Finally Sewing - Class 130 - Lesson 5 - Carrie's Sampler

Never underestimate the value of reading, re-reading, measuring, measuring again... pins, and the trusty seam ripper.

For this project, I chose two reds from my stash. Originally the third fabric was going to be a white with red stars, but it is a bit too creamy in tone to work, so I'll pick up a white sometime later.

I'm using my long Creative Grids ruler for measuring and cutting as it has the grippers on the back - and I'm more accurate with the grippy rulers - less slipping.

I washed, pressed and starched the fabric before getting started.  Mike is still shaking his head in disbelief when he sees me using the iron / ironing board.  My seams came out correctly and I was able to measure the correct 1.5 inches for the center piece - and for the most part the outer strips came out at 1.75. I only had to trim one block to correct it.

Once all of the blocks were sewn and cut to size, I laid them out in order to stack them for chain stitching them. 
Then went to press them.  It was not until I finished pressing and flipped over the set that I found a rather critical error in Row 1 - and I still can't figure out just HOW I did it, but got to practice my seam ripping.

Dash and Monkey came in to supervise my progress...

Dash quickly got bored... and settled in for a nap.

So I soldiered on and worked on my pressing skills.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the way this came out.  My pressing skills can use a little more work - as there were a few spots with the open seam that can be seen in the left-hand picture.  I like the way the corners matched as seen in the right-hand picture.  Not all of the corners matched up so nicely, but I do have more confidence in my ability to start on the next projects.

The sampler will be finished over the course of several lessons, and into the Sophomore year.  Here is  the finished sampler from the Freshman year.

This picture is used with the gracious permission of Harriet Hargrave for the purpose of illustrating the project that I am attempting to complete. (I will try to do a better job photographing the quilts in the book - too much glare in poor lighting last night for me).

And below is my center panel - in red.