In-Depth Post #5

These past two weeks my project got back on track and I made good progress since the last post. Since we had confused the amount of pieces we needed last time we worked on the quilt, the first thing we did at the beginning of the session was draw out our plan. I drew a simple diagram of the quilt using symbols to represent different pieces (squares represent the centres, diamonds represent the diamond pieces, circles represent the corner square pieces). I had completed all of the centres, but by doing this we were able to see how many diamond pieces and corner squares we still had to do. From these circles we did the math on how much fabric still needed to be cut.

 

 

After we figured out how much of the corner squares we needed, I needed to decide what style I wanted to do these pieces in. The options were a light border with a dark center or a dark border with a light center. After much contemplation I decided I liked the dark bordered corners more. The dark corners did have an extra layer of depth to them, but I decided the extra work was worth it.

 

Once I had decided on the corner design I got to sewing. I started by finishing the final couple diamond pieces using the same technique described in the previous post. When I had finished sewing we gathered all of the diamond pieces together, created a label that said the type of piece and number of pieces in the stack, then placed them in a ziplock bag to ensure everything stayed organized and we knew how much we had.

 

 

From there I begun sewing the corner pieces. This piece had a similar process to the center blocks since it had three layers. It begins by pinning the very center block onto the paper piece. To ensure the piece aligned with the lines on the front of the paper, my mentor showed me that I can simply use the lamps I had set up to backlight it.

 

 

Once the center is pinned, I sewed on two of the four inner sides, ironed the piece, then sewed on the other two inner sides (pictured below). After these sides are sewn on and ironed again, the outer four corners are sewn on using the same process. These pieces are then trimmed down to a square. Over the two sessions I had with my mentor these past two weeks I completed all 25 of these corner pieces (or 25 centers, 100 inner layers, and 100 corners).

 

 

Once I had the corner pieces completed, I had finished all 80 pieces I needed for the top layer of this quilt. The latter half of my second session was spent on the layout. I took all of the pieces and after a long period of placing, switching around, and pinning, I had my final quilt top layer design. I pinned down every piece onto a large piece of muslin so it could be hung on the wall.

 

 

After much work the hardest part of my quilt was complete. From here I just have to sew the top layer together, select a fabric for backing, and quilt the three layers together.

 

This week De Bono discusses different types of “hats” or different ways of thinking about a situation. The assignment for this post was to transcribe a conversation between myself and my mentor and identify what types of hats appear in the conversation (the following was from when we were discussing which corner piece we liked better).

 

“Which corner do you think?”

 

(pause)

 

“I like the white with these diamonds, but I really like this dark fabric.” (red hat)

 

“If you can’t decide walk away from it, wait a minute, then walk back and the one you are drawn to is the one you should pick.” (black hat)

 

(I do that)

 

“I think I like the dark one better. It looks more interesting.” (red hat)

 

“The white may also be too white with the other diamonds.” (red hat)

“Yeah let’s do the dark ones” (red hat)

 

As you can see much of our conversations are based off of the red hat. This makes sense consider the red hat is based off of emotions, feelings, and intuition. Considering the fact that sewing is an art it makes sense that most of our conversation is based on how the piece is making us feel versus hard facts.

 

I am happy with the work I was able to complete during the past two weeks and I am excited for what lays ahead.