Four Corners at Flowerpatch

We love Four Corner evenings at Flowerpatch Quilters, they're always so chaotic and friendly. This time we had Iris doing Curved Piecing, Sue with Rotary Cutting, Melody doing Binding and me with Badges.

Iris showed us her take on curved piecing. She laid out some beautiful blocks on her table and they looked so difficult to do!

These are just two of them

and here is her simple method for accurate results:-

Cut out a circle of cardboard (how handy that plates, bowls, cups, glasses, etc. are all circular and we rarely have to resort to geometry!!) and a square of fabric the same size across

Use the cardboard circle as a template to draw a circle on a different piece of fabric and cut out approx 1/2" larger all around. Tack around the circle outside your drawn line, leaving the end of thread hanging and not finishing off.

Gather up the circle around the cardboard and press with an iron. Remove the cardboard, pull up the thread and press again.

Carefully cut into quarters.

Lay these on your fabric square and pin into place.

Sew on as you would applique and trim excess fabric from the back. Not so difficult after all!

Melody showed us how to finish off our quilts with perfect binding and mitred corners. I think this will have to have a blog post all of it's own - the very next one.

Sue demonstrated rotary cutting and brought along lots of equipment for members to try out.

She stressed the importance of always using a sharp blade - those little snags are so annoying and if you're pressing too hard things are far more likely to go awry. 
I have two cutters the same size. I keep one with a new blade for cutting cottons and put the older blade on the other (marked with a sticky label) for cutting paper and synthetics, etc. I hide the first one from certain people who want to cut all sorts of unsuitable things - they know who they are!!
My other tip would be to never leave your cutting board in the car on a hot sunny day. I am the shamefaced owner of a VERY warped board!


and finally .........

Jane had the super idea that all the members should make a name badge of their own design. There are lots of new members this year and it takes some time to learn everyone's name, especially as there are often 40 of us at the meetings. Jane had lots of colourful felts left over from another project and we could help ourselves to as much of this as we needed. Jane couldn't be at the meeting so I showed everyone some of the badges I had made using Abbie Anne Searle's reverse applique method in her book "Pile & Plunder".

Abbie came to Flowerpatch last June and showed us her exciting wall hangings, etc.

I chose just four 3" square fabrics (the one I put on the bottom is a stiff calico which stops puckering and distortion as you sew) to make my badges and started with quite a simple design.

After another look through Abbie's book I was a little more adventurous.

When I drew my design on the top fabric I laid it on sandpaper to stop it moving about and I used a "Frixion" pen as you can just iron the lines away if you go wrong. I zigzagged over all the drawn lines and then cut away through the layers to reveal the colour beneath.

So quick to do and such fun! There are detailed instructions on reverse applique, and lots of designs and ideas in Abbie's book.

The evening ended with a raffle in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society with prizes of vouchers donated by the Launceston Fryers. The delighted winners were Maureen, Della and Shirley.

Our next meeting is on 9th April and is titled "Getting in Touch with your Quilting Style". Members should bring along any or all of the following:- unwanted magazines (not patchwork), paper-cutting scissors and a glue stick.

Thank you for looking - Anita

PS. You can read a full report of our meetings each month in the Cornish & Devon Post.