Where does time fly off to!!

I can not believe that it's been two months since I blogged. I really need to do it more often. I think the last thing that I left off with was having a FMQ (free motion quilting) class to teach. Both of the classes that I taught went very well. They all said that they enjoyed it and learned a couple of things. In teaching any class the one thing that I want a student to leave with is the satisfaction that at least they got what they paid for and to learn at least one new thing. I have another FMQ class scheduled in November.
The other class that I taught was the beginners quilting class that I used Quilters' Academy book by Harriet and Carrie Hargrave. With 5 students it went very well, resulting in another class in October that will continue with parts from the first book. It is almost impossible to cover a large percentage of the ideas and instructions from this book in only 8 hours of class. To do it right it has to be done in about 16 to 20 hours. It is better to learn the basics and in short increments than having student that are overwhelmed by massive piecing instructions. I believe that some quilters have not learned to think more than what a quilt pattern says to do. The ability to understand and create a pattern is far more rewarding than to just copy something that someone else has done before.
I hope to make time to show tutorials on my blog with step by step instructions on doing basic concepts. Like how to get perfect points and having a nine patch be the right size when you get finished. One of the things that I showed my students in the Quilters' Academy class that when they finished the center block in the sampler, to know how to fix the seams so that is comes out the correct size. Just because the nine parts are the same at the beginning does not always come out the correct size at the end. Knowing the size of the blocks and using the ruler you can figure out what seam is off and correct it from that point. Without ripping the entire block apart.

Till later
Cher

Progress (little by little)

OK I know its been a long time since I blogged. Its not the easiest to do with a list to do a mile long. I been working on a couple of projects. One finishing up the charity quilt that I posted about earlier this year. I will get a picture of the quilt and post it soon. The other thing is that I was working on a small doll quilt for a pin less circle class that I taught, at one of my guild workshop last month.

Also been working on the sampler from Quilter's Academy projects. Since I received volume 2 in the mail a couple of weeks ago, I put the setting triangles on the rail fence and nine patch squares. I did correct the problem with the wrong size pieces that I talked about last post. In fact I ended up starting over because as I started putting the pieces together I did not like the look of the design. I still may finish it and give it away to charity or donation to the Quiltfest Jax fund raisers at the annual quilt show.
I have a free motion quilting class tomorrow that will be exciting, there will be about 8-10 students. I can't wait to see the joy in there faces when they discover that FMQ is not that hard. My goal is to have everyone believing in the possibilities that they can create something special. Till next time (hopefully not as long as before between post.)

Late night problems

In all the years that I have sewn, you would think that I would have learned to not sew precision piecing late at night. Last night I thought I would relax a little by sewing, so I sewed a few strips together to make the nine patches for the quilter's academy sampler. Things seem to be going OK, got the first set done and then sewed the second set. Pressed all the seams OK (hind sight is that I did not check the seams and sets for accuracy, before I cut the segments). The pieces did not come together at the seams. Now the nine patch is not a hard block to do, but it does require the piecing to be precise so ALL the seams intersect properly. At first glance I thought that the set with the blue, pink, blue set was the wrong size. But in examining the sets the culprit was the pink, blue, pink set. In the pictures you can see that the 'pbp' set in an 1/8" short and the center strip in not an inch like it is suppose to be. So I had to re cut the strips and resew the pbp set again. A good example that veteran quilters make mistakes.

At first glance it look like the bottom set is the wrong size. But the top set is the pbp set and it is the one that is 1/8" short. The little loop or bump on the bottom is the result of the set being longer that the top set. there is no way that these two sets are going to lay flat and match the seams.

This picture shows the seams when I lay the sets flat the right seam is an 1/8" off. I have the left set of seams butted up exactly the way it would be sewn.

Here is the pink, blue, pink set under the ruler. It only measures 3 3/8" it should be exactly 3 1/2".

This is the blue, pink, blue set. If you look at the 3 1/2" mark you can just see the color difference between the background and the blue piece of fabric. The important thing is that it is exactly 3 1/2" long and the center strip is exactly 1".

Till later