Thursday, September 1, 2011

Keeping blocks in order

  Getting blocks from the design wall to the sewing machine and keeping them in the correct order can be a challenge.  Especially for me, as my mind is usually zipping in and out of  a couple of different zones.  So for the watercolor blocks, I wanted to be sure nothing got turned upside down because that would destroy the design.  I used a modified chain  technique, much like Bonnie Hunter shows in her tutorial on webbing the quilt .  (Guess you have figured out that I am a huge Quiltville fan!)

 
 Before I remove the first row of blocks from the design wall, I put a yellow head pin  in the upper left hand corner of the block.  That marks the top for me....always.  I remove the first row/column of blocks....one at a time and stack them top to bottom.  Then I do the second row/column  in the same way....except the second row gets 2 pins.  Both stacks go to the machine, and the block from the second row goes on top of the first row block.  Stitch.  Then chain feed the  next set of 1 and 2 blocks.  And so on until all the pairs are stitched together.  Because I have chain stitched them in order, they stay in order.  Now I can sew the pairs together and end up with 2 completed rows.  Repeat across the quilt top and then join each section. 
    I decided on the final layout that I showed.  It is 36" by 60", and I am adding a small border, about 3" all the way around.  Why so narrow?  I want it for the foot of the bed, as an extra layer for my feet. 

Wantobe Quilter giveaway today  is a good one....don't miss it.  It's for quilters today.  If you have a blog, just enter a comment.  Make sure your email is available in your settings, no-reply blogger comments are dead ends! 
  Hmmm....just read about the updating to blogger.  Has anyone tried it out yet?  That means a new learning curve for me.  The features look good, as long as I can figure them out.  I think I will wait a bit and make sure the bugs are worked out.

Happy stitching.

1 comment:

Lynne said...

I've tried the new interface - I switched back to the old version to read the blogs on my reading list! I haven't decided if I like it or not!

Thanks for the tips for keeping rows in order. For my Wonky Strings quilt (the blocks of which I'm joining now) I keep the photo open on my computer so I can make sure I'm putting to together the way we planned! Of course, I had already stacked the QAYG blocks in order!

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