Big Mama Melon Progress

I thought it was about time I reported in on my progress of my Big Mama Double Wedding Ring quilts,  its been a few weeks.  

So last time I was all cut, ready to start piecing.  

Now don't get me wrong, I love these templates, but the big melon didn't come with instructions for lining up and I had to do a little guess work.  Fortunately for me, I guessed right. 

You see, these really are BIG melons, like really big!  and on the side are notches in the plastic, not huge, tiny little notches that you can just get a pencil point in sideways, enough to make a mark on the fabric.  If you line up the pointy end of the concave square with the mark you made on the fabric, at both ends, and pin, pin your centers you are ready to sit and sew.  Really, just 3 pins.

If you have the melon on the bottom and the concave square on the top, the bias in the fabric allows you to ease in the top fabric edges to meet the bottom, so a quarter inch seam is always possible.  it also means you can control the bulk of the excess fabric on the top far easier too!

I laid out all the pieces on the floor in the house, no mean feat given the dizzy situation!  I realized that as a 3 x 4 piece, it felt, well, small!  so I did a bit of rummaging in the stash and came up with a bunch of extra fabrics that meant I could keep the colour wash theme running through from light to dark.  

It didn't take long to get the rows sewn together.  and then sew the rows to each other.  I took the time to do the curves of the rows piecing the curved bits, then going back to join the long melon ends, this was so when I pressed the seams, all the melon seams would go in towards the melon and the end bits could be pressed open.  

So once it was together, the prospect of loading it onto the frame with all those curves didn't thrill me, let alone the prospect of binding it!  So I have chosen to add borders to square it up.  I have hand stitched the quilt to the borders that have had the corners mitered.  I will trim off the excess on the back before I load this up for some quilting action.  But not this week eh!

I can honestly say, this really is a quick pattern, and is great for highlighting large print fabrics or where you want to see more of them.  I can highly recommend the templates for ease of use and the size for ease of piecing too!  I can see more of these in my future!

So how have you been getting on?  Have you made as start yet?  I'll try to sort out a Linky thingy soon so you can all share your progress.  

The Big Mama Double Wedding Ring

Well Hopefully that title got your attention! LOL

So, a couple of friends and I have been talking for quite some time about doing a Double Wedding Ring Quilt. Those friends are Nicky and Judith. And July is the designated month for starting.  

I can't say it all started with this book by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, but it was the inspiration we needed to get us going.  I have to say, I read this book from cover to cover when it arrived.  and I could go back and do it all again!  

And this pattern just screams out at me.  Though my colour pallet may be a little different.

Whilst I was tidying up my studio, this box of fabric was coming together nicely, and it seems I have a thing for this colour range.  

so I have the basis for my Big City Bright Lights quilt.  

This isn't my first foray into Double Wedding Ring Quilts, 

I pieced this Pickle Dish quilt at least 22 years ago (I know it was that long because my son was a baby at the time)

So this one is going to get a little Trudi treatment in the quilting department, and may indeed be my entry to the Festival of Quilts this year. 

I also have these templates for traditional double wedding ring.  the finished size of a complete ring is 17".  

however, the quilts in V's book are much bigger, like 30" across!  Now that's a Big Mama Double Wedding Ring! 

so that's where I'm heading

But first  ....  I though I would get my hand back into some curved piecing, and V has a great selection of templates on her website, Not only the large scale traditional DWR but a Big Mama Melon to go with them.  (not everyday you get to use that expression!)

so I delved into the stash and this little bundle of Sphere by Zen Chic for Moda Fabrics has been winking at me for some time

and seriously, it doesn't take long at all to cut a quilt with big templates 

and frankly, I just couldn't help myself!

So that's where I'm at.  I can think of another 3 variations of the pattern that I would love to make, so this is a long term project.  Some will be quicker than others, some will be a bit hit and miss as to whether the fabrics I have in mind will actually work.

So the plan, well, yes, there is a bit of a master plan here, we will all work on our DWR quilts, post pictures of the process, any tips we find along the way, point you in the direction of patterns or tools that can help.  

We would love for you to join us, just for the fun of it, we will do a Linky party once a month, so you can let us know what you have been up to and your progress too.  No pressure, no sponsors, no prizes, just for fun.

So what do you reckon, are you in?  

we might even manage a Linky Quilt Along button too! And I think I'll start using #BMDWR on Instagram feed too!

Go on, You know you want to!