I was reminded this week to go slow and pay attention to what I’m doing, both by my sewing machine and by the terribly helpful people (Tyler and Anita) at Sew Portland, where I took my little Janome 2222. I had I become convinced that the timing must be off because it kept jamming (it may or may not have been threaded incorrectly – I’m not saying). It worked instantly for them. They suggested I try a larger needle (which is working great by the way), that I go slow and pay attention to what I’m doing (since I’m pushing the limits of what my machine can do) and that I remember to always leave my machine in the correct docking position (with the foot down and the needle up) so that the thread won’t ‘accidentally’ slip off the thread take up lever.  When I got home I even read the user manual (I know – novel idea!) because I finally realized that even though I believe I know how to sew this is a new machine and it has been several decades since I’ve done any serious machine sewing. I’ve even started using the little thread cutter since I found that what was causing most of the jams was that the tail ends of the threads were getting caught up in the bobbin casing (I opened up the bobbin casing and watched as a jam happened) Slow down and pay attention. Breath. Many thanks to the folks at Sew Portland.

I also found that this happens when you don’t pay attention:

Upside Down Cake

Fortunately I have a seam ripper and I’m not afraid to use it.

Piecing the squares together is always a bit of a puzzle piecing challenge. In theory the individual pieces are the same size and shape but there is always variation since they are hand-cut and I am nowhere close to approaching perfection. So I end up trying out different pieces till I find one that fits the individual square I am piecing together. And then there are considerations of coloration – you want the pieces in the square to match. For this quilt, at the start at least, I tried to keep pieces from individual recipes together on a square but that proved very hard to do. As it gets closer to the end it gets harder to get the pieces to fit. By the last square I often end up trimming pieces to fit (but I try to never do that till the end).

The real challenge often comes with piecing the individual squares together. With fabric you have that wonderful seam allowance (the bit of seam that is folded under when the pieces are sewn together) that can vary as needed to provide wiggle room to make up for any differences. I don’t have that, and paper doesn’t stretch (at least not when it’s dry). And then the bigger it gets, as you piece more squares together, the more unwieldy it gets. I often say when people ask me how I make the quilt pieces, that it’s just like making a quilt but with paper prints, it really isn’t. Fabric is nice and flexible, encaustic prints and wax-dipped paper isn’t, plus if you’re not careful it will tear. Here are the assembled squares:

Boo’s Cake Stand Assembled

I’ve decided to add a row of green around the edge because it just dosen’t look ‘done’ like this to me. Then I’ll fold down the interfacing around the edge and handstitch it down and sew on the buttons.  When it’s done I’ll take it to my wonderful photographer, Jay York to get it professionally shot. I’ll post those photos when I get them back.

Next I’ll start in on the quilt for my paternal grandmother, Halice Amabel Smith Robinson Bemis. Upcoming posts will cover the printmaking process and a bit of background on memorial quilts. Happy Halloween everyone.