Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Ghastlies

I finished the top today and it was a lot of fun to make. This was totally free form with no real thought or plan.

First I randomly cut out the fabric to get each center. The only "precision" cutting I did was to make sure the edge was straight, but as you can see it is very free form.
Next I randomly cut out strips again I did not use a ruler just eye balled it. I used around 10 or so fabrics. The strips were various widths.


It's not worth organizing them because you will be picking through them for that perfect strip. I just made little piles.


Take your center and sew a strip to one side, any side it doesn't matter.


Press them all towards the strip. Be sure to press or you will be sorry when it all is bunched up.


Continue adding on side by side. Once I started I went around the same way you do a log cabin. Pressing and trimming the ends as you go.


You should end up with something like this, the size is up to you. Just make sure you press and when you are finished adding your strips use a little spray starch, I like Mary Ellen's Best Press. I think it helps stabilize all those crazy edges.

You will also have a lot of this!



Terrible picture
Lay them out and admire them. Now you have to decide how you want to lay them out.

For right now I like this, though it may change as I go along. That is the best part of this quilt nothing is perfect.


Next I took all those leftover strips and sewed them together and will now use them as filler strips to sew all the blocks together. It is a little like putting a puzzle together and changes as you go along. Be sure to square up your blocks when you are done adding the strips.


The left side is complete and sewn together.


The center is done and part of the right side, almost there!


This is one of my favorite blocks and I love how mish mash the fabrics look. I hope to get this quilted over the weekend.

Kelly


9 comments:

  1. love it! also, I am stealing your motto from the banner - Everything will be alright in the end...If it's not alright, it's not the end.
    great stuff :-)

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  2. You know I'm not really a huge fan of higgledy piggledy quilts, and I have never actually tried one. But I do love this one. It just seems to FIT. So cool, I might have to try one myself :)

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  3. great explanation/demo!

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  4. really cute quilt. really like the scrappy log cabin look. kind of reminds me of a string quilt which I will do some day. I love scrap quilts.

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  5. I love your quilt! I bought some of the Ghastly fabric a while back (deadly mauve!) and the cream version. I thought I'd make pillow cases from it, but can't seem to cut into it. I love what you've done. maybe I'll do something similar?
    My favorite image is the sweet little girl...with the hammer. ;)

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  6. just saw this on your side bar - it's great!!!

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  7. I have a quick question. It looks as if the stripes are different sizes from top to bottom, right?

    Love you blocks

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  8. Absolutely wonderful,I love ghastlies, have not made anything with my fabric. You are very creative. Love it.

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