WOW 17th June

Hi Everyone,

Took three wallhangings to Dargaville on Tuesday ready for the show next week. I have a day off on the Friday so will be relieving for lunch and breaks on the various stands.
Around a mammoth stocktake at work last week which ended up being a 16 hour day for most of us, I have been working on my cushion cover and it has been so much fun.

A Ginny Beyer pattern called Facets which I have reduced to hopefully fit my large lounge cushion.
It will end up being approx 24" square
The original is made using 2 1/2 " strips to make the stripsets for a wall hanging but I have gone with 1 1/2"strips from the fat quarter selection I bought from her site.
As the pack was not designed for this pattern I have had to play with the shading combinations.

Strip sets all made and numbered.

First two diamonds made and I am unsure about my light fabric.

It is from my faberge fabrics and seems just too light.

I decide to test my diamonds against the fabric strip that will fill the bottom space.

The top fabric of the strip is too dark for the finished effect.

 Possibly a little light but so much better than my first choice.

Now to deal with those very light squares. 

I knew I had some of this Faberge border fabric left and had wanted to use it from the beginning but you know how it is, I couldn't find it anywhere.
 Clearing up after finishing 12DOC I finally found it!!!

So now to find out if it all works. 

Hooray they do.

As you can see the light blue is the most important fabric to the overall design and how you see it.

 My deeper beige /green is so much better than the cream/green I started with as the lighter fabric would have created another strong focal point which isn't wanted.

I am amazed how quickly this is coming together. There are only four fabrics to the stripsets and only 3 seams to make the diamonds. 

The longest time is in cutting the stripsets apart and pinning the points, my iron is my new best friend making sure everything is flat and smooth.

I am rechecking my 60 degree angle after every 2nd cut on the stripset and every time I need to trim the angle - just a tiny fraction but that is all it takes not to have wonky diamonds at the end.

3 pins for each seam as my seams have been pressed to allow them to lock in place but fabric will move so I pin at each junction point and stitch over my pins.

Stitching side, pin enters at the stitching line.

The reverse, pin exits on stitching line.

Seam pressed, it could be better though - However-

This is my second stitching of this seam after an unpick, Why?

I was concentrating on taking these photo's at the last minute and forgot to adjust my needle position before stitching the seam. Using the quarter inch foot my Bernina 440 still needs to be be offset 1 needle position to the right to stitch a perfect quarter inch seam after pressing which is vital for this sort of piecing. 

If you want to strip piece or do colour wash  make sure you know what creates a perfect quarter inch seam on your machine.

Have managed to be on time to link with Esther's WOW this week.

Whetever you are doing today - Enjoy!!

Cheers Jenny