Wednesday January 5, 2011

No - I did not miss a day!  Technically I did but it was because Blogger was "down"!  I tried a number of times last night to get on but had no luck....Jonathan taught me a little trick too!  If you go to Google Search and type in "downorjustme", there is a Google site you go on to find out if the website is down or it is just you having the problem!  At least I knew it wasn't just me......

When I finally got home, around 8:30 P.M. last night I was knackered!  (I love that word - it's so much more expressive than exhausted, it sounds more like knocked out, which was really more appropriate).....Rich and I spent most of the day searching for a car to buy!  Going from dealership to dealership to see what they had and what I wanted and of course - the most important thing - the prices!  My 2007 Pontiac Torrent is a lease and it is due back in about a month so I am trying to decide what direction to go!  At this point - an old klunker or a moped are looking pretty good!  It was gruelling andof course nothing was resolved.....

Needless to say, my bed looked very inviting but a dose of caffeine in the veins and realizing I only had two more loads of laundry to do prompted me to take the trip to the basement, where Molly's Meadow awaited me!

So tonight I will share some quilting tips I've learned!  I teach these in my beginner classes because they are "the best tips I never knew!"  This is a good quilt for me to share tips because I am being painstakingly accurate for some odd reason and showing extreme patience.....(so unlike me!)

Pinning

First of all - to pin or not to pin!  If you press properly (99% of the time to the dark side) then sometimes you can get away without pinning - you "nestle" your seams and most of the time you will get a match, especially in larger blocks.  Originally I was taught to pin at the seam, you know, match up the seams and put a pin in - this works about 75% of the time, I find it throws the seam off a bit more often than not.....

Then Barb taught me to pin on either side of the seam - I actually pin only on the left side and it works like a charm.  So for the 22 checkerboard blocks I have left to piece, it took an hour or more to pin the 44 seams and loads of pins - there are 4 per piece......but here they are.....

You will also note that I sew right over the pins....I can do this because Barb introduced me to the most phenomenal pins - Clover Glass Head Patchwork Pins - Fine...(I happen to know a store that carries them - currently out of stock but they should be arriving any day).... 

This is a closer look.  I don't speed over them but they don't break the needle if the needle happens to hit them....... 

The needle bends them - here's one the needle ran over tonight.......I'd say it's a write-off but it happens very rarely......

Once the seams have all been sewn and the pins removed, over to the pressing station........ 

 See how perfectly the seams match........it really was worth the time I took to pin....

 This may be a better photo of how they match...it's really gratifying when they come out this perfect!  So my vote goes with pinning......BUT, I want to stress that if you are using thick, clumsy pins you will not get the same result!  The right quilting tools are as important as the quilting tips.....

 I managed to pin and piece these all together last night but did not press them or add the last row so hopefully tonight I will get that done......along with securing the applique pieces on the alternate blocks, then I can start building my quilt!  I'm really looking forward to it.....

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Jo-Ann