Project Quilting- Challenge 3- Tool Time

February 13, 2012 3 Comments

Man, at first I was totally stumped on last week’s challenge! Since I’m an architect, my thoughts actually headed straight to construction tools. But that wasn’t getting me anywhere, so then I started thinking about a useful ‘tool’ to hold my kiddo’s tools, like crayons and markers and paint… But still nothing…

Then a couple of people commented on my blog about, hello, sewing tools!! Ah, ha! Yes! My first thought was to use magnets to make a working ‘tool rug’ (instead of a mug rug…) to put my pins on as I sew. But then that wasn’t really coming together either and then my husband looked at my idea and said, ‘NO.’ Sooooo….

The other thing I have been wanting to try out is the chevron pattern and of course, scissors came to mind for this piece. So that’s where I started. The red chevron represents the scissors. And, um, the chevron’s aren’t all that easy to get lined up…. Just a little side note there for ya for future projects…. My husband was a lot of help on this one, actually. He helped with composition and color, which isn’t actually a surprise to anyone that knows him. And with his help the pin idea went from being a big black (and ugly, so I found out) circle to being translated in little rectangles at the bottom.

Part of the challenge was to incorporate 4 tools into the design. So I’ve already got the pins and scissors. Then came the circle shapes for the rotary knife and the ruler along the side.

But I actually have 5 tools represented. The fifth is the Bobbin Bloom. Have you seen these??? They are really cool! I don’t actually have them, but I think they are a fantastic tool. Stayed tuned for a giveaway this week!!

I tried again with the machine stitched binding and was not impressed once again. I did it correctly this time, unlike last time. The only binding I had, in a color I liked, was a thin single fold tape. I should have stopped and just made my own binding, but it was late saturday night and it’s due Sunday morning… So I went with what I had and what I thought would be quick and easy… I’m going to give it another try with better binding and let you know how it goes. Third times a charm, right???