'm not starting something new this weekend, but I'm now prepared to prep for this future quilt. Here's how it worked. The above pieces were cut from 12 1/2" squares so in less than a minute I had the working pieces for 24 blocks.
I've heard there can be a lot of waste, not so with this block. This is what remained and it's perfect for my log cabin basket.
Since I was working with reds, a nice glass of shiraz came into the sewing room. I like the stemless glass, less chance of spillage. Oh, and I wanted to see really how much time it would take to make these blocks.
These are my first three blocks trying different methods. Left to right, no pinning, pinning in 3 places, and one pin at the end. I liked using one pin at the end to keep things lined up. I used my regular 1/4" foot and got some help from my stiletto.
44 1/2 minutes later, my wine was gone and I had 24 blocks pieced AND pressed. I'm sold on this. Carol is renting time on this machine, (super inexpensive); if you plan and prep your fabrics in advance, in no time you can have a fabulous Drunkards Path (or other pattern). I will be cutting and saving blocks for a future curved quilt.
Block 7 is finished for my 25 BOM. There are some fantastic renditions of this over at
Beyond the Cherry Tree. I'm prepping 8 - 10 at one time, so it will be a while before I have the next block completed.
This flannel quilt is so cozy and warm. I wish I could keep all the quilts I do for others. It is so inspiring to see how others work with fabric. This one is Norma T's and I know she is gifting it out, but not to me. :-(
Baby quilts needed to be put together so once I got this big one off my machine, I loaded up two tops with one back and did them side by side. Both tops were the same, but I quilted them differently. This is the front with ribbons quilted.
and this is the back of the second one. I played a little. Wish I knew the names of the babies who will be gifted these, it's so fun to write their name and birth date into the quilting.
Bindings were attached, bolts of fabric have been put away, I can see the bottom of my cutting table. That's a great feeling. We finally got blue skies and sunshine, and I don't care how cold it gets, it's NOT raining! So I must bundle up, get the leash and take myself and my dog for a nice long walk and soak up some Vitamin D!
Hope your weekend has been wonderful!
Sharon
