Mariner's Compass Progress

 Just before the Christmas break and a little bit during, I was able to spend some quality time with my sewing machine, iron and bunch of fabric. :c)

A few weeks ago, I showed this picture with a small section of the compass completed.



Shortly thereafter, the small pieces became 1/4 sections of the full compass.


Then it came time to do the dreaded curved seam....and a huge one at that!


In order to make sure it was spread evenly throughout the arc, I made the sure edges were square and lined up a boatload of pins to make sure that curved seam was right!




Half of the circle now all together.  :c)


After getting those curved seams done, it was relatively easy to put all four sections together.  I did have to remove the paper from the paper-piecing first as there was a ton of bulk in that center seam.  As it was, it was difficult to get it "just right" due to the amount of fabric there.  I played around a bit, but then decided to stop messing with it and it was good enough.


Next up was cutting the pieces for the ribbon border that goes around the center compass.  I love seeing the stacks of cut fabric ready for sewing.


Then with the borders pinned up around the compass on my design wall....


Finally, an on-point picture since that's how it will be in the final quilt.


After getting back from visiting family over Christmas, I sewed on the 4th border...then proceeded to remove all four borders. 

They weren't quite lying as flat as I wanted them to be and in checking a few of the individual seams, I realized I had accidentally sewn all the ribbon blocks together with a scant 1/4" seam versus a regular 1/4" seam.  That 1/16-inch added up quickly and caused my borders to be a bit wavy.

Not my ideal way to spend 3 hours, but I fixed the borders and they are now back on the quilt and the thing is completely flat again.  Yay!

I'll be showing more in the next week or so.

For anyone in the Northeast.... hope you're staying warm and in from the snow.  We were forecasted to only have 4" by this evening, but we have 6" with another 10-15" on its way overnight.  Put bone-chilling cold on top of that (the high Friday is only 4F and the low is -15F), and its a recipe for lots of issues.  Thankfully I can work my first two days of the year from home and not have to venture out in the cold and snow.

Stay warm!


Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations