And the winner is......

Leanne, at www.quiltmekiwi.blogspot.com !!!!!  Congratulations Leanne, and send me your mailing address and I will send you these lovely threads.  I do hope you enjoy the YLI #8 Pearl Cotton threads as much as I have.




I have been working this week on my snail trail border for my Doh-si-Doh quilt.  These little 3" blocks are quite a challenge and I had to come up with some organizational ideas to keep me straight. Soon I will show my paper piecing process, but first I would like to share how I got organized to make the blocks.

First I had to make notes on what size pieces I needed andhow many.  I hope you can read this card, if not, then double click to enlarge.  The cutting guide shows the size square to cut, which then has to be cut in half to form triangles.  Sizes were 1 1/4", 1 3/4", 2 1/2" and 3".  I kept getting it confused, so the need for the card.






Next was setting up the layout of the block.  I kept getting my pieces in the wrong order, so I printed out the block on cardstock, and labeled my fabric A and B.  A blank meant background.  Since this is a border, I just needed the two colors.

I sew these blocks in sets of two, a top block an a bottom block.  This is the card for the Top, and the bottom card is similar.  These cards are my life line in piecing the blocks, which get very confusing with all the twists and turns. Anyone of you who have ever done a snail's trail block know what I mean.

I labeled my foundation papers as Top or Bottom, so that I could keep it straight which one I was working on.  This also gave me a reference point to line up with the pattern card to make sure I was positioning the fabric correctly.

On the back of the paper foundation piece I drew reference lines to be used in lining up the fabric pieces when sewing. 

These lines were invaluable when lining up the beginning 4-patch.  This helped me to center the 4 patch in the center of the square and to ensure the block was not tilted.

And finally, last but definitely not least, I lay out all my pieces needed for the top and bottom blocks on the design board.  The "A" pieces are on top, the background pieces in the middle and the "B" pieces on the bottom.  This has really helped me so much in keeping the pieces straight.  Not that I have not made some booboos - and will continue to do so. 


Well that is all for now, more to follow on the paper piecing process. Hope this gave you all some ideas on how to organize your piecing process.

Thanks for stopping by,
Teresa

The Last Stitch

Checking my followers list, it is so nice to see that I have not lost any of you in my absence.  Thanks for hanging in there with me and to celebrate your still being here, I have a give away that I think you will like.  

So here I am taking the last hand quilting stitch on my Circus Stars Quilt !!!  I have it bound, labeled and washed now and neatly folded away from cat hair until I can get my daughter to help me get some nice pictures.  More to follow.

Now about the give a-way.  I have mentioned many times that I was hand quilting this quilt using the big stitch (in my case JUMBO stitch) with #8 pearl cotton YLI threads. This thread is pretty and is a fun to quilt with.  I enjoyed it so much, I thought I would share some with you - and here it is. Three skeins of in some of my favorite colors, but I love them all, so it was hard to choose. 

So if you would like to win these lovely threads, just leave a comment on my blog.  That is all there is to it.  If you can't leave comments, then send me an email at jqd@comporium.net and I will enter you in the drawing.  I will draw a name on Sunday, August 28.

In the mean while, I will be working on this snail trail border for my Doh-si-Doh quilt. 

 These are tiny little pieces, as you can see in this picture of the four patch that is in the center of the block. The penny would actually cover up the four patch if I laid it on top of it.   The fabrics are the same I used in the quilt and I thought this would make a nice border, but WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!!  Seems like I can turn the simplist of projects into a challenge.

Here are all the tiny pieces sorted in sandwich bags - the only way I can keep from losing them.  I am piecing by paper piecing using an add-an-eighth ruler.  I will show more on this process later.

Well, that is it for now.  Please enter the drawing as I know you will love these threads.

Happy Stitching,

Teresa