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When last we tuned in, I was all set to start my daughter's Tardis quilt. I had the fabric. I had the measurements to build a full size Tardis from wood. What vanished was time, My husband was finally moving back home because he had found a job here! I was glad he was coming home after three years, but frustrated that once again, a quilting project had to be put on hold. What also vanished was my lovely sewing room as it rapidly filled up with the furniture and stuff he brought home.
No time, and no place to work.
I stacked the fabric up in my walk-in closet, and checked on it once in a while to see how it was aging.
Follow me below the orange bobbin tangle to see how I have progressed.
Perseverance. Can't quilt without it!
My sewing room was packed full and so was the garage and family room. After some thought and some measurements, I realized that I could completely re-arrange the master bedroom and put a small U-shaped work area in there. My husband and the girls were dragooned into bringing up two sewing tables, three sewing machines, an office chair and an ironing board to the bedroom. The cutting table was hauled to the kitchen/dining room. Voila! I was back in business!
Here's my fabric pallet.
Solid blue is the Tardis. It is not the "official" BBC Tardis color, but the best we could do. Additionally, Julia wanted a somewhat brighter blue.
I am adding fabric all around the Tardis proper to make it a rectangular quilt. The image will be of the Tardis at night having just appeared amidst bushes and standing on a rocky ground. That's what the leafy fabric and stone fabric is for.
In order to give a more three-dimensional feel to the bushes, I am fussy cutting some of the leaves and then re-attaching them to the bush. I'm using a double layer of cotton batting here, and outline quilting for more 3D effect as well. I'm also using a double layer of batting for the stones.
I have ditched the idea of making the back of the quilt like the Tardis. This would be great if I had infinite time, which I definitely don't! The back will be the same starry night fabric as used to frame the Tardis on the top.
Note the swirling black and white clock fabric and the astronomical fabric next to it. The Tardis is 'bigger inside'. There was no way I was going to try to re-create the control room!! I decided to use these two fabrics on the inside of the door to symbolize the Tardis' time and space traveling ability. This will take a separate diary in itself.
I sat down with the Brachaki measurements and started figuring out how to cut this thing out.
Here are my cutting notes on the Brachaki blueprint for the blue fabric.
I started by identifying all the different elements of the Tardis and figuring their widths. I then added 1/2 inch for seams. I came up with 11 different widths. I cut them out width of fabric rather than length of fabric due to space and arm length constraints...I need 393 inches for the pieces that are 1.5 inches wide!
I will post these cutting calculations AFTER I have completed the quilt and worked out all the mistakes.
Here are the completed cuts laid out on an ironing board in my entry hall, labeled and ready to be sewn up. They are pinned together at the selvages and folded at the fold line.
Here I am in the middle of sewing the like pieces into big long pieces. I chain sewed them. Much to my amazement, I didn't end up with any great long lengths with seams and/or center folds facing opposite directions.
I have all the long lengths ready to be pressed, measured, cut and sewn into the Tardis. They are pinned together at the folds so all the seams are together at the opposite end of the length of the strip.
And that is where I am at right now. The house looks like hoarders live here with a crazy woman who has sewing production spread across two floors and three rooms. Naturally, I am coming into a lot of free time AFTER this diary is published, but if it is allowed, I will update further during the week and add more pictures.