February's Four Patches

[Damaris E.]

YOU go for it Jimmie!! We are all here with YOU!! It is fun to be able to do it together!!

[Damaris E.]

thanks Margo I tried your alternative method for the flying geese with no middle seam and they worked a treat and are lovely and flat. Dorothy

[Margo C.]

Glad to help, Dorothy. Just keep trying techniques until you find what works for you! Always more than one way to skin a cat as my daddy used to say!

[Judy M.]

Jimmie, your quilt WILL be perfect--we all sew and press differently and some of our measurements won't be the same as Sue's. That's the real learning curve here--learning what to do to make the pieces all fit. Even in the famous Dear Jane quilt she used floater strips in order to make the border fit. We all will learn things in this process that we'll use time after time. Judy in Torrance

[Sandy M.]

Margo, I just looked at your alternate block tutorial and I was wondering why you don't starch your fabric before you cut it. Looks like you are cutting the pieces and THEN starching? I have always starched before cutting (helps make the cutting more accurate too), but maybe there's a reason for doing it the other way that I don't know about.

Sandy

[Margo C.]

Sandy, I am starching before I cut the fabric to size. What you are seeing in my pictures (explained in the captions below the photos) is starching oversized pieces that I have cut from lots of different fabrics. After those pieces are starched and ironed, THEN I cut the sizes that Sue tells us we need. Yes, it wastes some fabric, but I don't want to starch all of my fabric, because I may not want it starched for the next project, so I just starch hunks that are a little larger than the cut size is supposed to be.

[jimmie w.]

I have just posted my appliqued February BOM in Show & Tell. My pieced BOM is actually finished but it is not the right size. I know the floater strips are suppose to fix it but how can something that is not square be fixed with a floater strip? If I trim the floater strips to make the BOM square - then the floater strips will not be the same width on all four sides or straight. I don't know how to fix it. Jimmie

[Margo C.]

Jimmie, your block looks great!!
If you are concerned because it's not exactly straight and square, you might try blocking it to size. (I showed how I did my feathered star in my January tutorial.) Don't trim the floater strips. They will be fine when you add the strips next month! And remember....we are working with fabric here....not tempered steel. There are going to be some discrepancies, but they will all ease together as we stitch more pieces on.

[Carolyn T.]

Margo - I have noticed your spray bottle of starch in your tutorial pictures. Perhaps you have said, but I missed it, what kind of mixture do you use for starch. Thanks. Carolyn in Kerrville, TX

[Margo C.]

Margo - I have noticed your spray bottle of starch in your tutorial pictures. Perhaps you have said, but I missed it, what kind of mixture do you use for starch. Thanks. Carolyn in Kerrville, TX

Carolyn, I really don't think it matters what kind you use. Personally, I like STA-FLO brand (blue bottle) and mix it 1/2 and 1/2 with water in a spray bottle.
I find it at WalMart...usually down by the floor, or up on the top shelf! :roll: I've also seen it at the Dollar General Store sometimes.

Sharon Schamber recommends spray starch.
Sue Garman doesn't like any starch.
Ricky uses a spray bottle with plain water and a hot dry iron.

Just find what works for you!

[Carolyn T.]

Thanks for the info, Margo. I'm going to try your method. Carolyn

[Denise L.]

I tried using a quick flying geese method where you make 4 at once. I made a test block using that method then I made another using Sue's papers and liked her way better.

I finished one sawtooth star before work this morning and was bummed that I started at 7am. Tonight me and the dogs are in the sewing room. Well me and the Westminster Dog Show that is.

denise