Many thanks...

I wanted to thank everyone out there for all the sympathy and support in this very sad time in my life. I once again realize how fortunate I am to live in such a caring community, but also to be a part of the larger and nurturing quilting community. I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Thank you all again.

Sad news.

Well, dear quilters and friends, I'm making this post primarily because I can't bear to give this news to so many people individually. My younger brother was stabbed to death outside his apartment last night at barely 22 years old. We don't know the details except that he's gone and it's not quite real to me yet.

Sorry for the absence.

I've been battling with some sort of flu, though methinks not swine flu, on top of having a puppy, for the better part of four weeks. I thought I was finally getting back on the horse, but last night I had a pretty good cough fest and have the wretched tickles in my throat that have plagued me throughout.
Anyway, the long and short is that I haven't sewn anything more exciting than a dog coat (Nova is naked, for all intents and purposes. I have more hair on my body than she does, and I'm basically hairless), which, while cute, doesn't seem to warm her up quite as much as I'd hoped.
I have many projects planned, some even cut, and glorious dreams of finishing a few things prior to Xmas, but alas, reality has set in and I know that I'll be longarming practically every waking hour until Christmas eve and I'll be pretty stoked if I even eat a sit down meal in that period.
I will try to get back on some sort of blogging schedule, but between puppy, work, and illness, I've just been overrun.
Hope all of you are happily quilting!

Miss Nova!

Here is our little darling, who is still having a little trouble with her leg (hence the wrap on her leg in some pictures). She's such a sweet girl and very smart (she already sits and will lay down with coaxing). The leash is her nemesis, but she's very good off leash. We've been to work a little, but I have some nasty, dry hacking cough accompanied by sore throat, so I'm mainly trying to avoid people so they don't come down with it.
She is quite the little lap dog, here she is, curled up in my lap our first morning together.

Kisses for me at grandma's house.
She is a bit of a mama's girl, and pretty relaxed with her favorite rope.
She gets her wrassle on with the rope.
We're in and out of the shop this week, but we'll be in next week unless I croak because of this wretched cough.
Happy quilting (and puppy playing!)!

Puppy day is at last at hand!

Hello all, I finally found out that I get to pick my little pooch up tomorrow night, late, but better late than never! I'm about to jump out of my skin I'm so excited--it was starting to seem like it wouldn't really happen. In the meantime, here are some photos of my retreat projects. One of my latest quilting kicks is that since I don't decorate my house for any holidays (or have any company for that matter, but just in case), so I thought I would make a little throw for our upstairs couch (I also don't have a throw for my upstairs couch that's in my sewing room and is probably more properly called a scratching post as that's the reason we brought it from North Carolina--it was $30). Anyway, so I got the center (no borders) of my Valentine's Day (which I only made a quilt for because it had lime green) and my Fall/Halloween center done... Ultimately I will probably have separate Fall and Halloween quilts because Halloween is far and away my favorite holiday (it practically celebrates candy, how could it not be?).
Anywho, and the last one, the black one, is our current block of the month, but done in Lily's own personal colorway. I haven't done the border on that one either, it's a cool pieced number, so that may be a little while in coming.
Yeah, in case you can't tell, that is iridescent snake-skin fabric as setting triangles. This was done with a layer cake and used "Jelly Roll, Layer Cake, and Charm Quilts" a great book for those of us who are addicted to pre-cuts. This was also possibly one of the fast quilts I've ever done. I think it was like five hours start to finish simply because it's just huge blocks, but I dig the interlocking lime and red rings around the blocks.

Another easy fast one. This is from "Stop, Drop, and Roll", one of Anka's Treasures' latest books. Also a jelly roll. I like to work on semi-mindless projects at retreat so I can BS more effectively.
And last but not least, the not-so-mindless project. I love how this turned out and I'm so excited to get the border pieced and on so I can figure out how to quilt this bad boy.
You can look forward to some puppy pics, probably more puppy pics than you were ever interested in seeing, so I'm giving you fair warning.
Happy quilting!

Long time no blog.

Sorry for my long absence. Between puppy distraction and retreat and working by myself most of the previous three weeks, I just didn't have anything to write about. I still have nothing to say, and while I got lots of stuff done at retreat I haven't taken any pictures yet. In sad news, poor Nova is sick, so she couldn't fly today, so we're hoping she is better by Monday, but I won't really know when she's coming until Sunday. I am one depressed puppy-mama. Anyway, I just hope she's feeling better and ready to come to her new home on Monday.
Anyway, hopefully I can get something done this weekend and post some pics on Tuesday (hopefully including puppy pics).
Happy quilting!

Exploding brains and disks.

Well, I'm back from South Dakota, and stuffed full of new ideas, inspiration and of course, not nearly enough time to implement and practice all these things. I always wish when I take a class bursting with information that I could go to class, pause life, quilt for a couple hours, go back to class, pause, etc... Well, wish in one hand, as they say.

It was a very different experience to take classes with a group (there were 6-7 of us, depending on the day, 2 machines) versus my one on one lessons. I'm hoping between Myrna Ficken (teacher of my classes this weekend) and Karen Parker(the gal I took lessons from) and I can get a cycle of longarm classes going here at the shop for those of you who rent my machine or own one of your own. They have different styles and teaching flavors and they're both so much fun, I'd love to have both of them come to teach, so I'm getting that in the works.

Unfortunately, driving for 7+ hours twice in one weekend wreaked some serious havoc on my back. I have a slipped disk and sitting for that long just irritates the crap out of it. By Saturday evening I was finally feeling a little better, but then I got to get back in my car Sunday afternoon, and now I'm in agony again. Ibuprofen and I are becoming very good, frequent friends.

Meanwhile, I've been reading copious amounts of dog training literature, though I did drag my sewing machine along to SD and did quite a bit of sewing while watching HGTV, to which I'm now addicted, but fortunately do not have cable or satellite, or I would quickly atrophy into a Jabba-the-Hut-like-blob.

I did find out that I'll actually get my new pooch on October 16th. She's growing like a weed and in my latest pictures looks about twice the size of the one I posted last week. I confess that I can barely stand the wait and my every thought is consumed by puppiness. My mom keeps asking me what I'm going to do when I get pregnant since three weeks is a significantly shorter wait than the 9 months of anticipation I'll have to endure then. Maybe people who thrive on instant gratification shouldn't have babies. I don't know, I guess maybe someday I'll find out. But for right now I'm just trying to distract myself for three weeks of puppy countdown. Great Dane proofing the house is going to be an ongoing process as she will be much more capable of getting into trouble than a smaller pooch.
She's already bigger than my brother's full grown beagle.


I do have my fall quilt retreat coming up (YAY!) next weekend, so that will keep me occupied most of next week, and then only one week after that. Quilting seems like a distant thing that I might be able to do someday if things in the shop ever calm down and I stop running around all the time. It seems like I'm home so infrequently I can't even find my way around the house and my husband and I need pictures just to remember what the other one looks like.

Someday, hopefully, I will go back to happy quilting!

Who's a quilter?

Not this girl. All I've managed is binding, but I have, in my defense, bound three quilts in the last week. I'm getting ready to go to three days of long-arm lessons in Hill City, South Dakota this weekend and things have been pretty hectic as one of my employees is also gone for three weeks. Tonight is also the convening of the first meeting of Big Timber's newly formed quilt club and we're meeting at the shop.
The other bit of excitement is that my hubby and I are preparing for a new arrival at our house! But not a baby! Gotcha! We're getting a puppy!
Poor miss Elli, our "borrowed" black lab (my mom's dog) is just not adjusting to her shop-dog lifestyle despite us trying for over a year. For whatever reason, she has been unable to conquer her fears in the shop (she's started barking at random people, with no discernible pattern or reason and has even growled at a few) and she destroys stuff if we leave her home alone. So she's going back to my mom's house where she has a huge fenced in yard and two other doggies to play with. The upside is that I still get to see her and play with her and she'll still be joining me for some of our old routine.

Our little girl should get here mid to late October and I will be taking a week of "maternity" puppy leave. She's a Great Dane from Illinois and this is her latest photo:
She's exactly a month old today and we get her at 8 weeks, so we're pretty excited but also trying to get the house ready for a puppy that might weigh more than me by the time she's full grown.
For Friday I'm off to South Dakota, but I'll be back next week with details.
Happy quilting (eventually!)!

Just kidding!

Ha, you thought that I might actually quilt something? Well, you were wrong. I've been trying to get our house in some sort of liveable condition and our yard and extensive landscaping that had gone to ruin before we moved here is badly in need of attention so I've been trying to get that under control before the snow flies. It just seems as though the months are flying by waaaay to fast. As a wise magnet on my mom's fridge says: "Life isn't passing me by, it's running me over."
Happy quilting!

#&@^*%*

Yes, that's what I spent my afternoon yesterday doing. I got new wheels for my longarm that are supposed to much smoother and easier to roll. Well, that they may be, but that's about the only thing about them that's easy. I spent three or four hours yesterday and three this morning trying to get the damn things on and while I finally did manage, I was near madness, my back was a throbbing nest of slipped disk pain, and really just pissed off.
Enough about that though, just wanted to apologize for the lack of bloggery yesterday. I'm hoping to quilt at least a table runner or something for instructional purposes before Friday, but life has been quite chaotic.
Happy quilting!

The crappiest blogger.

Well, I won't pretend I have a good excuse for not blogging on Tuesday, because I just forgot due to Labor Day "what-day-of-the-week-is-it?" confusion. Husband and I are still running up to Bozeman on Tuesdays to enjoy the last few blissful days of warm enough to play soccer weather and then I had a meeting on Wednesday night that was longer than I'd planned. All in all, I just had one of those weeks where I didn't get anything done in the evenings.
I've also been on a binding tear--yes, yes, screech in confusion, gasp with disbelief, I know I do. With the help of my wonderful staff, I've been making a couple "magical binding trees"--which are actually just empty fabric bolts which we wrap the binding for my quilts around. This is helpful for two reasons: the first is that having them piece and iron my binding means that I can spend more time quilting and piecing in the evenings to keep my shop bedecked in lovely quilts and I can continue doing the work thing at work and it makes a great thing for them to do while it's slow. The second reason is that piped binding (sew all by machine) which I like to put on my quilts, never seems to happen for me if it isn't made prior to quilt finishing. The piecing and ironing is a very minor step as you have to put in the piping and then attach the piping to main binding. So, with my magic binding tree in hand, I've been working to create the piped binding so that it's rarin' and ready to go when the quilt is quilted.
I'm finding that if the binding is ready to go, I'm not only WAY more likely to finish my top, but I also don't hate it, which is a big step for me.
Anyway, someday I'll get back to pictures, lessons, etc...but right now I'm in all sorts of frenzies. We've had soooo much new fabric coming in it seems like I can't even keep up putting it online. The binding is also a frenzy. Then there is the "I-only-have-free-use-of-my-longarm-for-a-little-while" frenzy. That one is probably more along the "panic" lines as I so desperately want to be caught up and free of an endless stream of unfinished tops. The goal is noble, though not to be achieved, if I could even put a good healthy dent in my numbers, that would greatly improve my stress level.
Happy quilting!

Thread, glorious thread!

You've got your top. You've got batting. You've got backing. You have one last product to choose to continue your quilting journey: thread! Now, many people just use some boring neutral cotton to quilt so it either blends away or stands out in all its blandness, but this quilter, she is a THREAD JUNKY! Most people make a quilt just for a fabric or a pattern--I make a quilt just for the thread. I have an enormous stash of thread which probably will be passed down to my great grandchildren because even if I quilt every day for the rest of my life and never buy another cone or spool, I'll still have leftovers. I should have insurance for my thread collection.
So, now that you know who's talking to you, you will probably understand my passionate pleas for consideration of thread type, color, weight, etc...The first thing I will say is this: you have spent a lot of money already on fabric, pattern, sewing machine, batting, backing, etc...Do not cheat yourself with cheap quilting thread. It will be linty, ugly, break more often, and look, well, cheap. For light quilting, you'll rarely use more than one spool. One good spool costs in the range of $8, one cheap costs in the range of $3. You're saving yourself $5 and making your life miserable.
Okay, onward. The main factors to consider with thread are: material, weight, color, and any processing that the thread has undergone.

Let's start with material. Cotton is the most common material used for thread, but there is also polyester, nylon, rayon, silk, and blends thereof. I will say that in general, threads that are a blend of materials are blended to be cheap, not to create any quality. I'll start by addressing the qualities of each material, pros and cons, etc...

Cotton will be duller in sheen than say, poly, rayon, or nylon, and because it's spun cotton fibers, will necessarily have lint. The amount of sheen and lint will be related to the quality of cotton. Extra long staple is the best type of cotton--don't be fooled by labels like "Egyptian" or a lack of staple length. If it's ELS, it will say so, if it isn't, it will not say anything. Extra long staples mean that the thread will be stronger, smoother (lumps on thread are called "slubs"), and less linty. Other terms you will see on cotton thread are "gassed", "mercerised", "waxed", "double-gassed", or "lint-free". Gassing and mercerising are both standard procedures for almost all cotton, not just thread. Gassing is the process of passing thread over flames to burn off stray fibers and make the thread look smoother. Almost all cotton threads undergo this process and it's nothing to brag about. Mercerising is a chemical treatment that causes cotton fibers to swell, be more receptive to dye, and unfortunately to be a little lintier. It also prevents decay in the fibers. Again, standard for cotton, nothing to brag about on your label. Double gassed just means their thread was so fuzzy and lumpy they had to burn off stray fibers twice, again, really not a bragging point. Waxed or lint-free should both be huge red flags to the machine quilter. Lint-free cotton is an impossibility without coating it with something, and if you coat it with something and put it through your machine, it will leave residue in your machine, and your machine will be sad. Do not use any COTTON labeled "lint-free", "waxed", or "glazed" through your sewing machine. These threads are designed for HAND quilting. Glazing (or waxing) makes thread stronger and slicker to hold up and be easier for pulling through the quilt over and over as you do with hand-quilting. Therefore, you should also never put anything labeled "hand-quilting thread" through your machine, it is undoubtedly covered in something.

Cotton is grabby so it will sink into your quilt a little more than some threads and create nice texture, the dull nature of the fibers also gives a more subtle, sometimes old-fashioned look. A variegated (ie changing colors at regular intervals) cotton that matches your quilt top can virtually disappear. Cotton is very soft and supple and fairly easy to machine or hand quilt with, the downside is the lint that it produces and that it can be weak, depending on the brand. Overall though, cotton is a great choice, two of my favorite cottons are Superior's King Tut, and Sulky's blendables. Sulky's tend to be a little weaker and harder to work with, but they have alternating lengths of color rather than regular intervals. Cottons tend to be the #1 choice of hand quilters because they don't fray.

Polyester is my other favorite quilting fiber--but let me be clear: you should only quilt with HIGH quality polyester thread. If you get bargain bin poly, it's fit to garrote someone with and nothing more. Using a cheap poly that wasn't designed for quilting is liable to tear your quilt. High quality polyester isn't going to tear your quilt. Polyester comes in two main forms: spun poly, which is designed to look like cotton but be stronger and lint free, or extruded poly, where the fibers are long polyester fibers spun together, which has a high sheen and no lint. Extruded poly is often referred to as "trilobal" because the strands are triangular in shape, giving them the lovely sheen they exhibit. If you want a little shine without going to metallic (which are also poly), a trilobal is very nice. So Fine! the thread I like to piece with is also a poly, but a spun poly and it's fantastic for the bobbin when quilting because it just blends away and you can fit a ton on the bobbin. A very fine poly will also be stronger than a very fine cotton, and is perfect for getting a hand-quilted look on your machine. My favorite polys are: Superior's So Fine!, Rainbows, Lava, and Brytes, Mettler's Poly Sheen, and Signature's Pixelles. The advantage is the sheen, they tend to break less than cotton, and they have no lint. The cons are the sheen (if you don't want sheen) and that they will melt if exposed to an extremely hot iron. They also fray easily when over handled so they are not necessarily the best choice for hand-quilting, but they are very slick.

Rayon and nylon are not suitable for quilting, even if they are pretty. Some invisible threads (clear monofilaments) are nylon, but they do not age well and you're better off getting a poly monofilament. Rayon is very soft and shiny, but very very weak and designed for machine embroidery. I've quilted with rayon in the past and it breaks often and my quilting didn't hold up well.

Silk, while more expensive, is available in finer weights than other thread because of how strong silk fibers are. 100 weight silk is common and very strong. Silk has a beautiful lustre, but can also melt away into a quilt. 100 weight silk is extremely fine and perfect for doing extremely dense background quilting. Silk has no lint either and is very strong. If you want your stitching to really show, you should use something heavier as most silk is very fine.

This brings us to weight. Thread weight is counter intuitive, the lower the weight, the fatter the thread--a 30 weight is very heavy, a 50 average, and 100 is extremely fine. There are multiple ways to express a thread's diameter, but the most common is weight, which is often combined with ply (the number of strands twisted together)--eg 50/3 is a common sight on cotton piecing thread and it means 50 weight, three ply. There is one simple rule with quilting thread: heavy to show, light to blend. If you want your actual stitches to disappear, leaving only texture, use a 50, 60, or 100 weight thread. If you really want the actual stitches to show, use a 40, 30, 12, or even 8 (8 weight will only go in your bobbin, which requires quilting upside down). 12 is about as fat as you can go through a needle. Don't be afraid to use more than one weight on a quilt. Say you're going to do a fancy motif--birds, feathers, vases, boa constrictors, who cares--you may want to do those in a big fat 30 and then do some dense fill to pop them up, using a 100. That's not to say you can't use a heavyweight for a background, it's just a different look.

My ultimate advice for choosing a thread is that if you have doubts, take some of your scraps from your quilt, a little extra backing and batting, make a wee sandwich, and practice quilting using different thread candidates, choose the ones you like and then you can rest assured that you like the effect on the fabrics of your quilt. Test squares are a common part of many a famous quilter's repertoire (I'd never thought to do such a thing until Ricky Tims told me to).

Get your thread and get ready, next time we're basting and discussing design possibilities.

Happy quilting!

More finishing!

Well, I finished a quilt that I have never been very fond of, was horrible constructed (both problems with pattern and piecer were involved) and vastly improved by quilting in my opinion. I'm not sure if anyone can get a feel for the flavor of this one, as the beauty of it is really the sparkly white fabric post-quilting is fabulous. I enjoyed the challenge of the odd shapes in this and I avoided quilting the stars because they were so puffy I just thought I'd let them live in all their puffy glory. I also used alpaca batting which I have been eager to try. It quilts beautifully--my tension is fantastic. And holy buckets, it is SOOOO warm. I have been sitting under it in my basement while stitching the binding on and my basement is pretty cool and I've been roasting. I think we may be able to skip the heat in our bedroom if we put this puppy on the bed. It's a 60% alpaca 40% wool and when I washed a sample it neither felted, nor shrunk, but the fibers which have no scrim, resin or needle-punching, did drift pretty badly. I think one of the problems with alpaca batting may be that alpaca wool is extremely fine fibers (part of the reason it's so soft and warm) and they just squib right out of the weave of even fine quality quilting fabric. The batting packaging recommended only hand-washing, but I had to do my own little experiment. So now I know, I should listen to the packaging. I have a few other brands to investigate, as well as a paca/cotton blend, so I will keep everyone posted.
Now, onto the pics! (Don't worry beginning quilters--I haven't forgotten you--thread lessons on Friday)
Here's the whole monster--I bought the fabric to do this years ago, when I first started quilting. Well, I should say my mom bought it for me. I only made it about a year ago though and now, finally, it's quilted and even has three sides of binding on--one more movie and it'll truly be finished--I've even embroidered a label. I called it "Fiery Stars" because of the colors, but also because I did flames coming out of the stars on the yellow (variegated thread made it just subtle texture). I used my leftover red to create a chunked up, random border, which seems to deeply offend some quilters, but I liked it and was happy to use up all the fabric. I think I had about 10" of leftover fabric. It's about 93"x100", hehe, depending on where you measure. Like I said, not my best work, finished, hands washed, etc...
Here's a chunk of the border (my favorite chunk--I love that fabric). I used a ruler to make the curly spine of this feather and really botched the corners, but I was quilting like that machine was a Harley and I had a death wish, so that's what I get for speed. I used a vari red/yellow thread and I love the peekaboo effect it has of really showing in some spots and not in others.
Here's the curly wurly freehand feather contraption I did in these weird white shapes. The picture really doesn't do it justice. The sparkly fabric just came to life once quilted. I used a very soft yellow variegated and I just loved how it turned out. Initially I was going to micro-stipple around the feathers, but I loved the negative space that they created, so I left that. I think half of quilting for me is not just where and how one quilts, but what one leaves unquilted. There, that was my deep thought of the day, but I really do think that sometimes the texture of quilted/unquilted is the real beauty of quilting.
And finally a little close-up. It's not even close to perfect, nor would I feel comfortable doing it on someone else's quilt yet, but I love the effect and I think I've improved so much just in the past two quilts. My little tiny circles (which are harder than you'd think moving that big machine around) are gradually improving if I remember that I'm at a quilting machine, not on the interstate (this is a very hard thing for me to remember--I'm very impatient and I like me some instant gratification). You can sort of see the glitz a little in this photo.

Anyway, I'll get back on track with my lessons on Friday. Last Friday I was helping someone literally all day and just didn't have the will power (or brain power) to say anything productive on a blog.

Happy quilting!

Mini-dahlia done!

Woohoo! I got one of my very own quilts done this weekend. I even sewed on the binding and put on a sleeve. All I have left is the hand-stitching (which I've even started!). I've had the center of this top done since 2007. I got the borders put on in May. And now, finally, at the end of August '09, I'm going to get the bloody thing finished. I'm still up in the air as to whether I'm going to sell this one or keep it. I really like how the quilting turned out (except the border-blech).
Here's the whole thing (well, almost, my wonky photography is what it is):
Here's a large shot of the corner quilting, which you can vaguely see in the shot of the whole thing:
And a close-up of my corner/dahlia edge motif:

I did it using Superior Metallic antique silver thread and I really like the texture it added. I didn't do a fill around the feather because I didn't want to detract from the feathers and I liked the texture just the way they were.

My border on the other hand was a different story. I chose to do a long, wrap-around feather with fronds going in opposite directions. It didn't work out as planned :( Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I used 100 weight silk for the border and centers and was intrigued at how it melted away.
My favorite thing about quilting for myself is that when something doesn't look nice, if I don't want to, I don't have to rip it! I found ultimately that I didn't see the border, so it definitely wasn't worth tearing out :) Hooray for not ripping! I also don't worry about my minor mistakes like I have to when quilting for others.

Anyway, I'm happy with it and already onto my next quilt.

Happy quilting!

Backing and batting, thread to follow

First, let's consider backing. The back of your quilt is really what will be touching you the most, so it's important that it's soft and nice to touch. This is particularly true of a lap or snuggle quilt when you won't have a sheet separating your skin from the back. There are several options for backing, the first is to use regular fabric and piece it together--this works fine and then you can usually find a fabric that matches your quilt and that has the hand (feel) you like.
Another option that you'll see at some shops is extra-wide backing, usually 108", but some are 120". There is a more limited palette to choose from, and often the extra-wide is a lower quality fabric that the top which can lead to uneven wear and shrinkage if you wash your quilts. I'm not a huge fan of extra wide backing, but I don't mind piecing my backing either. Like everything in your quilt, it will be your choice ultimately, so if you can't stand to piece your back, extra-wide works great. One exception to my I-don't-like-extra-wide is the cotton sateen extra wide. Very soft and has a nicer weave than most.

Also be aware that you don't have to use the same fabric on the top as on the bottom. When I first started quilting, I put flannel on the backs of my quilts because I liked the softness of it. Later (and still) if I want a soft back, I use a product that is known widely as minkee and its cousins. Minkee is 100% polyester and it's furry. It's not polar fleece, which pills up fairly quickly with washing. It's much softer, stays cleaner and feels fantastic. In some circles, it's referred to it as naked skin fabric. Minkee comes in a variety of textures and colors and is wider than regular fabric; it's 60" wide. Now obviously for a lightweight summer quilt you aren't going to want it, but if you're making something snuggly, it really is fantastic and it quilts beautiful. It's pricey (usually about $20/yd) but it is so durable and often on large or small quilts, minkee ends up being cheaper because it's 60 wide. Go to your local quilt shop and ask to feel some if they carry it. You'll see why I love it so much.

The only caveat any time you use two very different fabrics on top and bottom (say, flannel top, minkee back) is that polyester (minkee) won't shrink at all and flannel will shrink a pretty decent amount. Rather than prewash my fabric (blech!), in this situation, if I'm concerned about uneven shrinkage (which to be frank, I rarely worry about stuff like that, which will undoubtedly haunt me at some point, but hasn't yet) then you can wet the top and dry it however you plan to dry your quilted quilt. I have washed a top in my washing machine before quilting it before, and dried it in the drier, and it came out fine, but I'm not going to recommend that to anyone without seeing the construction and materials. One thing is for sure, if you're going to do that, make sure you stay-stitch around the whole top (a line of stitching about 1/4" all the way around the edge of the top).

If you choose cotton top, batik back, or some variation thereof, you really don't have to worry about uneven shrinkage. Even cotton on minkee is not worth a bit of worry. Another way to alay any fears of unevenness is to use a puffy batt. Flannel is really the only cotton fabric that shrinks significantly. Now, go out and pet fabric until you find the perfect back.

One last note on backing, one thing I really don't recommend for backing and in general hate quilting on is sheets. A lot of people go out and buy a nice big sheet to use as their back, again, so they don't have to piece, so it's cheaper, the list goes on. I'm sure they have their reasons, but sheets are a pain to quilt. They tend to be a denser weave than regular quilting fabric (even cheap sheets), the grain is rarely straight, and they're hard on the needle leading to burrs, crappy tension, and just lots of headaches in general. If you're going to quilt it yourself, you can try a sheet, but make sure you change your needle often and watch your tension.

Onward to batting then!

There are several considerations when choosing a batting (the stuff that goes in between your quilt top and your backing and then you "quilt" the three layers together). Warmth, loft, shrinkage, drape, and how it looks quilted are all factors. There are so many battings on the market that I dare not try to cover them all. I'll mention some that I work with regularly and really like and you can go from there.

Let's start with warmth. If you want a really warm quilt, there are several batts available, but also bear in mind that you can use more than one layer (and even more than one type) of batting in a quilt. The warmest batting that I've worked with is wool, and I've only used Dream Wool by Quilter's Dream. It's very light, but warm, and quilts beautiful. Their wool is a washable wool, which means you can wash it on cold and dry it with no heat. Otherwise it reeeeeally shrinks. Wool is very breatable so it's perfect for warm winter bed quilts or snuggly quilts. You can layer wool too, sometimes dark minkee beards (fiber from the back pulls up through the stitching holes and leaves little 'beards' on the front) and a great way to deal with that is to put a layer of poly (I like Dream Puff) and then a layer of wool. That seems to catch the beards before they make it to the front. Dream Puff (also by quilter's dream) is a really great, warm, cheap alternative to wool. It's got a nice loft (puffiness) to it and works great with minkee to pop out your quilting design.

A more traditional batt would be 100% cotton which will shrink up a little, is moderately warm, and hangs a little stiffer than either wool or dream puff. Cotton is also a very thin batt with hardly any loft. Cotton batts are great for "heirloom" looking quilts that you want to loook old-fashioned. If you quilt a quilt with cotton batt and wash it, it shrivels up just enough to give it that rumpled antique look. I have used cotton batts a great deal on my own and other people's quilts, and while I like it okay, I find that I prefer some of the newer more environmentally and people friendly batts. Cotton (for those of you who care) is extremely water intensive and cotton cultivation has been causing water shortages for people in some parts of the world. Batting uses a huge amount of cotton compared to fabric, so I try not to use it anymore. I like to save most of my cotton consumption for fabric.

The most recent alternatives to cotton still contain some cotton, but they're moving away from that. Two of the main cotton alternatives are soy and bamboo. Soy batting is made from the leavings after soy beans have been processed into various food products. It has the same shrinkage as cotton, is quite a bit softer and has a softer drape. It's low loft, like cotton, too.
Bamboo, another cotton alternative is great because it grows extremely fast, about 2 feet a day, and is therefore very renewable. It requires little to no watering or fertilizer and the processing is pretty earth friendly. It has a very silky feel and soft drape. I carry a new product called Dream Orient from Quilter's Dream that's a blend of silk, bamboo, tencel and a little bit of cotton. It's heavenly and silk breathes really well, while being warm and light, but not smothering you either. MMMmmmm, silk batting is nice :)

I'm still researching alpaca batts for the wool allergy crowd (or even just the wool itchy crowd). Most are blends at the moment, so I'm pushing my favorite company, Quilter's Dream, to make a 100% alpaca wool batt. Any phone calls to them requesting this would be greatly appreciated. Alpaca hair is one of the warmest natural fibers in the world, extremely soft, light, and hypo-allergenic, so it will definitely make an awesome batting, I just need to get someone on the manufacturing end.

There are also a lot of poly-cotton blends on the market, none of which I'm particularly fond of. I do like 100% poly, but I'm picky. Cheap poly is extremely unpleasant to work with because it's scratchy, smells funny, and can be a nightmare to quilt. My current favorite light poly (Dream Puff is 100% poly, but many folks don't like the loft) is called Dream Green and is 100% recycled plastic bottles so it has a soft green tint because they keep the processing to a minimum to keep it "Green". It has a bit of stretch to it, which can be tricky, but it's really soft and smooth and quilts beautifully. I love it's drape too, and it's very thin so it's perfect for a lightweight summer quilt.

So that's a highlight of some battings, but like I said, there are so many different types and brands out there, you should just go out and experiment, touch, and look at quilts with different batts. If you want to order from me, click here.

Next time, we'll talk thread and design.

Happy quilting!

Quilts on the lawn

Ack, I've failed another week. Last week was extremely crazy as one of my employees got very sick and so I worked a stretch of 10 days, which is not ideal for my brain or slipped disk (we have a very hard tile floor in the shop), and by Friday, I just needed a day off and one of my other employees gave me the much needed time. Then this week we've got the scramble of getting ready for the rush of quilters who come through for the big quilt show in Bozeman (Quilts on the Lawn) and on top of all that I'm teaching a class tomorrow (I thought I was teaching it last Wednesday...as it turns out, calendars serve a purpose). So, hopefully Friday I'll have my wits about me enough to discuss, batting, basting, backing, and of course, my favorite topic of all: thread!
In the mean time, I'm back to the rush and grind of primping the shop, prepping the inner teacher, and tackling the more tedious aspects of life as a small business owner.
Happy quilting!

Borders

I took pictures while doing the borders on my Swanky quilt, but a). my camera seems to be having trouble focusing and b). they really weren't very useful. That being said, let us finally carry on with our border lesson.
The first step in doing your borders is to measure your quilt. I don't mean read how big it's supposed to be and cut your borders that length. You actually have to measure :) Many folks just make a big long strip and sew it on and cut it off, and in fact I did that for years. Then I became a longarmer and now I realize that unless you measure, your border ends up as more of a ruffled skirt for your quilt, or more rarely, a belt around its big fat belly.

The way to measure your quilt is this (if you can lay it out, great, if you have to fold it in halves on your kitchen table, that works too): measure the top width, the width across the middle, and the width across the bottom. Sometimes these numbers will be the same, most times they are slightly different. On the rare occasion that they are drastically different (more than an inch), you may want to trim your top if you want it to lay flat and be square. Otherwise, average these numbers. Cut your border strips however wide you want them to be, let's say 6.5" and piece them together until you have enough for that width you just came up with. I blunt piece my borders (meaning I square up their ends and sew a straight seam), but your other option is to piece them on a 45 degree angle. To do this for wide borders, I recommend cutting first.

Line the 45 degree line of your ruler up with the long side of your border fabric. Cut off the end. Then, the piece you're going to attach, cut going the other direction, but also at a 45 degree angle. Piece them together with a little quarter-inch triangle sticking off of either end. (I'll cover this more in depth when I do a special mitered border lesson, hopefully next week, with pictures and all).

So you're all pieced, now cut two border pieces the averaged width of your quilt (*NOTE--it doesn't really matter if you do length or width first, whichever you prefer). Then find the midpoint of those pieces (fold in half and give it a little press to make a crease0. Find the midpoint of the width of your quilt. Now, many people at this stage pin their borders on, but I personally like to use Elmer's Washable School Glue. Line up your centers and working from the center out run a thin line of glue along your quilt top. Lay the border, from center out to the edge. You may have to stretch or bunch up a little bit to make it fit (remember it's an average). Once it's where you want it, press (lift and set) it with a hot iron. Make sure the glue is dry before moving on. Once ironed, it won't go anywhere. Repeat for the other half of that border and the other end. NOTE: If you don't plan to wash your quilt, DO NOT use the glue method. Gluing is for those of us who will wash it out. If you aren't going to wash, do the same thing, but stick a pin every couple inches, perpendicular to the seam and pull them out as you sew.

If your iron got gunked up, get yourself a Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser (the original), get it wet and rub your iron (hot or cold, doesn't matter) really hard on that. Don't worry it won't melt. The glue often hardens onto the iron and forms a dark film--I've never had any issues with this coming off on fabric, it seams to be permanent, but don't use your favorite iron if you're worried about it. Get yourself a nice $10 "Toastmaster" for gluing.

Anyway, now that you're all glued up, go ahead and sew those seams. Then press them toward the border (you may have to tug a little to unglue any glue that squibbed beyond the seam allowance). Don't be scared if you've got some lint transfer from light to dark, this is just dark lint stuck in the glue and when you wash, it will go away. If you're scared. Do a little test with your scraps--glue together, iron, peel apart, wash, if something remains, I'm shocked, but I always tell people anytime they're nervous the best cure is a nice little test.

*I wash ALL my quilts in cold water; if I glued them a lot, I let them soak a little. I dry them too, but much of that will depend on your batting, which we'll discuss next time. Many quilters never wash their quilts. Mine live and are made in a house which is a). not kept very clean because I'd rather be quilting b). inhabited by three black haired shedding machines and also, since I don't prewash, I do like to get the sizing out eventually, after it's served it's purpose. I also use a lot of spray starch, glue, and whatever other chemicals I need to make it work. So, that's why I wash. You decide what's right for you.

Okay, once you're done with the first set of borders, measure left, middle, right of the length, average, cut your borders, find center, align, glue/pin, sew, press and voila! Your first border! If you have multiple borders, continue the process until you're done.

Borders can be a pain but they add a nice frame to most quilts. Doing them correctly is what makes them a pain, but I promise it's worth it in the end because you won't have all sorts of excess border or quilt top that you can't get to quilt out.

I'll discuss batting and backing on Friday and Thread on Tuesday and quilting on next Friday hopefully.

Until then, happy quilting!

Still a train wreck.

I won't lie, dear quilters, my brain is still shot through like old swiss cheese, so my lesson is delayed. Once I make it through Saturday Sampler tomorrow and hopefully get a decent night's sleep one of these days (my cat has returned to urinating on anything cloth he can find if he's inside and yowling beneath our bedroom window when he's outside--he may quickly be incorporated into a quilt project). So between cat pee paranoia, soccer, driving all over, getting so many new things in the shop that it makes my head spin, and trying to get some stuff done around the house before summer's over, I'm useless in the explaining/teaching/writing department. Apologies again! I'll be back on my game by Tuesday and you will have your in depth explanation of how to do borders.

Happy quilting!

Back on the quiltin' wagon...almost.

Well folks, I completely spaced posting last week because I was busy doing the proverbial chicken minus head act when I came back from vacation. I might've been okay, but it was County Fair week here and I judged some of the 4H kids events and did a little workshop. Anyway, point being, even if I had remembered to blog, it would have been gibberish.

Vacation in Cali was lots of fun, including a little sea otter trying to get on our kayak, which pretty much made Erik's life, and mine too, but that man loves otters. Also had deep fried artichoke hearts, which were amazing. All in all we just had a good time with brother-in-law and his wife, who's many beautiful creations convinced me to try to become a knitter. (Knitting for Lily=yarn in a drawer). Someday perhaps I'll actually get something done.

I'm going to forego my border lesson until next week. This week is pretty hectic too with some lessons, still getting caught up from last week, tons of new stuff to deal with and organize in the store, as well as my final two games of soccer :( As a wise magnet on my mom's fridge says, "Life isn't passing me by, it's running me over." That's how I've felt this summer. Things will be much tamer once soccer is done, despite my sadness, it's a ton of time. Course it also allows me to eat more candy :)

Until next time, happy quilting!

Brain dead.

Apologies folks, I thought I could get one last blog in before vacation, but as it turns out, I have the IQ and proofreading abilities of a road-killed snail right now, so I'm not even going to try to address something as important as borders until I returned. That way everyone who isn't all finished with the center of their tops can get all caught up :) Yeah, I'm trying to pretend this is for you.

I have a wedding this weekend in Missoula and the rehearsal dinner is at my dad's tonight, so I have much to do before I take off for that, then one day back, then off to Santa Cruz for a week of fun with in-laws. I'm excited for vacation, but I've been on kind of a tear with sewing (I finished three tops this past week and one might get itself finished on Sunday) so I'm a little sad to be leaving my sewing room for a whole week. I still have borders to put on two, but I'm undecided as to my fabric/style of border choice, so I haven't continued.

Erik is fencing at Big Sky State Games and hoping to win the foil weapon, in case anyone wants to go watch a quilter's husband fence ;) As such I will be driving all the way to Missoula and back by my lonesome. I hate driving. I need to invent a car that when you press the pedal sews as well as drives. I think the highway patrol might confiscate the whole car though.

Down to 3 quilts on the longarm queue and then onto my own never-ending queue of tops.

I'll be linking to my longarm mentor's, Karen Parker, new blog once I'm back and she's up and running. She'll be doing fun stuff like preparing your quilt and back for a professional longarmer and other educational topics. I'm quite looking forward to it and it should be very informative and inspirational.

Hope everyone has a lovely, quilt-filled week and I'll be back July 28th.

Happy quilting!

Finally--putting blocks together

Sorry for the myriad delays. Life gets in the way sometimes.
Putting blocks together is one of the easiest parts of a quilt as long as you had some semblance of accuracy. In general, if you put your blocks in a pile and they are all about the same size, you're good. If there are some noticeable differences, you should probably square them up. To square up your blocks, you pick the least common denominator (if your blocks are supposed to be 10" but you have one that's 9.25", you'll be trimming them all down to 9.25"). Then, fold the block in half and half again, so your block is a quarter of the size. Then divide your trim size by two (so we'll go with 4 5/8") and line up the folded edges of your block with that line on your ruler going both directions and trim. That way, you trim an equal amount from around the edges so theoretically the block is still centered correctly. You can also try to find a square ruler in the appropriate size, but there are only so many square rulers on the market.

Sorry I don't have pictures. I've never squared my blocks up, for better or worse. It's something I'm aware how to do, just in case I ever need to, but I avoid because I'm lazy and not that anal.

Onward then, to the laying out and sewing!

My pattern was on-point, which means that the squares' points are oriented towards the top and sides, rather than the corners. Regular setting is when you put each block side to side and then one row directly on top of the other. The principles are the same, but on point is a little more complicated because everything is on the diagonal and you have setting triangles (which your pattern will instruct you on cutting).

The first step is to lay your blocks out how you want them to be. Some quilts are a bunch of the same blocks, in which case you can skip this step. My blocks were all the same construction, but different fabric, so I put them on my design wall to decide the layout. Below is my layout (once it's all sewn together :)
So, once I'm happy with my blocks' positions, then I start sewing. For regular setting, line up your blocks just like you would have your block components and sew, locking seams where you can. For on point, I had to sew setting triangles to my first "row" which is really just a single block in the upper left. When sewing a triangle to a square, you want to line up the right angle side of the triangle, but again, lay it out to make sure your triangle is pointed the right way.
See how there's a flap of triangle hanging down? That's okay, extra is good. Too small is sad. Unless the pattern is wrong, you should have at least a little hangover (the only good hangover). On the above block, I sewed along the right hand side.

I like to complete a row and sew it to the next row, but you can complete all your rows and then connect them, whatever works. So here are my first two rows (note that I'm holding my camera at a 45 degree angle)
When I go to sew these together, again I have all sorts of triangle flaps hanging out, so it's a little confusing to line up (those of you with straight set are lucky, you can just sew the buggers together). The best way to be accurate is to line up the block seams and let whatever triangle business is hanging over hang over.
I make sure and press my block seams in opposite directions as I construct each row so I can line them up and lock as shown above. Then I get this:
And a close up of the triangle business on the corners.
You just keep plugging away until the whole quilt is constructed. There are a couple tips for managing so much fabric that I recommend. The first is to make sure you keep everything you can in your lap or off to the side on your sewing table, mainly because the weight can really pull if you let it drop all the way to the floor. You'll want to help your feed dogs out a little more than you would with smaller chunks.
I also really hold the pieces together a lot more when I sew blocks and rows together. If you're inclined, you might want to pin at this stage. I prefer to just adjust as I go.
You can kind of see how the majority of the fabric is piled off to my left, I'm firmly holding the seam together and sewing in short bursts so I can rearrange easily. Put your needle down into the fabric before you readjust and it will hold everything in place.


The other thing I do as I sew things together is adjust for minor errors in measurement. Sometimes you'll have a little piece that isn't even, and rather than trimming everything up, I line up to sew over it and regain accuracy by ignoring it. In the example below, the one piece of the block stuck out, so I maintained my quarter inch on the other block and ignored the pink piece sticking out.
So there you have it. Sewing the blocks together really is easy. If you have anything that's directional or needs to be oriented a certain way, I definitely recommend sewing two things together, putting them back on your design wall (floor, bed, whatever ;) to make sure everything is still oriented correctly. Even I, the queen of chaining, rarely chain blocks together for fear of getting all mucked up with my orientation or positioning.
On Friday, I'll show you borders, but next week I'm on vacation, so I won't be posting, but I'll be back the last week of July to commence the quilting and binding, the final stages of our quilt!
Happy quilting!

Still running behind

Sorry dear quilters, I'm still running behind with my blocks. I don't know where this week went, but while I got my blocks done, I didn't get them put together (and therefore getting pictures to guide you through the main-top-completion phase of quilting). Sunday is slotted for this activity, so no more delays.
In happy news, at my soccer game last night, I had a beautiful assist, which was the first time I have ever kicked a ball where I wanted it to go. It was very exciting. Soccer does cut into quilting time, but we Montanans must enjoy our few months of warm weather and sunshine.

Happy quilting this weekend.

Longarm lessons

I didn't get my blocks done this weekend, which is okay, because I have longarm lessons all day today and tomorrow, so my brain is pretty much used up by that. My blocks are almost done though, so I should be back with putting them together on Friday.
Happy quilting!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth everyone! I didn't get all my blocks done because this week was very hectic, so no updates on the quilting front, but I should have them done by Tuesday, but I make no promises because this weekend is my and and Erik's first anniversary and although we're celebrating tonight (our anniversary is July 5th), the celebration may continue through the weekend. We're fundraising on the Fourth at Livingston's Arts in the Parks selling burgers and such for our Japan trip.
Happy quilting, have a safe and fun holiday!

The sub-cut and onward.

Strip piecing is such a common practice in quilting that there is hardly ever a pattern where you don't sew some pieces together and then sub-cut them into smaller pieces and re-sew them. Obviously there are patterns out there that don't have strip piecing, but most easy patterns have strip piecing.
So for my project, there were two strip-pieced units per block, so I'll go through the subcutting and sewing to complete one block.
Most strip piecing allows for a little to square up after stripping. You can see that my top strip set is off on the left hand side.
So I square up that strip set. Then I measure and cut (below).

I continue to cut the appropriate number of subcut units from each strip. In my case, I needed four subunits from each unit, plus the squares I cut earlier to make a block.
My subunits ready to go.
So I lay them out as they'll be in a block. Now to be honest, I would cut ALL of my subunits for ALL of my blocks and then chain piece them, BUT if you are at all worried that you'll get things switched around, do it one block at a time. There's nothing wrong with doing that, because if you get them mixed up, it won't be faster because you'll have to rip.
I'm a chain maniac, I chain not only everything in one quilt, but I'll chain multiple projects at a time (and yes, that has led to some interesting sewing mishaps--the price you pay to be a quilting speed demon).
There's my block laid out and ready to be sew. I'll sew it in rows with three subunits per row.

Before you sew, lay the pieces together and see if there are any seams that should match up. If there are, you'll see the reason that the direction you press your seam matters. When seam lines match up, you can do something called locking the seam by butting the two ledges of the seams against each other. From the side it would look like this:
See how they're pointing opposite directions? That means when you iron the seam you're about to make, it will lay nice and flat and you'll get a nice precise point that way.

If something should go wrong as you sew the seams, you will have to rip. Many sewing machines come with a seam ripper, but they're usually dull and small, so I recommend getting one at your local quilt shop. You will need it at some point.

There are myriad ways to rip or unsew, but the one least likely to stretch your fabric is to slide your seam ripper under about every third or fourth stitch and cut it.

See how the ripper blade is under the stitch, but not cutting the fabric. Do that all along the seam, every few stitches.
Here's a seam ready to finish the rip (if you can see it :) Now gently pull the two pieces a part and one side should have a bunch of little threads and the other will have one long piece of thread. Pick these out and you're ready to resew.
Here I've got the three rows together. You always want to sew anything you can in rows (or columns) first. Occasionally beginning quilters get a wild hair and want to sew the four units in the corner together and then sew the others on. You will end up asking yourself how the hell to continue sewing it together. Most patterns are pretty good about specifying which things to sew together in which order, but some assume you can figure it out.

So finally I sew my three rows together, and I've pressed so all my seams will interlock. Here's the finished block:
And from the back you can see how neat the seam allowances look when all the pressing is done correctly.
Voila! One block down. Next time I'll show you how to put them together, then borders, then quilting, then binding!
Happy quilting!

Plan B

Well folks, I'm still hurtin', but not as bad. Surgery is out, thank goodness. I may do some physical therapy, but I'm still basically trying to avoid spending any more money on my injuries.
The short of it however, is that I'm still not up to cutting more than a little at a time and Cappuccino requires a massive amount of cutting. So, plan B is to work on a quilt called Bloom Creek Blossoms, by Atkinson, using a Swanky Jelly Roll by Moda. I'd already cut up my jelly roll and the cream for the background and the center squares that you can see on the pattern (theirs are black, mine are fairy frost brown) pre-injury, so it was a good candidate.


Jelly rolls and their ilk (bali pops, charm packs, layer cakes, etc...) are all excellent ways to avoid having to think too hard about your fabric choice. If you don't mind that part, they're still fun because they're already cut and you get a great variety of fabric for a "scrappy" but coordinated look. That's why I like them. In general picking fabric is my favorite part (I pick out way more fabric for quilts than I have quilt tops), but I do like the pre-cuts for the fun variety.

As we begin sewing, I'd like to remind you that sewing, particularly straight lines and such, is not difficult. Like all things, it might take a little getting used to, but it's not hard. Do not be scared. The first simple rule to remember as it will be the case any time you're piecing (not applique) anything: RIGHT sides together. When we refer to right sides, we mean the pretty side of the fabric that was actually printed. You will find that many batiks don't have a right and wrong side, which can be great, but you also need to be careful that you don't end up with seams going every which way. Another rule to remember about QUILTING, not all sewing, is that in 99% of all patterns, you use a 1/4" seam. This is very important. If you've sewn garments, you're probably used to a 5/8" seam. Obviously this is a huge difference. Many machines have what is called a quarter inch foot (it usually has a little flap that keeps your fabric from drifting too far to the right).

If you've never used your sewing machine, get out your manual and play a little. I dare not try to cover everything about a sewing machine in this blog because machines vary wildly by model and brand and it's best to just get down and dirty and get acquainted by sewing. Thread it up with your chosen piecing thread. I personally like Superior's So Fine. It's actually a spun polyester, but please remember that all polyesters are NOT created equal. Do not piece your quilt with cheap, bargain bin thread. You've invested in a machine, in fabric, a pattern or book and you're about to invest a whole lot of time, pretty please don't ruin the experience with crappy thread. Some other nice options are Aurifil, Masterpiece (by superior), Mettler's 100% cotton. I do not like Coats and Clark Dual Duty, it is made for garment sewing and mending and it just isn't nice to work with, but it is cheap. If you get cheap polyester, you run the risk of having it tear your quilt. So Fine and other quality polyesters will not tear your quilt. Obviously you make the choice, but I really do recommend investing in good thread. Get a nice neutral cream color to start (unless you're doing all dark fabrics, then get black or gray).

So let's get started. Look at your instructions and after the cutting it will undoubtedly say something about putting, sewing, piecing, etc...two fabrics together. Lay those two pieces together (you may be pairing two pieces up 20 times or more) with their right sides together and line them up. Fabric likes to cuddle itself, so it should stick fairly well. Make sure the edges you're seaming together (that's the one that counts) are lined up. Also make sure you're sewing along the appropriate side. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but often it does. Pay attention to pictures and diagrams for the placement.
I'm peeling it back to show you the edges are lined up (the pinked (those little mountains and valleys are called pinking in sewing, who knows why) edges are a little obnoxious to line up, but it's the peaks, not the valleys that you should line up.

Put it under the foot of your sewing machine, lower the foot, gently depress the pedal and the feed dogs (the little teeth that move underneath the foot when you sew) will pull the fabric through. Let the feed dogs do the work: do not push, do not pull. Simply gently guide the fabric so it stays straight. Remember how stretchy our fabric can be and don't get too tuggy with it. If you do need to adjust and realign, stop sewing and gently "scratch" the top fabric to line up with the bottom. Gentle is the key word here, don't maul it.

Note that the right edge is lined up with that little black flap on my foot. That's the advantage of the quarter-inch foot. Also note that my hand is just gently resting on the fabric, not pushing or pulling.


Now, lots of quilters pin everything before sewing. I do not do this, I think it's a waste of time, so if you feel the need to pin, that's your business, I'm not even going to cover it here, but I will say, for the sake of your sewing machine, pull the pins out before you stitch over them. 90% of the time, you can stitch right over the pin, but man, that 10% when you hit the pin dead on is really hard on the ol' machine.

The only situation I pin is if I'm setting in a circle. Since we're not there yet, I suggest you set aside your pins and learn to piece without. I may not be a traditional quilter, and I'm sure I regularly piss off the quilt police, but damn, I'm an efficient quilter with pretty good accuracy. I know that in this day and age, we're all very busy, so you have to make the most of your time. Value your time: don't pin :)

Okay, so you've sent your first piece through the machine and you're getting ready to lift your foot, cut your threads and do the next. STOP! Don't do it! Here's another tip on efficiency: chain piece everything you can. Chain piece? You ask, head cocked to the side. Chaining or chain piecing is when you sew one unit after another without cutting the thread or even lifting the foot. The front part of a foot is curved up just slightly, and if you tuck your next unit underneath the foot as shown in the picture below, when you hit the gas again, the feed dogs will grab it and pull it under the needle and VOILA! You've now chained two things together. Some machines (mine included) also have what's called a knee lift which is a bar that sits by your leg that you can push to the side (with your leg, I've seen people use their hand, that defeats the purpose) to lift your sewing machine foot. This is especially handy when chaining because I can lift the foot a little and tuck the the fabric under there without ever using my hands. Another handy thing to have on your machine is a needle down function which makes the needle drop completely any time you stop. You can see in the picture below that my needle is down. It just prevents the previous unit from trying to get in your way by sliding back forward. (This becomes more of a problem as your pile of chained units grows).

Another thing that you may read and may choose to do which I do not, especially if I'm strip piecing (more on that next time), is back or lock stitch. Your machine may have a u-turn button, or an R button, or something of that nature that you press to make your machine sew backwards. Now, there is a time and a place for reversing, but it is not while you're chaining. Ultimately, everything in your quilt will be secured by the overlap of seams, but more importantly by quilting or tying. So, seriously, don't bother unless it's expressly indicated by the pattern. Back stitching is typically used to secure seams that you're going to be manipulating or not enclosed, like Y-seams or miters. We'll cover miters when we do borders, so you'll get some back stitching under your belt. Until then, once again, I recommend not wasting your precious time.

Okay, chain your way on through the pile of pieces that step one of your pattern calls for. And if step two is also sewing some other units together, sew those together too. Chain until you can chain no more. Then snip the little buggers apart.

My little pile of chained units, which will grow into a BIG pile as I have sixty four things to sew together for the first two steps.

Now comes the part that is the bane of my quilting existence: pressing. Okay, it's not actually that bad, it can just be a little time consuming and I would rather be piecing or cutting or quilting.

Most patterns will indicate which way you should press using a little arrow. Some will say something like "Press toward the focus fabric". Pressing is your friend (even if it is a little boring). Pressing can fix all manner of errors, but it can also create them, so press like you mean it. In my pattern the arrow indicates that I should press toward the "main" fabric in each block (as opposed to the contrast fabric). So, I put a picture below showing how the seam should lay, it should "point" like the arrow toward the main fabric (the green in this case).
This is shot from the back, obviously, as that is where your seam allowance should be. If you make a mistake, fear not, next time I will cover ripping, aka unsewing.

In order to press well, first lay your unit with the fabric that the seam is supposed to be pressed toward up. Pressing means that you set your iron on it, pick it up and set. Do not rub around any more than necessary because it distorts the fabric. This is call setting the seam.
Above is how it should look while you set it.

Then pick up the open edge of the top fabric, lift and push it back. Use your iron to carefully push that one back onto the seam allowance. You shouldn't push so hard that your thread starts peeking through, but don't be so gentle that you're left with a little fat roll of fabric hanging out there. It should lay flat.

In the rare case that the pattern doesn't indicate, the general rule is that you press toward the darker fabric, that way there's no risk of the darker part of the seam showing through the lighter fabric.

On Tuesday we'll move on to subcutting, until then, happy chaining, pressing, quilting, etc!