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!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, July 10, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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 quilting!
Friday, July 3, 2009
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!
Happy quilting, have a safe and fun holiday!
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