I didn't think this would work.... clover mini iron... Slow Ironing....

An evening of firsts.  This is the first time using the Clover mini iron, in combination with the Omnigrid portable mini ironing board/cutting board.  I bought these with my Joann's 50% off coupons, last year. They had been completely forgotten about, I had hoped that the little combination mat would find some use at a class, but it came in handy this evening. 

The quilt is to the point where there is a lot of ironing seams open, little seam allowances that don't want to stay open.  This means standing at the ironing board, prying the seam open and trying not to burn your finger tips.  The small seams have a tendency to close shut even after opening them, especially at the bulky intersections of piecing.  Meanwhile, as you are diligently working on one seam, you can inadvertently iron other seams closed.  Ah joy.

The instructions recommend high for cottons, and it actually worked.  It's not perfect but this will allow me to whiz through with the larger iron later.  The light turns on, when it's on, but it does not turn off when it reaches temperature.  The iron stand, is very cute but will drag from the weight of the cord, so be careful.  The tip, is smooth enough to actually open the seam a bit.  The sitting down and using the mini iron, allowed me to trim the long thread tails at the start of each block.  I'm finding they can turn up in the most unlikely places later, so it's better to clean while you go.

There are 9 more strips to sew together, then it's onto the larger block border, a brief break might be needed, as I'm seeing stripes in my sleep.

  

It's been fun to see how the blocks shrink from the initial layout, to sewing together (they shrank 6 1/2"), then they grew another inch or so after being pressed.  When the strips are all joined, they will shrink and grow width wise. 

 The first three strips have been joined and pressed here.

 This quilt should finish at 85" x 85", it's going to be large enough for a queen bed, the largest I've attempted so far.  We will have to see what kind of quilting will be done here, stitch in the ditch again? or tied?  

Oh, and the most important part of this quilt, I have extra fabric left over.  All that fuss at the beginning, it was the pattern matching that saved me on the 1/4 yard lengths.  It made the process a little more laborious though.  So if you followed the directions in the book for 24 striped fabrics in 1/4 yard lengths, you can still make the quilt as planned, but you'll have to match your stripes before cutting the fabric into 2 1/2" strips.

Now what will I do with these extra blocks and strips?