Well, not fishing exactly. More like 'gone to Vegas.' The Husband and I are heading off to Nevada for some sunshine and gambling to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. And lemme tell you, this weekend can't get here fast enough. It's been raining in Boston for what seems like forever. Vancouver winter amounts of rain. It's redonk.
While we're away (actually starting today,) the fine boys at Stalelife are going to help me revamp things around splityarn.com. There may be a little downtime and a glitch here and there, but by the time the holiday is over, things will be looking mighty mighty spiffy around here and in the shop. You may not even recognize the place!
So until then, happy Canada Day,
happy 4th of July,
and happy anniversary to us!
I know a few people who are wading deeper into quilting waters, so I thought I'd put together a couple tips for them. Not so much a life preserver as just a pair of water wings.
Other folks like Ashley and Oh, Fransson! have put together some great starter points for the new quilter, so I'm not going to dive into that. I just wanted to share one or two of my faves for piecing. Like always, it all comes back to pressing. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the difference between homemade and handmade is pressing properly. You're going to have to love your iron.
Once you've chain pieced together your squares (or whatever,) head over to the ironing board. Snip apart the chains and lay everything out flat just the way you sewed it.
Here's the most important part. Press those seams flat. Don't open them up or press them to one side yet, just press them flat. This will set the stitches, removing any wonkiness left in the thread from the sewing process. If you want a clean line afterward, do this first. Do not wiggle the iron back and forth. Just set it down, let the heat and the weight of the iron do the work. Wiggling the iron can distort the stitches and the fabric which leads to off-kilter blocks.
There's plenty of debate about pressing seams open or to one side and using steam vs no steam. I'm not fussed about how you decide to do it, but once you make a decision, stay with it for the entire quilt. Here I'm pressing them open, finger pressing first. (Which is exactly what is sounds like. Just use your fingers as the iron.)
Then once the seam is open bring the iron in and press the backside and then the frontside. Again, no wiggling! Just press.
Quilting can be all about precision since you're building a block to be joined to other blocks. You want your seam allowances the same so that everything is the same size. This means you'll also want your points to line up. Take time to do it right the first time or the mistake will get exponentially bigger down the road.
See how the points line up? Nice!
From the back:
And in the finished block:
New boxbags are now up in the splityarn shop!
The Orla Kiely Abacus Flowers sold out in four (!!) minutes, but there are still heaps of others to go choose from. I'm going to try and whip up a few more of the Orlas this week, but I'm going to be sneaky about it and add them to the shop at random times. Keep your eye on the shop RSS feed if you're not following me on Twitter to catch one.
I know it's been forever since the last shop update, but I promise there's a good reason for it. Behind the scenes chez Splityarn it has been crazypants with fabric cutting and sewing.
Along with the next shop update, I'm also preparing for two events. The first I'll be selling at is the Squam Art Workshop in New Hampshire on June 6th. You don't have to be attending the workshops to come and play. In fact, there's going to be a big ol' Ravelry party that night too.
The second one I'm cranking out bags for is...(drumroll please) SOCK SUMMIT in August in Portland, Oregon. I'm kind of freaking out about it. I'm so excited! And also terrified! It's going to be like a world expo for knitting. So many knitters, all in one place. Have you seen the teachers list? Name an influential knitter and I swear they're going to be there teaching a class.
The vendor list for Sock Summit is amazing too. I'm honoured to have been chosen. I'm basically going to be sewing 6 days a week in preparation. So many boxbags! Wee pouches! Camera straps! It's blowing my mind a little. Actually, it's blowing my mind a lot.
