Tag: Piecing

New quilt idea..

I know, I know….the last thing that I need is a new quilt idea….

But hear me out!!

Sometime in my life, I downloaded a photo of these designs….

At various times in my life, I have looked at them and thought about what kind of quilt they would make.

Look in particular at the top right one…..

It wouldn’t necessarily be easy to piece as there are a bunch of curves, but look what happens when you put a bunch of them together……

I especially like the circles that appear in the design.

But, as I thought about all of those curves, I started wondering what would happen if you changed them to straight lines…..

It doesn’t have quite the same feel, but would sure be easier to piece!!

And, if you squint, you can still see the circles!

Wouldn’t it be fun in a color-wash type of design?

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So, will I ever make this quilt?

Probably not.

Did I have fun thinking about it and creating a plan?

ABSOLUTELY!!

I used to feel guilty about planning quilts that I will never make but I have finally come to grips with the fact that imaginary creating is just as important as actual creating!!

Do you agree?

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Let’s “Chain” Press

How many of you chain-piece when you can?

Probably most of you!

But how many of you “Chain-Press”?

Check it out….

If you are reading this on email, you can click on this link and go straight to the video…. https://youtu.be/rfUu1_gc5nQ

This is SO much faster and before you know it, those chains will look like this……

….and be ready to use in your next project!

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I’ve made a start….

Last week, I posted about my idea of turning two challenges into one quilt…

Time’s up…..

…and this week, I have made a start!!

The first thing that I needed to do was make the strip sets for the background blocks…

I only had 3 fat-quarters in the needed greens so I knew that I was going to have to be VERY precise in my cutting and planning!

I trimmed a minimal amount to even up the edges…

….and cut a set of strips out of each fabric. They varied in width from 1-inch to 2-1/2- inches.

I matched the fabrics into duets….

….and sewed them together, being REALLY sure of my 1/4-inch seam allowance…..

I even chose to piece with a Bottom Line thread which is 60 weight thread. I have never used this before but it seems to be working well.

OKAY….the first set of strips are sewn…..

Am I happy with them?

Not so much!!!

Come back on Saturday to see the next moves!

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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.

Split Rectangle Designs

On Tuesday I posted about using Deb Tucker’s ruler (Split-Rects) to make a series of Split Rectangle blocks…..

Now that I had a bunch made, it was time to figure out what I could do with them!!

I spent time looking at quilts online and found LOTS of ideas, but nothing that appealed to me.

I did play some with stars…..

And some other ideas…..

…but didn’t come up with anything that I was really excited about.

I also played with random placement…..

…but that was just “MEH!!”

So, I decided to lay out all of the squares, separating them between the two layouts…..

HMMMM….. I kind of like the straight diagonal lines that appear.

I wanted it to be very random, so I took all of the blocks, mixed them up, and put them in a pile…..

I stood at the design wall and picked up one at a time (without peeking) and placed it on the wall. This was my “random” design…..

I kind of like that!!!

This quilt needed to be 24-inches or less, and I was afraid that it would be pretty boring if the ENTIRE quilt was made of these triangles. So, I got rid of two columns and one row of blocks…..

….giving me room to add two borders!!

Piecing the blocks was super easy and I was pleased with how the points came together.

I added a scrappy border and called the top finished…..

Since I had some blocks left over, I used them and pieced the quilt back too…..

Come back tomorrow for the quilting!!!

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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.

Straight Strip Sets….again!!!

Two weeks ago I posted a blog story and Youtube video about how I sew and iron my strip sets to keep them completely straight……

Straight Strip Sets…..

A few days ago I was scrolling thru some YouTube videos and came upon this one from Deb Tucker. She goes even further in the quest for straight seams…..

I really like Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Designs. She has some fantastic rulers and techniques!! You might check out her website for more!

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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.