Paper pieced?

[Margo C.]

Beautiful sashing Rita! I think they will look great next to the white background fabric from the blocks

[Susan B.]

Wow, Rita, you got this done in one day? That's impressive and looks wonderful.

[Lotti D.]

I loveboth the red & white and the black & white versions... If I do decide to join in, I'd probably go along that line too. Been wanting to make a two color quilt since seeing the red-white show pictures from New York. That was so fabulous!

[Rita C.]

Thanks for the encouraging comments everybody. Susan, I found that once I had my pieces cut to size the paper piecing only took about 10 minutes per sashing strip. What took a lot longer was trying to decide a) whether to do it at all and b) what fabrics to use. :? I am still not sure about doing this quilt but I needed a distraction from the applique for my WotRoTT quilt because it was driving me insane having to blanket stitch around approximately 100 pieces per border. :roll:

[Rita C.]

Is that by hand or machine? hand would drive me insane too!

[Rita C.]

By machine. If it was by hand I would have given up by now. There is just so much of it. :roll: However, mustn't grumble, I am sure I will get there in the end.

[Constance G.]

I have officially "abandoned ship" from trying the Striplate method, and have started paper piecing. I ordered Debra Wagner's book from a seller at Amazon 3 weeks ago, and it still hasn't arrived, so I'm moving on. I am sure there is merit to using the method, otherwise best-of-show winners like Pat and Sue wouldn't be using it. I just couldn't quite wrap my head around it with the info in the January instructions, and I AM DETERMINED NOT TO GET BEHIND THIS ON THIS BOM!!! I am going to order the book elsewhere, on the assumption that there will be more Striplate sashing to come, and I can try it again later.

I had already pieced all my strip sets several weeks ago, waiting for my book. I was NOT looking forward to ripping all those seams so I could recut the fabric for paper piecing, but I have a wonderful new gadget that has rescued me...a battery-operated seam ripper! It looks like mini barber's clippers, and in fact is made by Wahl, who makes haircutting supplies.

[Constance G.]

Here's my before:

[Constance G.]

Here's my after. I set a timer, and it took only 3 minutes and 35 seconds to rip the whole set! I'm a happy girl!!!

[Lorraine R.]

Wow Connie, that looks llike an awesome gadget. Will have to look for one. Sorry to hear you were having trouble, but paper piecing should go smoothly for you (that's the route I took from the beginning).
Lori

[Margo C.]

Cool tool Connie!!

[Constance G.]

Another observation, this time about paper piecing. I do 99% of my sewing on my 15+ year old Bernina 1530, which I greatly love. I started my paper piecing yesterday, and things were going fairly well, except that the bottom piece of fabric tended to get caught and shifted by the feed dogs. On a hunch, I pulled out the Featherweight I inherited from my dear MIL, and tried paper piecing on it. It was AWESOME! The fabric slides in smoothly, and it sews such a lovely short stitch. Has anyone else had the same experience? Is it just that the feed dogs get nice and smooth after 60 years of use? :?

[Constance G.]

Where do you find the wonderful seam ripper?
"battery-operated seam ripper! It looks like mini barber's clippers, and in fact is made by Wahl, who makes haircutting supplies"

[Norma H.]

Please mention the model name. Amazon has several Wahl models

[Norma H.]

that seam ripper looks awsome - says me who uses a stilleto....