Wednesday, May 22, 2013

WIP Wednesday: Texas Teardrops

It's the third week in May and I just got started on the Texas Teardrops Quilt Along back from the beginning of April; so basically that means things are proceeding as usual around here!

I love Vicki's Texas Teardrops quilt--great pattern, gorgeous fabric choices, and fantastic quilting. But when she offered the Sew Along, I hesitated, because I don't do applique. (Similar to how I "don't do windows"... I know how, but,  um, I'd rather go to the dentist than do it.)

But I really did like the pattern!
So I decided to make it more appealing to sew by reducing it in size. My blocks measure 7" in size, and I'm making a table runner. Fewer blocks, smaller blocks. Do-able.

Here are my first four:

I picked textured tonals from Fabri-Quilt's Marblehead and Northcott's Stonehenge collections for the "teardrops" and used low-volume tonals from my stash for the background, something I've been itching to try on a project for a while now. 



And my original rough idea, which then morphed into doing low-volume four-patches. (Seeing this photo, I'm wondering if I should have stuck with squares rather than four-patches?)


Here's what I don't like about applique: The lines aren't straight, so you can't use a ruler, and you draw/trace/cut the same.line.over.and.over. Ugh.

But Vicki recommended using a smaller rotary cutter to cut out the fabric shapes (scary!), so I tried it. I was surprised that it was pretty easy and actually kind of fun. Not to mention fast!

Four blocks down, six (or more) to go...and I'm late to the party, but I'm having fun!

Of course, the next step is stitching the shapes down, which means tracing the same shapes over and over again, but I just like to think of that as good machine quilting practice!


6 comments:

  1. I love that pattern too. Yours looks great.

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  2. I love that pattern and wanted to do it, but am not into fusing or raw edge. However, I may change my mind because i really like what you are doing. I like the smaller blocks and the table runner idea. Great job.

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  3. I did this quilt with Vicki....yours looks great...don't be hard on yourself about cutting the lines. Mine are the same...I left the odd piece out to show the background and that helps with that uneven line with those ones....your colors and fantastic!!
    Good job!

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    1. Marjorie--I like that idea! I'm not sure how the background showing through with the four-patches would work, but I'll play around with it. Thanks!

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  4. It looks amazing! You must have been doing it right. I have no idea about appliqué with a machine. I have started doing mine by hand. It is getting better (well, at least my round shapes are now roundish). So keep on going!

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  5. Looking good. And I use a rotary cutter to do a lot of my cutting like this. :-)

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