Thursday, July 19, 2012

Super Mario Bros QAL progress

Cut To Pieces

I finally got started cutting my squares for the Super Mario Bros QAL on Tuesday and yesterday I managed to whip up the first two blocks: Mario and Luigi.

Each square starts at 1 1/2" square so when it's all sewn together the block is made up of 324 1" squares-- crazy!  I decided that to make the future blocks easier on myself I'd cut all the fabric at once and put it into zip-lock baggies.  It didn't take me that long to get all the cutting done.  I did it while watching the first two Harry Potter movies.

cut squares
Cut squares ready to go!

The method we used for piecing all the squares together fantastic. The process was new to me but I've seen it before on Oh! Fransson and Angela does a great job explaining it in the post about block construction for the QAL. 

Instead of the stabilizer she recommends (which is hard to find and pricy) I used Pellon 541 Wash and Gone along with basting spray to get the squares to stick.  After reading that another QAL member had problems drawing her grid on the stabilizer I was super careful and opted to use a washable felt tip marker rather than a pencil and had no issues with it.

Mario in-progress
Mario squares on the stabilizer

My only tips for using the basting spray it to shake your can well to get an even spray and to spray only a line or two at a time. If I tried to spray and then lay down three lines of squares I found that the stabilizer was only tacky instead of sticky, so I'd have to re-spray to get the square to stick.

When it came time to sew I also discovered that it's best not to wait. I laid down all the squares for Mario and sewed immediately and had no problems. I laid out the squares for Luigi and then waited a few minutes to sew and by the time I was finishing up I was noticing that some of the squares were starting to lift off the stabilizer.

Mario
Mario drying after having the stabilizer washed off

Luigi
Luigi drying after having the stabilizer washed off
Making these blocks was a lot of fun and very rewarding since they look pretty awesome.  They're also HUGE--they measure 18.5" square finished.  I can't wait until Angela gets more block layouts posted so I can get started on them.  This quilt is a gift for my husband and he's absolutely loving it so far.

You can check out everyone else's progress in the Flickr group.

1 comment:

  1. I feel like I could cry with happiness after reading this post - I heard someone say something about using the washable stuff (the stuff that isn't fusible) with basting spray, but I wasn't sure if it would work. VIOLA! You are amazing! I used a lightweight fusible interfacing and the block is SO stiff and heavy, I was ready to give up. I can't afford the real wash out stuff, so the fact that you were able to make this work is HUGE! :D

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