Cold and Snowy Outside; Quilting with a Friend and Warm Chai Inside

When Shady and I quilted last week it was bitter cold outside. So cold that I didn't want to bring my sewing machine out of the house and expose it to the elements. Shady let me use her traveling machine that she uses for quilt classes, camps, etc. I liked it so much I am thinking I need to look into purchasing a light weight, "take a trip" machine, just like it.

My dear friend is so thoughtful! When I arrived she had a warm cup of chai, with whipped cream, waiting for me. You can see why it doesn't matter to me when she occasionally makes a pillow block. ;-)

I spent my time sewing green and white bias strips together that I had cut out before arriving at Shady's. To cut them, I started with white and green fabric, right sides together, and cut 2 1/2 inch strips at a 45 degree angle.

After I arrived at Shady's and warmed up with some chai, I sewed the green and white strips together. Then I sewed the pairs together, and so on, until the strips were sewn into one long green and white striped piece.


You can see in the picture below it is almost as long as I am tall. This piece will supply enough bias squares to make approximately 6 blocks. Though it seems like a lot of work, it is sooooo much easier than cutting little triangles and sewing them together for bias squares.






Whenever quilting seems tedious, I like to remember how it was done before strip quilting. Before strip quilting, quilters used templates and cut each piece by hand!! Quilters still do I'm sure, especially for shapes that don't lend themselves to strip work! But, I like the shortcuts!




While I was making this long strip, Shady was busy, busy sewing more blocks. The last picture I wanted to add had our current total of 12 blocks (number is right, Shady?). That picture I am having trouble loading. Look for it, or one with more than 12 completed blocks, in the near future.



Until later, stay warm and happy quilting!

Lori's piece.