Thursday, April 3, 2014

Playing for More Than 15 Minutes!

I've had so much fun creating the last two days! 15 Minutes of Play (affiliate link) has stretched into hours! Here's what my burst of creativity has produced so far.

My design wall has very little free space at the moment, as there are lots of projects in the works! The flowers got tacked over the diamond quilt, as I'm still pondering coral and sea life for that one.

My cutting and sewing tables are in an even bigger mess, with scraps everywhere! I can barely get to the computer! But it's all necessary when creating.

Here's a quick little tutorial on sewing these scraps.
Start sewing the first piece to a stabilizer. I used the pages from an old phone book--they add just enough stability and are easily removed.

Don't worry about marking a block size--just start sewing pieces on, knowing that additions can always be made to increase the size. Remember, this is playtime!

For my design, I like jagged edges on the flowers, meaning I don't want the petals all the same length. This means that the petals need some green attached to them before they are stitched to the stabilizer.

Notice I'm not worried about pressing or trimming!
Now this piece is ready for stitching.

With the excess seam allowance now trimmed, it's flipped over, ready for the next piece.

The next pieces get a preview, checking for size, color, and pattern.

The green and teal are stitched together, then stitched down.

Trim the seam.

And flip.

The last piece was treated a bit differently. I didn't want a bunch of rays from the corner, so I added the petal, then stitched a green piece along the top.

The result is a more jumbled background instead of one that flows outward with the petals.

The blocks all got trimmed to 6" x 6".

This was my flower on after the first day.

Then, after digging through my stash looking for more green, I found fabric with beetles on yellow. So, I replaced one of the center yellow pieces, and now have a beetle on my flower!