Are we done yet??
Posted on: June 8, 2011
Yes, we are!!! It’s officially summer vacation! I had to go to work today to finish packing my classroom, but as of about 4:30 PM I turned in my keys and went home 
I’m posting a work-in-progress today. I started participating in the Freshly Pieced Supernova Quilt-Along when it was first announced back in March. Many people are already done. I am…. not. But I finished my first 4 squares this weekend!
Most of the fabrics are from the Homegrown collection at Connecting Threads, with a few fat quarters from Joann Fabrics thrown in.
The quilt-along pattern calls for you to make 9 blocks and arrange them in a 3×3 pattern. But of course I picked 4 different color combinations, and well, 4 does not go evenly into 9, does it? (Yes, I AM a math teacher.) So this was my original idea for a layout:
But I don’t think I like it anymore. So now I’m going to do something like this:
I think the blocks look a lot better than these little stacks of fabric though 
This appeals to me more because it’s more even–I have three blocks of each color–and I prefer rectangular quilts to square quilts. This also probably means I have to buy more fabric, at least of a couple of them, because I only had 2 10×10 pieces of each of the Homegrown fabrics.
Things I’ve learned thus far:
- The seams look MUCH better when I press them open than when I press them to one side.
- Piecing when you’ve got diagonal seams is HARD! This is only my second pieced quilt top and it might have been slightly beyond my skills when I started. I feel like I’m improving a lot.
- My sewing machine sucks. I have to rethread it about once every 5 minutes. This makes the chain-piecing process rather difficult.
- Looking at the blocks, it’s hard to notice all the wonky seams–so this is a good thing.
There are lots of really pretty finished Supernovas at the Supernova Flickr group, if you want to check it out!
Linking up to Lee’s WIP Wednesday for the first time
7 Responses to "Are we done yet??"
June 9, 2011 at 12:21 am
That supernova quilt is so stunning. Good for you for perseverance. I’m a teacher too and I’ve been liberated as well into my summer vacation. Time to get a few of these projects under our belt!
Elizabeth E.
http://occasionalpiece.wordpress.com
June 9, 2011 at 9:55 am
Wow – you picked a doozy for your 2nd quilt, but it looks fantastic! DO keep going!! Wondering if you need a fresh needle in your machine or?? That sounds really frustrating!
June 9, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Thank you! I’ve tried a new needle, and while that made a difference it hasn’t solved the problem totally. Something is up with the bobbin thread–not sure what.
June 9, 2011 at 7:56 pm
I love the colours you chose for your supernova and the arrangement. It will look lovely. If your machine is giving you problems it may need to be serviced (I learned that the hard way 
). Or Is your thread old (ditto) or your tension too tight? Your work is beautiful. Looking forward to seeing the final product!
June 9, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Thank you! The thread is relatively new (less than a month old) so I don’t think that’s it, and I started using Gutermann thread when I realized that the Coats & Clark thread was shedding like crazy in the machine. I will look into getting it serviced–it has not been serviced since I got it in August 2008. However, it is also a really basic sewing machine–the most entry-level one they had at Wal-Mart–which was perfect when I didn’t know how much I was going to be using it, but now that I’m using it constantly I think I may need an upgrade. I can’t even adjust the stitch length, much less do decorative stitching, lower the feed dogs, or use a walking foot (I bought a walking foot but I have NO clue how to attach it!)
June 8, 2011 at 11:52 pm
Yea! Another supernova! Keep up the good work!
June 9, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Thank you!