Laura Nownes

[E.M. T.]

Thanks ! Everybody !

[Betty J.]

I've been working here and there back on week three. :shock: Oh well, perhaps I'll get caught up before the end of the classes, but it doesn't look promising. Tomorrow is out because I've just arranged to have my grandson spend his after school time on Thursdays with me to work on crafty things. And so I'll do a little cleaning and organizing for that in the morning. But I'll spend Friday all day in my studio. I'm making a new tote bag to take with me to the quilt show in Phily plus a few other preparations for that. But it's all so much more fun than I was having this time last year when I was still working at my old job. :lol:

[Norma H.]

I'm sure you will have a great time with your grandson

[Norma H.]

Just don't drink all the limoncello before you get stitching :wink:

Don't worry, Rosemary, we will have it before, during and after stitching! You want to join us? :P :P :P

Sure, I would love to, but since I am up to date with this class :shock: I will probably be working on either my waist coat quilting - you remember I said that I would be needing the frame for a school project, well school starts next week, & I haven't touched it until yesterday :roll: , or a new skirt I have been promising myself for about a month (pretty new project that :wink: ) or yesterday I got the bit between my teeth and cut all the strips for my reels tops & b/grounds & fancy getting on with seeing how they will look.

[Norma H.]

Lois, I might be missing something, but if you turn the block that is on the right side in the picture, one quarter turn--wouldn't it be laid out the same as the block on the left?

Yep! I tried that but it was mirror images I was dealing with and a 1/4 turn in either direction ended being the same thing. I was sure that was all I had to do but it just didn't work. I get mixed up so easily anyway. I have notes on all the paper piecing SEW ON THIS SIDE! So far its working.

Lois this is always a recommended technique when working with something that is 'handed', it doesn't matter how you mark it, but marking it is a must - sleeves are another good case in point, and don't ask how I know :roll: :P

[Betty J.]

I'm sure you will have a great time with your grandson

Norma, I do enjoy it when he comes over. I'm so lucky to live nearby.

[Betty J.]

Ok, my grandson is making a small boat using Duck tape (as opposed to duct tape), so I snuck off to work on those week three blocks. I am CLEARLY not cut out to be a traditional quilter. They are pretty, but NONE of the centers line up precisely. Now I ask you...why doesn't this work for me? I cut it right, I stitched it carefully, I ironed it carefully, but when it comes down to the joining the last two sets together, the centers just don't line up. ops: :shock: :x :?

Ok, so I can make a beautiful bride's dress, a man's suit, a beutifully precision quilted perspectives thread quilt, but my blocks like this don't line up. :roll: The baby that gets this will just have to like it. I'm not redoing it all. :lol: :lol: Of course, I could put some butterflies or something just there. No one would know. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Norma H.]

It can be very tricky. I have to pin carefully to do this and my best method is to put a pin very close to the point on each side and not remove the pins before hand guiding the sewing machine over them. I hope your big machine accepts to be hand guided . I think I have seen this demonstrated somewhere not long ago but I can't recall where it was.
I'm sure the baby will love the quilt, points meeting or not.

[Nancy R.]

Hi Betty Jo - I'm sure your blocks are better than you think (where are our pictures to admire????) and the baby will love whatever you make. Butterflies are always a useful addition!

My matches are definitely far from perfect, but what helps me most is care in the direction of my pressing so that the seams nestle into each other. I'm also a pinner. I pin wherever I want points to match and I pin at the end of the seam. I also slow down when I get to a matching point and make sure that the seam on the underside doesn't get folded the wrong way by the feed dogs. Then I make sure that the seams are still nestled and push down on the matching point with the index finger on my left hand while the pieces go under the needle to try to keep anything from shifting. And I actually do all of my piecing using my walking foot, which I think reduces the shifting caused by a normal presser foot. (I use my walking foot for pretty much everything except FMQ and piping.)

I don't know if any of this helps, but thought I'd pass it along.

Nancy

[wendy w.]

Good thought to use the walking foot.

Take it as a sign Betty Jo for what you are destined to do

[Betty J.]

Hi Betty Jo - I'm sure your blocks are better than you think (where are our pictures to admire????) and the baby will love whatever you make. Butterflies are always a useful addition!

My matches are definitely far from perfect, but what helps me most is care in the direction of my pressing so that the seams nestle into each other. I'm also a pinner. I pin wherever I want points to match and I pin at the end of the seam. I also slow down when I get to a matching point and make sure that the seam on the underside doesn't get folded the wrong way by the feed dogs. Then I make sure that the seams are still nestled and push down on the matching point with the index finger on my left hand while the pieces go under the needle to try to keep anything from shifting. And I actually do all of my piecing using my walking foot, which I think reduces the shifting caused by a normal presser foot. (I use my walking foot for pretty much everything except FMQ and piping.)

I don't know if any of this helps, but thought I'd pass it along.

Nancy

:lol: :lol: Exactly! I do all of those too. The points match in the two-set section, very nicely. it's the central set that doesn't. butterflies! That's my answer. :lol:

[Betty J.]

Good thought to use the walking foot.

Take it as a sign Betty Jo for what you are destined to do

:wink: precisely. :lol:

[Betty J.]

It can be very tricky. I have to pin carefully to do this and my best method is to put a pin very close to the point on each side and not remove the pins before hand guiding the sewing machine over them. I hope your big machine accepts to be hand guided . I think I have seen this demonstrated somewhere not long ago but I can't recall where it was.
I'm sure the baby will love the quilt, points meeting or not.

Norma, that probably would work. My big machine does. I am pleased at how well it's handling the fabric. It's me that isn't. ops:

[Betty J.]

Another trick I've come across and used is to just sew across the centre point, then check if it is in the right place, if it isn't you only need to unpick 1/2" of stitching, if it is right then go back and stitch the whole seam.

[Betty J.]

Rosemary, That's a great idea.