talking shop

i'm using a sort of  english paper piecing method to put the quilt together. it takes the work out of matching up seams.  i started by cutting out 6 inch squares out of card stock.

i need to work on saving things like cereal boxes, because i need over 200 more.

then i cut out approximately 8 inch squares of fabric to be the foundation of the quilt blocks. they don't match, but they won't be seen once the quilt is complete anyway.

for piecing the crazy patch, i start with a center piece, and use mainly a flip and fold method, but occasionally just baste down edges that won't unravel, with a zigzag stitch, which will be taken out later when i embroider the seams.

i do my work sort of assembly line method, pinning as many pieces in place as i  can, on multiple blocks,usually until i run out of pins. then i take them to the sewing machine and chain stitch them.  i got 90 white blocks started before i ran out of fabric.

i also have several black blocks in progress. once i have them covered sufficiently, i fold them over and pin them to a square of cardstock before basting them.

then they're ready to be whip stitched together. i basted four of the black ones together just to get a feel of what it will look like when it's done. i'm not sure yet what to do about the extra bulk at the corners. i need to figure out some way of mitering them, or something. 

  

once i have the entire quilt top stitched together i can remove the basting and the cardboard.  i'm going to sandwich some white fleece or very thin quilt batting between the front and the back, more to keep the black side from 'shadowing' through to the white side than to add loft. i'll either not bind the edges at all and just ladder stitch the folded edges together, or use silver satin quilt binding. after the wedding all the embroidery, on both the white and black sides, will be done in metallic silver thread. the seams will all be embroidered, and the center image will be done in silver redwork.