Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Not Until Thursday

Due to miscommunication, I didn't get to the clubhouse and have an appointment on THURSDAY to baste. Getting right communication between people is like being able to work and wait for inner harmony. It is especially difficult in this era of electronics. We lose facial clues and seeing body language, relying only on what either we see or hear.

It has taken a lot of work for the Rainbow Baby back. Photos, at this stage just seem like a pile of fabric.

I had a huge bag of muslin scraps and cut uncounted 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles plus have 30 of the 4.5" by 12.5" pieces. I've used all the scraps now and do have a larger piece to cut more from if needed to finish the back. The next round was pulling out my scrappy squares to cut down the 6"-ers to 4.5" squares for the color families. 

This particular 6" size isn't one usually called for in patterns, so there were a lot of choices to be had in it once they were trimmed. Right now, its a cut-as-you-go in order to use scraps.

The first round of piecing was to join a small muslin piece to a color. Then there is a pattern of three-together, what I have is pinned in threes and will be joined and pressed. Next, that part gets pinned with the larger muslin rectangles. Even though it is a beginner's pattern, there is a lot to do with it.

I really didn't know a lot about muslin and wasn't sure what to do with the small scraps I had, and so did some research. It gets its name from Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured and was imported to Europe for much of the 17th- and early-18th centuries. It was heavily manufactured in Bangladesh as a handwoven material and to this day is made with varying weights and widths. It is surprising how many uses there are for it depending upon the weight and weave.

What I had was made for quilting and pieces were both unbleached or natural, and bleached to get more of a white (shows up in the photo). It all coordinates so I just cut and cut, pinned, pieced, unpinned and pressed. Up to now, I have not bought muslin myself and have a new respect for it as an addition to quilts where a white is needed in a pattern. Guess this is still a test.

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