Do the Math

Have you ever thought….”I don’t need to figure out the exact size…. I can just wing it”?

Well, I tried “winging it”. Let me tell you the story.

As we talked about last weekend, I had decided to use the leftover “flying geese” blocks to work into the border of my charity quilt.

The problem was that the internal block was 4″x8″ and the border block was 3″x6″.

So, my first thought was that I would just measure the distances and make it work…..

THAT DID NOT WORK!

Mostly because I failed to take the 1/4″ seam allowance into the measurement.

So, I pulled out a piece of paper, drew out what was happening and “did the math”!!….

Once I learned that each end piece needs to be cut 5.5-inches and the internal strips need to be cut 10.5-inches.

LOOK how well they fit together…..

Now that I KNOW the measurements, the quilt top was a breeze to finish!!

I have been thinking about how to quilt it, and those two center squares are calling for a “Square Spiral”….come back tomorrow, and we will learn how to quilt it!!

I also had some fun with the backing….we will tackle that on Saturday.

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One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

Orange & Green…

Yesterday I talked about trimming down my 1/2-square triangle blocks and then realized that I didn’t have purpose for them.

So, I decided to MAKE a purpose for them!!

Since they had started out as off-cuts from flying geese blocks….

….I thought it was appropriate to turn them into MORE Flying Geese blocks.

I laid the six simple blocks out..

….imagining that I will include a small sashing between them.

I started by adding Flying geese randomly along the edge….

…but I wasn’t impressed!

Next, I thought about adding a flying geese block to “continue” the flying geese in the block….

They aren’t the same size of blocks, but I think they look okay.

NEXT….let’s figure out what fabric to use for the sashing…..

I thought that this green “Kafe” might work well…..’

…but apparently not!

It needs a brighter color…maybe like one of these…..

OKAY….now I have a plan. Come back next week and I will have the top finished…..one way or another!!

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You can find out more at this link…..

Quilt As You Go…the Frances Quilts’ way!

I have never been a big fan of “Quilt As You Go” projects!

When I finish quilting something, I want to be….well…..FINISHED!!

But I knew from the outset that I would need to finish the Manadala quilt using the QAYG process. I also knew that it would NOT include any hand-sewing!

As the year of quilting Mandalas progressed, I thought and thought about how I could finish the quilt. Here is the result of my thinking…..

Although this may not be an “orthodox” way to create a “Quilt-As-You-Go” design, it certainly worked well for me!!

Come back tomorrow and we will officially declare the Mandala Project as FINISHED….

…..or is it??

Making the “after quilt”

Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts makes backs for her quilts using the leftovers from the quilt top. She calls them the “After Quilt”.

I love that idea, but when your top is made of scraps, there are NO leftovers to work from.

That was the dilemma that I found when I was planning a back for my 2-inch scrap…..

So, I opened all of the curtains on my “WAY TOO LARGE” fabric stash and started thinking about fabrics that I probably would never use……

…..mostly the small florals that made their way into many of my first quilts…..

It was time to use them up!!!

Many years ago I tried making a backing using 12 inch squares from my stash but it looked HORRIBLE. I eventually un-basted the quilt and remade the back.

I did NOT want to do that again!!

I started out by pinning the quilt top to my design wall and then starting to add fabrics…..

THIS reminded me too much of that disaster back, so I decided that it needed a focal point. Maybe this larger piece of blue fabric…..

While it did help, it still needed more. How about some orange…..

At this point you can see a bit of my floor. It was eventually covered with all of the fabrics that I auditioned and rejected!!

I decided that this was a good starting place and I would first piece the edges that would abut the orange…..

As I pieced, I carefully squared up each edge so that the back would lay flat when it was basted.

This is one of the MOST important parts in this process.

When I looked that top of the backing, I knew that it needed something between each of those tiny-flower fat quarters….

Now it was starting to take shape…..

I like planning it on top of the quilt top so that I can be sure that it is big enough. The last part to do was the bottom section.

My first instinct was to mirror the top section, starting with these fabrics….

…eventually adding borders on each side to make it wide enough…..

IMPORTANT……… Again, as I put it together, I measured and squared each section that was going to be attached to another section!!

So, here is the finished back…..

I took it one step further and placed the top on TOP and then trimmed off some of the uneven edges…..

And just like that, my “After-Quilt” (Back) was made. I decided to go ahead and baste it but sadly realized that I didn’t have enough batting……

Of well basting can wait for another day. After all, it will take me that long to clean up my studio again…..

There is more to come on the saga of the backing and basting of this quilt…… keep coming back!!

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In this blog, I post stories about creativity, techniques, tools of the trade, and lots more about the wonderful art of quilting. If you are enjoying these posts, please subscribe to be notified of each new blog as it becomes available.

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Accurate piecing when seams don’t nest!

I believe that every quilter has a desire to be more accurate with their piecing and one of the first things we learn is how to “nest” our seams.

If you haven’t heard that term, it refers to when one seam allowance is pressed one direction and the other seam allowance is pressed to the opposite side……