Straight out of Line!!

That sounds like me! Always out of line! But actually, it's the name of a ruler by Creative Grids. Seriously? Yep. I see they have a video on their web site. Perhaps I should have looked at the video for tips?

In the midst of all this chaos, I still needed to sew and not having anything super urgent on the list, I grabbed a UFO box that was sitting upstairs. Funny how we do NOT forget our UFOs. I seem to remember each and every one.

This quilt was started as a sample for a demo on rulers that I did years ago. I know this is a problem, but if I'm making a block for a demo - why not make a quilt. I know - that's the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard. I would be happier to have a quilt as a UFO than deal with an orphan block. Yep - send me to the looney bin now!  What's even worse is that I know it's a ridiculous thing to do, yet I can't change my ways. What is wrong with me??

Thankfully, I don't have to do those demos anymore! So what does the project look like?

This is what the ruler looks like. (BTW - it's up for grabs - for free)

Straight out of Line ruler by Creative Grids

This was the project box when I rescued it from the pile. Some of the small quarter blocks had been made, the ruler and instructions were in the box as was some yardage. Totally complete - just the way a UFO should be. But there was no indication of my intentions. How big was this going to be??

The contents of the UFO box

That was a HUGE stack of those wonky four-patches.

Wonky four patches

There was some yardage of the two fabrics as well.

The yardages in the box

Oh look, there are a couple of finished blocks. I like the look of the block which is probably why I decided that I would go ahead and make an entire quilt.

A couple of blocks were already made

Hmm - I could make a few more blocks from those smaller wonky four-patches. Let's put them on the wall. Oh - that looks awesome.

Six blocks on the design wall

It took me a bit to get into the rhythm and I wasn't liking assembling this quilt. Notice that after you sewed those wonky four-patches together that they needed to be trimmed. It seemed to be an arbitrary process. But I persevered. I did NOT want this to go back into the UFO pile. I want to start clearing some of those UFOs and I definitely wanted the project box so I could put another UFO in it.

Wonky four-patches need to be trimmed

But then I got on a roll. I'm a more experienced sewer than when I started this project. I know about pressing seams and all that stuff. This one was a bit of a challenge and yes - there are many spots where the seams don't nest. Did I care? Nope!!!  Some of the intersections aren't perfect. Do I care? Nope!!  I wanted this top done.

Twelve blocks are done!

As I was madly sewing, I was trying to figure out how many blocks I could get from what was cut. Hmm - I could get 24 blocks. That's a lot of blocks, but it's going to make a small quilt. There is that extra yardage. I wonder how many more blocks I can make?

So in a burst of energy, I cut up the remaining yardage into the squares that you need to start with. The ruler is a multi-size ruler. I believe my starting squares were 6 ½".

Squares cut from the yardage

I had no choice now, but to continue. This was going to be a UFO no longer!!

As much as I fuss with my cutting table, this is what it looked like when I was trimming those blocks. Barely enough room to work!! I know - what a mess. I'm happy to report that the cutting table looks much better now. This is how I used to work and it was even worse than this. That was years ago when I had no idea of sorting and decluttering and finding homes for things.

A wee bit of room on the cutting table to work

I was able to get enough blocks from that extra yardage to make one more panel of 12 blocks. In total there are 36 blocks in the quilt which is about 62" by 62". I know - a square quilt. Well, better a square quilt than a small quilt. There is NOTHING left over of that red print. Well, a few rectangles, but it's more or less gone. The extra white will go back in the stash.

The top is completed!!!

Now all I need is to find something to bind the quilt with. I'm thinking dark blue and I found a backing fabric for it yesterday.

Speaking of backings, here's a sneak peek of how the backings look this morning. My helper, Ronda came over bright and early. I was still vacuuming the floor when she got here.

I measured (using the ruler on the edge of my cutting table) and Ronda cut labels and did the writing and pinning. Despite the number of backings that we were dealing with, it went pretty quickly and we were finished by 11 or so. By the way, that ruler on the edge of my cutting table is a big sticker. Not sure where I got it, but it's one of the most useful things I have in the studio!

Neatly stacked and labeled backings

Think about that - it took two of us almost three hours to measure, fold and label all the fabric I have for quilt backings! No - you don't want to go there.

I'm going to direct you to Norma's blog. Norma is also trying to get better organized and this is what she did with her backings. I LOVE IT!!!!!  Marie K would be so proud. Did you see the lists??? I didn't make a list because all of my stuff is NOW out in the open (in a dark room with no windows - well one window that will be covered over). I can actually see what I have for backings. Norma - I'm super impressed!!! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks to Judith who shared a couple of videos on how to fold fabrics. Quilt Addicts Anonymous. and here's another one - also by Quilt Addicts Anonymous. Personally, I hate to do trendy things! I refuse to fold my fabrics or clothing like Marie K. That would drive me crazy because if one thing got out of place?? Nope - can't cope with that. Sorry!!

It's like my mantra for free motion quilting - the more consistently inconsistent you make the quilting, the more PERFECT it is!!! Here's the thing - I have a lot of stuff. It needs to be neatly organized. I do NOT want to spend days and days folding the darn stuff. It's somewhat folded. I like my method of putting it on the open shelves. But then I have the room to do that! I just went with the flow when I folded yesterday and you know what? It looks pretty darn good and fairly uniform. You'll see that soon.

So when I went to find a backing for that Straight out of Line quilt, it took mere seconds to browse the shelves. I didn't find something on the shelves (yes there is an S there) of the labeled backings, but I did find something suitable in the fabric bolt area.

I'll share more of that with you later this week and YES I have pictures.

After Ronda left, I had to finish quilting a quilt on my domestic machine. YES - I do quilt quilts on the domestic and I have to say that my little Husqvarna Viking Opal 690Q worked like a charm. It has many of the great features of the larger machines - it's just smaller. Great stitches and easy to maneuver the quilt (which wasn't large) with that machine in my big cabinet. The only issues were mine alone because I'm trying to cheat the system. Let's say that I'm messing with my bobbin winder and well - I messed with it, but things are good now!!!

On that note, I'm out of here. Two more sleeps until retreat. My goal is to get enough pictures edited so you have something to look at while I'm away.

Have a super CANADA DAY!!!!!

Ciao!!!!