Tip Tuesday! Short Cuts - Good or Bad?

Welcome to

"Tip Tuesday!" - Short Cuts - Good or Bad?

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog. 

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources.  I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above. 

Read, enjoy, and be inspired! 

I know we all get in a hurry and sometimes take short cuts. But, as we all know, sometimes our short cuts end up taking more time or don't produce the quality that we really want. In terms of quilting, we have short cuts for cutting, piecing, pressing, quilting, etc. You name it, someone has come up with a short cut. 

On of the short cuts that I've seen a number of my students doing lately involves cutting. The make their cuts, but they don't remove the selvage. I completely get leaving the selvage on if you are going to be piecing strips together that will need to have a clean up cut made before sub-cutting. I get it. I really do.

But....

Sometimes we forget to do a complete clean up cut and some of the selvage remains when we make the first sub-cut. I've done that; and on more than one occasion, I've had to toss one of the pieces because the selvage shows. It didn't take to many times of doing that (especially when I had a limited amount of the fabric and was worried that I'd have enough), before I started checking carefully and make the proper trimming.

If you don't, be prepared for something like this to happen.

Can you see the selvage in the tan fabric? Can you also see that this quilt has been quilted. I noticed this while I was binding it. Fortunately (I guess), this isn't my quilt. If it was, I don't know what I would do. Would I stop and make the correction right then and there, or would I say, "Well, it's hardly noticeable."
 ARGGHHHH! 

Here's an even worse possible issue with leaving the selvages on one while sub-cutting and having it pieced in to the quilt. This would really upset me! This would be a pain to fix, but I think I'd have to. If I chose to leave this, I'm positive that would be the first thing I would saw whenever I looked at the quilt.

So, be careful when using short cuts. Make sure you check and then double check to see if you've removed all of the selvage. You may be sorry if you don't.

Design Wall Monday

Today I'm a quilter, a house builder and a tree farmer! 

One of groups to which I belong is having a block exchange. Every month, one person brings fabric and information on what type and size block she wants us to make. We then have one month to create something for her. 

Last month Paula wanted stars, any kind of stars. They were to be 12 1/2" unfinished and she had a dark blue batik as her background fabric and a variety of orange, yellow, light blues, etc. for her stars. I made her a wonky star. I love making wonky star blocks! You can find the tutorial HERE. I liked how the block I made turned out, but of course I forgot to take pictures.

This month, Linda wants houses and trees. She wants the blocks to finish 6" and she provided the white background fabric and a bunch of small scraps of other wonderful fabrics for the houses and tress. This was FUN!

Below are the houses I built and the trees I grew. Keeping scrolling down for close ups on all the blocks and a bit of information about each block. (Of course I had a reason/purpose for how I built each house!) I think Linda's neighborhood is going to be a cool place to visit and I can't wait to see her finished quilt.

Here's the first house I built. I call this the Dottie House and it reflects the feeling that I sometimes have that no matter what I do, I just seem to go around and around in circles and never accomplish anything. I've kind of been into orange lately and I'm glad there was orange fabric for me to use.

No, this is not a mistake. It's a glass house!

Don't we all feel like we live in a glass house at times? Setting aside the negative thoughts on glass houses (everyone can see and will know EVERYTHING you do), a glass house, in the right setting is awesome. Imaging this house high on a hill, surrounded by trees and overlooking a beautiful lake. (Ok, I want to start looking for some land on which to build this house.)

Of course you can shield yourself from the outside world a bit. A window shade or door can help with that, but it should still be fun. 

I think I may add some color to the side seams (walls) of the house so it stands out better, but I don't want to lose the effect of the glass. Perhaps a very small piece of rick rack or ribbon. Mmmmm, I have to think about this. Of course I give this to Linda tomorrow night so I don't have much time. What are your thoughts?

And finally, every neighborhood needs trees so here are mine. We've had some heavy duty winds recently, hence the leaning tree and the "top ripped off" tree. :-) You may recall THESE PICTURES of some wind damage we had here last year.

These blocks were fun to make and I'm sketching out a few for myself. I think I have to create my own neighborhood! 

I'm pretty sure you won't see me in a cardigan talking to puppets like in Mr. Rogers', Neighborhood, but you can bet there'll be some quilting going on.

What's on your design wall? 

Grab a drink, sit back and take a gander of the wonderful creations on other quilters' design walls today. 

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Tip Tuesday! Pre-cuts

Welcome to

"Tip Tuesday!" - Pre-cuts

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog. 

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources.  I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above. 

Read, enjoy, and be inspired! 

Pre-Cuts

Love them or Hate them?

Image from FatQuarterShop.com

I know there are a lot of opinions on using pre-cuts and I'm not going to debate their usefulness, but I am going to discuss them in a pretty general sense.

Pre-cuts come in all different shapes in sizes - 2 1/2" strips, 5" strips, 1 1/2" strips, 10" squares, 5" squares, 2 1/2" squares, triangles, hexagons, etc. 

There are a myriad of names for each of these pre-cuts as well, depending on the manufacturer. And, not all pre-cuts come with the same number of pieces in them. For example, some 2 1/2" strip sets come with 40 different strips while others come with 42. There are sets of 2 1/2" strips that have 40 fabrics, but there are also some that have 2 of 20 different fabrics. I've seen sets of 40 strips that includes 4 strips of 5 different fabrics.

Some 2 1/2" strip sets only have 20 fabrics, while others have 36. Be careful when you see a great price for a set of 2 1/2" strips. You need to know how many you are getting for that "great" price.

Because of this inconsistency, it is important to know what you're buying. Reading the labels is the first place to start. Most labels will tell you how many strips and how many different fabrics are in each set. Unfortunately though, that is not always the case. 

I've seen a number of shops that make their own sets and they don't always provide all of this information. I've taken the pre-cut bundle up to the counter and asked for clarification and have never had anyone complain. Unless it doesn't matter to you, I'd suggest doing the same thing.

Besides the inconsistency in number of pieces, I have run into inconsistencies in sizes as well. One of the first sets of 2 1/2" strips that I bought almost completely turned me off to ever using pre-cuts again. The strips ranged in sizes from 2 1/4" all the way to 2 5/8". I quickly learned that for that set, I needed to measure each strip before using it. 

I'll admit that it was a pain, but it really did help me make the needed adjustments. Some strips needed trimmed down, while others needed aligned so that I still ended up with a 2" finished strip. (In those cases, the raw edges of the strips did not match up. I offset them so the seam allowance was 1/8" instead of 1/4" and it worked well.)

Ok, so you've decided to use a pre-cut bundle! What's the next step? 

Probably the question I am most often asked when students are using pre-cuts that have been cut at the manufacturer is which edge of the "pinking" they should use. My general answer is that depends. (Don't you hate it when someone doesn't answer your question, or they answer a question with a question?) My real, and more accurate answer, is to measure the fabric piece and make a decision from there. 

Where do you get the 5"? Is it from all around the outside on the tips or mountains of the pinkings? Or is it in the valley or lowest spot of the pinking In some cases, I've had to use the tips on two sides and the valleys on the other two sides.

Take a look at pre-cut charm pack I was working with this weekend. The black fabric square was cut from yardage and I double checked to make sure it measured exactly 5" x 5". If you look closely, you can see the green fabric that came from the pack is larger on all sides. 

The oversize did not bother me because I was simply making half square triangles and I was going to trim them down to 4 1/2" anyway. But, this may have become a problem if I was just going to be piecing the charm pieces into a quilt top next to other 5" blocks or charms that were exactly 5".

Now you may say that the tiny little bit won't matter, but multiply that overage by the number of blocks and it will add up and make a difference. Trust me; I know from experience. 

Bottom line, no matter what you are going to do, measure any pre-cuts before using them. Make adjustments if you can; or choose other fabrics. 

Or, maybe you could step outside your comfort zone and re-size or re-design the block. I know you can do it! I have faith in you.  :-)

Happy Tuesday 

and 

Happy Sewing !

Design Wall Monday

I had a wonderful long weekend with family and friends! There was some quilting involved, so that made it even better.  :-)  

Ann was working away on her fabric boxes while Jerry and I played with a variation of Fractal.

This is one of those quilts that can have a variety of visual impact options. For instance, the designer Jeni Baker, see's bow tie blocks, while I immediately see stretched stars. I've made a stretched star quilt before, so maybe that's why still in my brain. Who knows? 

I put my half square triangle blocks up on the wall with no plan other than to not have two like fabrics together. I still see the stretched star, which is the look I like. This is only half of the blocks so this quilt will end up being a good size. I used a solid black for the background and two Lovely charm packs .  

Of course Jerry started to play, so now I have a few options for another quilt, or the back of this one. (I do have two more Lovely charm packs!) 

This one is nice. The big stars are created by simply rotating the half square triangles. In this picture, I've alternated florals with more solid-reading fabrics, but I have not used the same fabrics for all four star points. Only each of the opposing points use the same fabrics. I have enough of each fabric that I can make all the points the same, so I'm going to see what that looks like. 

I didn't take any pictures of other layout options yet. I will do so and then have to make my decision. Isn't it nice to have options? 

Here's Jerry's quilt using the original layout. He used a solid purple for the background and various solids for the "prints." I really like this!

I toyed with the idea of using some solids I had but opted for the florals instead. I may just have to make one using solids.  :-)

What's on your design wall today?

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls by going to 

Judy L's Patchwork Times.

July 4th!

Happy July 4th Everyone!

Monday, I posted a letter about ringing bells on July 4th. 
You can read about it HERE.

http://joanne-everyonedeservesaquilt.blogspot.com/2014/06/design-wall-monday_30.html

Our forefathers worked tirelessly to draft documents that were the first steps toward our nation's independence. Without them, who knows where we'd be. 

And as you celebrate our nation's birthday today, please remember the men and women who fought long and hard in order to ensure out freedom. Without them, our lives would be quite different.

Please read the words below, spoken by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Read them again, and know in your hearts that we must cherish our freedoms every day. EVERY DAY! We must never lose sight of where we are, and how we got here.

And finally, please join me at 2:00 this afternoon in ringing a bell in honor of our freedom and our nation. 

It doesn't matter what kind of bell you ring.

          

                           

Just ring a bell, shake your keys, etc. and remember the words inscribed on the Liberty Bell: 

"Let us proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

Funny

Every once in a while, I see one of these cartoon-like posters that I think are funny. 

Of course some are funny, but not appropriate to post here. 
:-)

This one made me laugh out loud.

And then there are some people who not only sew barefoot, they cross their legs too!

Please notice that I have blocked out the face so as to protect Terri's identity.  :-)

I am a bit worried about pay back.....but this was worth it.

Tip Tuesday! Notions Organization

Welcome to

"Tip Tuesday!" - Notions Organization

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog. 

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources.  I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above. 

Read, enjoy, and be inspired! 

I don't know about you, but I hate wasting time looking for a ruler, rotary cutter or other notions in my sewing room. Now don't get me wrong. I am not the most organized person and I know that. My things can be in quite a disarray, but if I know where things are, I'm ok and I can be productive. (I admit, not as productive as I could be, but still productive.) It's when I have to stop and search, or worse yet, move things around because I don't have room, that things get a bit hairy.

Every so often, I find that I have piles of stuff (multiple rulers, cutters, pencils, thread, fabric, etc.) on my cutting and pressing stations and I have to move them around just so I can work. It doesn't take too many times of having to move the piles before I stop what I'm doing and put things away. 

Tonight, it was time! You can always tell what I've been working on when you look at my work surface. I've been cutting the Charming Stars blocks and way up in the top right corner, you can see that I've been binding. The bottom left corners shows that I was auditioning thread and making some notes while I was working. Oh, and the add-a quarter ruler says that my Prairie Star quilt is still in the "work on it" pile.  :-) 

Well, after taking just a little over five minutes, here's the notions' wall. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? I love this corner! It's a small space that packs a big punch. HERE is my original post about my notions corner. 

There are a lot of resources available to help you get your sewing space in order. Here is one book that I own and really like. I refer back to if frequently if I find that something just isn't working right. There are other books and I've seen them, but this is my "go to" book for all kinds of issues. Maybe it's the pictures. I'm a sucker for good pictures.

Check out the link HERE to get a glimpse of a few of the pages form the book. 

There are all kinds of resources that can be found on the internet. Simply do a search for organizing a sewing room (or similar wording) and you'll get lots of options.  For example, AllPeopleQuilt.com has 21 slides on organizing solutions. Here's the direct link.  

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/how-to-quilt/organization/organize-your-sewing-room

And there is always Pinterest! A person can spend HOURS searching through those pages.

No matter what type of organization you are looking for, be it for small spaces, fabric storage, notions organization, etc., you are not alone and there is help out there. 

I'd love to see what special organization tips you have!