Sunday, 1 February 2004

Ah ha! I think I begin to understand. Cher sent me this link to a brief slide show about paper piecing and something finally clicked while I was watching it, so I decided to try a practice block, just for the heck of it. Here is the result:

I like your block a lot. The color combination is snappy!

I tried paper piecing once, and while I agree with your assessment, it was hard on my machine. I had to replace the needle often (which is kind of a hassle on my machine). Maybe with flimsier paper it wouldn't dull the needle so much.

I've done some foundation piecing, and I like it much better.

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 1 February 2004

Uhoh -- I thought foundation piecing and paper piecing were the same thing. What's foundation piecing?

      Quilty comment by Lyn/Uncorked on 1 February 2004

I don't think paper piecing is faster, personally. In fact, I usually think it takes a little longer. But it's really good for complicated blocks or when you need to be really accurate.

Foundation piecing is usually done on muslin which is left in place when you're done. But otherwise it's basically the same idea. I use foundation piecing for crazy quilts, but for "sane" quilts I think paper piecing is easier because you can print the design right onto the paper rather than worrying about tracing.

Oh, and you seem to have figured this out, but regular run-of-the-mill copier paper seems to get the best results, in my experience.

      Quilty comment by Mel on 1 February 2004

A few ideas on types of paper to try-blank newspaper stock or someone suggested dryer sheets after you have used them, also you can use the thin paper for tracing patterns-not sure where to look for this, my roll was bought eons ago (of course these need to be cut to fit your printer)Being lazy, I tend to just use the copy paper I get at the office supply place. I don't think pp'ing is faster-per se-but, more accurate, less tear your hair out trying to match up some of the more involved parts of blocks and hey, it can be fun! If you shorten your stitch length, it tears out fairly easily-my partner usually will remove paper for me while she watches tv.
Also pp'ing is great for real small blocks...again, you can be very accurate.
I use a small cutting mat and quarter inch ruler to rotary cut my pp seams after each time-but it took a few mistakes before I caught on to cutting in the right spot :-)

      Quilty comment by Cher on 2 February 2004

Here's the thing I don't understand about trimming the fabric -- you have to fold the paper out of the way to do that, right? Just seems clumsy to me...

      Quilty comment by ATQ/Uncorked on 7 February 2004

Re: muslin -- so the cool thing about that is that your quilt gets an extra layer of fabric, basically -- so it's heavier/warmer. Neat.

      Quilty comment by ATQ/Uncorked on 7 February 2004

I finished the binding on the second baby quilt this afternoon. It's named "Baby Steps I." (It's about 28 inches square.)

This is super cute! What a lucky baby!

      Quilty comment by Katxena on 1 February 2004

Great colors- binding was tough for me to learn from books-I did better when I took a class that included that step-and I finally have gotten it down-now I enjoy doing it. Wish I lived closer to lend a hand in person-maybe you can find someone nearby or at a quilt shop to help you figure the technique out. Nice going on getting these baby quilts done!

      Quilty comment by Cher on 2 February 2004

Oops. Forgot to mention. I gave this quilt to a colleague of mine whose wife is due to have their second kid any day now.

Now to finish up the third baby quilt...

      Quilty comment by Lyn/Uncorked/ATQ on 3 February 2004

The Quilter's Newsletter March issue discusses a recent survey on "Quilting in America" and notes that a "dedicated quilter"

spends more than $1,000 per year on quilting, is female, approximately 58 years old, attended college, and has been quilting for more than 12 years. [...] purchased an average of 100 yards during the past year [...] maintains a fabric stash valued at $2,860.

Wow, they must have seen my attic. I have collecting fabric for a long time. When my mom gets tired of her fabric she gives it to me. Does anyone every feel like that cant use the fabric they lvoe because then it would be gone or am I sick?

      Quilty comment by candy on 7 February 2004

Nope -- there are definitely some fabrics that I'm very fond of (already! and my stash is relatively small) and hesitate to use in new projects because then it would be gone!

I definitely have to start keeping a better log of where I get what fabrics from, just in case I want to replace some at a later point.

      Quilty comment by Lyn/Uncorked on 7 February 2004

Here's a picture of "Baby Steps III" which I finished last night -- this is the one where the quilting and the binding gave me an awful lot of trouble. It's approximately 28 inches by 28 inches.