Accuquilt Time!

I’m working in the studio this morning – and while I can’t share the whole project, I can show you bits and parts as a sneak preview!

I needed to do some pieced sashings – about 127 of them.  After doing a few trial samples, I found a chambray stripe in the "Deep Stash" that I really like…..and to add a bit of punch to my quilt design, I decided to add a bit of red to each end of the sashing.

There are times when scrap quilting, and needing so much variety that it isn’t always the best way to get what I want by cutting everything with the Accuquilt Studio –but when I need a whole lot of one thing, or something, as with these sashings-- that it comes in really handy!

After thinking about how to build the most variety, in the easiest way possible – I knew what I needed to do. 

I measured my die on the accuquilt, gave myself 1/2” fudge room on top of that measurement and set to cutting.  I cut my sashing fabric with my rotary cutter the length I needed so that I could have the stripe running the length of the sashing.  And then I cut those width-of-fabric strips to the width I needed to feed through the Accuquilt Studio with as little waste as possible. ((You know I am a stickler about waste!))

I grabbed my red strips from my pre-cut strip drawer and began to sew them chain-piecing-style to either end of my sashing fabric.  These will be fed through the Accquilt Studio like this:

Starting to load up!

The “white” lines you see are actually lines I drew with a silver sharpie and a ruler to give me straight placement guides for cross-cutting.  I stacked my piles 4 layers high and overlapped them, giving me 8 layers where they overlap.  I could have gone with more layering, but this was good enough.  I don’t want to risk distortion.

Fill that tray!

That red strip at the very bottom – that is the LAST of that in my stash, I believe – it had gold metallic turkeys on it – so happy to see it go..BYE BYE!!  And yes, I’m trimming those threads before quilt assembly!  Some fabric just ravels like the dickens, doesn't it?  HATE THAT.

Crankin’ it through!

Here I took a break from turning that handle ---but they are feeding through just fine and dandy.  Something about playing with this non-electric-powered machine reminds me of the play-dough fun factory I had as a kid…or maybe a pasta maker ---weeeeee!

All cut and ready to go!

The bit of trimmings at the bottom end are the margin I lifted up to show you just how little waste there is.  It’s almost nothing, certainly not even sew-able!  This is because I cut my fabric first in widths to fit the tray.

Barely nothing left at the “other” side of the tray either!

Can you even TELL that fabric used to be turkeys?  Nope!

I’m ready to sash this quilt!

Looks like I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon laying out the quilt and starting the top assembly.  I love this part!  I love seeing the rows come together, and the feeling of pressing those rows and joining them to each other, how the quilt looks with all the seam allowances taken up so you see things in “finished size.” 

You know, Christmas is coming – and you could always ask Santa for an Accuquilt of your own!  I don’t use it for much more than strips –I’ve got other methods that work best with my Scrap User’s System, but to get this done in a hurry ---it’s become one of my favorite additions to my sewing studio.

Have a great afternoon, everyone!