Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Q


Capitol Q and lowercase q

The capitol Q is one where you kind of have to feel your way there.  I started making that little bit of tail of the outside, on the lower right, by folding the orange piece like I wanted it, then attaching a square of white, one side at a time, then trimming.  I evened out the upper part of the tail, and set it aside.

Next was the inside part of the tail.  Again, I folded the orange fabric like I wanted it to look like (tucking under the seam allowances), and laid it down on a rectangle.  I unfolded one side, stitched along my fold, then trimmed.  I then found another square of white, set the first unit on top, and repeated that.

Even it off by trimming, and then sew it to another square.  Now you have the central unit completed.  Border on the top and bottom.  Add on the left side, then the right side.  Lay the tail piece face down on your ironing board and iron the top edge 1/4″ down, so you have identified the seam allowance.  Lay it on your right side piece, then in the similar construction as before, unfold your  tail unit, stitch on the pressed line, then trim everything up.  Notice the wonky angle–it’s bigger than a snowball.  I tried to plot it so the orange was right in the corner.

Yes, I know you need photos, but was I talking on the phone to a friend and it was critical that I not lose focus while we solved the world’s problems, so I forgot to take pictures. The fold, then stitch method was one you used on  your M, so refer to that one if you want.

After all of that, snowball on your three corners and you’re done!


The stem on the lowercase q has a funny widget there on the end.  Using the fold and place method of figuring things out, stitch on a square of background, so it looks something like this.


Repeat with the letter fabric. You can see here that the orange is just sitting on top of the white, the seam allowance folded in, so I can figure out placement.  Once I like where it is, I’ll stick a pin through the crease, fold it back and stitch along that crease. Trim to even up.


Start with a 2 1/2″ square, and make a similar unit like you did for the p.


Attach and trim up.





q is for quilt–my very first quilt ever


 My Very First Quilt, No. 1

I did not know how to stop and start, so there are small knots on the top.  I made this about many years ago, when I was twenty.  Batting was not like it is now–we just sort of smoothed out a layer of polyester stuff on our quilt, and went to town with our needle and thread. I outlined the Holly Hobby figures. I envy the beginning quilters now, with rotary cutters, quilt shops full of cotton fabric, and straight edge rulers, blogs and YouTube and tutorials.