Persnickety

Persnickety: /pərˈsnikətē/
Adjective
1. Placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details; fussy.
2. Requiring a particularly precise or careful approach.

The other week, I left a comment for P. on a quilt top she'd finished, using thrifted men's shirts. I admired how all her corners matched, how nice and flat it laid and how all the prints went in the same direction. She did a really beautiful job on it. She replied back and said that she'd been rather persnickety about how it went together, and I thought that I really liked that adjective.

I don't know about you, but there are certain things I'm very particular about when I quilt. Well, I'm particular about everything, really. I like things a certain way, but I won't go into all of that. For sewing or quilting, I wash all fabrics before using. I piece with Gütterman 50-weight cotton thread and I quilt with AURIfil Makò 50-weight thread. When I lay out a quilt, I put a pin in the top left corner block so I know which way is top and which way is bottom, and I'm very careful to sew the pieces together in the right order. I make sure all the stripes go in the same direction {usually vertically} and that any directional fabrics go the same direction.

Lately, I've taken to making sure that the lengthwise grain and the crosswise grain of each block all go in the same direction throughout the quilt. The cross grain has slightly more give than the length of grain and it seems like everything lines up so much nicer if the grains are all going the same way.

Case in point: I'm working on a fun zig-zag quilt for my niece, Miss Butterfly.

I cut the fabric for it sometime late last spring or early last summer, about the time I decided that the grain should all go the same way. I just started assembling it last week. As I've made the half-square triangles, I put the squares together with the cross grain going one direction on one square and the lengthwise grain going the other direction, so that once they were sewn on the diagonal and opened up, the entire block has the same grain. What I didn't plan for when I penciled in the diagonal line on the white fabric, was that the triangles would have to go in alternating directions in the quilt. Even though all the blocks have the grain going in the same direction in both halves of the half-square triangles, all of the half-square triangles on the left side of the chevrons have the lengthwise grain going up and down and the half-square triangles on the right side have the crosswise grain going up and down. It bothers the persnickety quilter in me just a little. I considered re-marking half the blocks, but decided that I didn't want a pencil line dissecting half of my white triangles. I'll pay closer attention next time.

All of this makes me curious, and I wonder what you all are persnickety about, quilting or otherwise.

Zig-Zag Flag and Other Patriotic Quilt Blocks

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
–Francis Scott Key, The Star Spangled Banner

Last Wednesday {July 4^th} was kind of a big deal around these parts. There are parades and flags and fireworks and red, white and blue everywhere. I had the day off work {it's a national holiday, after all} so I decided that I wouldn't be any farther behind on my quilting to-do list if I took a break from what I am currently working on to do a little something fast and fun, but still on the to-do list. You see, I was distracted inspired by a super cute door hanger by Karen at The Recipe Bunny, who'd linked up to my July Finishes page. I thought her zig-zag flag block would fit perfectly in my Patriotic Sampler quilt. I had picked a couple of blocks that I just wasn't feeling the love on, which is probably why it has sat in its box all sad and lonely for . . . a really long time. I pulled it out, thinking I could throw together a scrappy 12" block with 108 HST's in an afternoon.

I tend to over estimate my powers of fabric persuasion. It took me the afternoon just to cut the fabrics. I got the HST's and the blue section {which may or may not have appliqué stars added to it later} put together before fireworks. I had a busy work week last week, so I fit in a bit of sewing time when ever I could and finished the rest of the block over the next few days {instead of hours}.

When I open my box of red, white and blue fabrics, I always wonder why this quilt isn't finished. I've been working on it since before LadyBug was born. I love the fabrics and colors and theme so much. So while I had it out, I put together a couple more blocks. I did a banner flag, which finishes at 5" x 12" {odd size, I know}, and I love it! Getting a good photo of it is another story.

I also put together a Patriot's Star and I think this is my absolute favorite block of the whole quilt. I reduced the pattern to 5" and omitted the black stained-glass effect outline. I just love how it turned out.

I've got 13 of the 15 blocks finished now. I'm pretty sure what the last two 12" blocks will be, and then after that I've got to paper piece 27 - 1" five-point stars for the sashing. I'm not really looking forward to that.

This quilt is on my list of quilts to finish this year, so hopefully I'll get back to it soon. In the meantime, I'm off to work on another distraction important project.