Well, I Did It

I committed to a new project.  I took it out, gathered up everything I'd need to do it, and dove it this morning.

I said I wasn't going to tell until I figured out if I could do it.  I can, and I will now tell.

Clamshells - a Moda kit from Collection for a Cause by Howard Marcus.

The first antique quilt I fell in love with was a clamshell.  I didn't figure I'd ever be able to make it.  Just cutting with all those clamshells with a template intimidated me to no end, not to mention the handwork involved.

Years and years later, I gasped when I saw the kit at the Fat Quarter Shop.  The clamshells were laser cut, and almost everything I'd need was in that box!  So I ordered it. I sat and looked at it for a couple of weeks, and this morning I decided to dive in and see if it was doable.

The one thing I needed to order to go with the kit was the Pellon lightweight stabilizer.  I couldn't find it around here.  I asked Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop if she could order it for me and she got a bolt of it to me last week.  She is just the most amazing person!  I know sometimes she must think, "What now?!!" when I send her a request, but she always finds what I need.

 

 

There's a plastic template that comes in the kit that I used to mark the back of the fabric.  You can see some clams marked on the right side of the picture above.  Then I put a 2.5 x 4 strip of stabilizer on the right side of the clamshell, stitched on the line, and turned it.  That's how easy it is.  You can see the stabilizer sewn on at the bottom of the picture.  I thought I'd sew two of them together to see how that went.  It took me a couple of tries to find "the spot," but that part will be easy, too. 

 

Once I got set up and going, I did about 25 clamshells in about an hour.  Some of those are in the top left of the photo.  I'm just going to concentrate on making the clams now and not worry about assembling them just yet.  I need to enlarge the quilt a bit but I won't know how much until I can measure the bed that it will end up on.  I'll do that over Christmas.  I'm also thinking about leaving the borders off.  The antique quilt I fell in love with didn't have borders and it was gorgeous.  That decision doesn't need to be made now.

 

I am so excited about making this quilt, although I think it's more sewing than quilting at this point.  That's okay.   Having it all laser cut took away 90% of the work. 

 

So that's it!  That's my next big project.  I'm pretty sure this one will be done before I get to The Home!