Last week I showed you the mug rug that I made using a leftover block, and I talked about “burping” the quilt so let me show you how I did it…..

Once the top was finished, I cut a backing fabric that was a bit larger than the front, and cut it into two pieces….

I sewed the two pieces back together again, leaving a small hole in the middle of the seam….

Now comes the magic part….. place the top and bottom pieces together, with right sides together…..

….and stitch all the way around the piece, keeping the stitching line 1/4-inch from the edge.

Now, layer this up with the batting, ensuring that the batting is on the “front” side of the piece….

If you layer it the other way, the batting will be in your way when you start to burp the quilt! (ask me how I know!!)

Now, use the first stitching line as your guide and stitch between it and the edge of the piece….

Doing this takes the batting out of the seam, making it easier to turn.

Trim off any excess batting and now it is time to BBBBUUUUURRRRRPPPPPPPP!!! (Excuse me!!)

When I had it turned, and the corners popped out, I took a few stitches to close the hole, then used my “Left Compensating Foot” to stitch a line around the outside to give it a finished look…

If you want to burp a bigger quilt, you do it the exact same way.

I have learned to put a border on the top, burp the quilt, and then stitch 1/4-1/2 inch away from the edge. This gives the look of a bound quilt, without making binding!!

I don’t often use this method, but I love having it in my “tool box” for just this type of project!!

A few weeks ago, my friend Anne texted me to ask if she could borrow my big 16-inch square ruler.

Now, most of us have a favorite type of ruler. For me, it is “Quilter’s Rule” all the way!!

The rulers have ridges on the back, and I find them to be SO easy to use. The ridges help hold the fabric against the edge and keep the ruler from slipping.

I have the 6×24, the 6.5-inch square, the 12.5-inch square, and the 16-inch square.

The only thing that I don’t like about this biggest ruler is that it doesn’t have the ridges….just a smooth back.

Years ago, I added a piece of Invisigrip to the back, and that helped greatly. But it still tended to slip!

Anyway….. When Anne brought it back, it had squares of surgical tape on the back…..

When I questioned her about them, she said it was her method for controlling ruler slippage!!

WHAT A BRILLIANT IDEA!!

The tape doesn’t gum up the ruler, and its surface has just enough roughness to hold it in place…

….AND it is even semi-transparent!

Guess who is going to rob the First Aid kit?

I often try to give you a tip or product review on Tuesdays…

My tip for this week is to ….

Here is an example of when I didn’t think…..

I was working on one of my guild challenge blocks, and there were two squares next to each other in the same fabric.

My thinking was this….

WHY should I cut TWO 1.5-inch squares, just to sew them back together again?

WHY not, just cut a rectangle, 1.5 by 3.0?

Maybe THIS is why…..

Because that rectangle should have been cut 2.5-inches by 1.5-inch!!

Fortunately, it was an easy fix, but it would have been even better if I had USED MY HEAD and cut it the correct size to begin with…..

REMEMBER…..

If you missed Part One about the award this quilt won and what it represented, you can read it here….

I almost didn’t finish this quilt.

In fact… I had already decided it was a failure.

• It didn’t match what I had in my head.
• It didn’t feel “right.”
• And if I’m being honest—it carried some heavy emotions with it, too.

So I judged it.

Hard.

But here’s what I’m beginning to understand…

Sometimes we’re not really judging the quilt. We’re judging the experience of making it.

The frustration.
The doubt.
The season of life we were walking through at the time.

And we wrap all of that into the finished piece and decide…

It’s not good enough.

But what if we’re wrong?

What if the very things we struggle with— the imperfect lines, the unexpected choices, the emotional weight— are actually what give our work its depth?

This quilt reminded me of something I don’t want to forget:

Finish it anyway.
Step back before you decide.
Give your work—and yourself—a little more grace.

Because sometimes…

What feels like a failure in the moment turns out to be something entirely different.