Thursday, December 1, 2011

[workinprogress ~ on Thursday]

Today I thought I would share with you a little of the progress I've made:


Piecing a quilt top like this represents I guess about 5 hours of continuous picking up pieces, sewing together rows, and pressing seams.  Of course it takes much longer when you take into account coffee breaks, and all of the usual domestic chores to keep us all fed and in clean clothes.


When piecing together a quilt top like this I lay out all of the pieces on my design floor. Then, starting with the first row, I carefully pick up the fabric squares in order and sew them together into a row by chain piecing; first in pairs, then sewing the pairs together, etc.  I press seams as I go, alternating the direction of the seams for every row.


When all the rows are complete I sew the rows together.  Usually first into sets of 2 rows, then sets of 4 rows, etc until the quilt top is complete.

A fairly standard procedure, I suggest.

Happy sewing!
Rita

29 comments:

  1. Oh wow! Another great creation!

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  2. very pretty! So you have a design "floor," huh? May I ask how that works out for you? We have renovated the bonus room that serves as my sewing space, and as a consequence I no longer have a single full-sized wall. So I suppose I now have a design floor (or, at least, I will when my toddler is asleep and I can sweep aside the toys). I am imagining I will need to climb atop a tall ladder to get enough perspective . . . .

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  3. Hmm no not how I do it. Like Jenny I don't have enough space. So I sort my squares into piles of similar colour and just randomly grab them. It always seems to work and occasionally I do have to unpick but it works for me.

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  4. Another amazing quilt. How can it be that I like every. single. one of the quilts you make? Your fabric is always drool-worthy, your eye for color is spot on and of course your perfectionist personality (hard time doing wonky) makes for absolutley flawless piecing.

    You are so inspiring to me. Thank you for letting us take a peek at your work.

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  5. Beautiful! I love how each of your corners match up perfectly, an feat I seem destined to never accomplish.

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  6. Love your latest creation! I think scrappy patchwork squares are one of my favorite things.

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  7. Thanks so much for sharing Rita! Love your fabrics and how you put them together. You have inspired me and I have just laid out my 180 squares. Quite a different palate to yours. I will gaze at it an see if I need to reorder it. Do you have a process by which you lay out the fabrics..or do you just go for it? Oh the washing did get done yesterday:)

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  8. I try and do it that way, but I always, ALWAYS end up putting my pairs together in the wrong order and get everything out of whack. I've started taking pics of my layout with my iPhone so I can double check my order!

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  9. I piece the same way as you. I lay out all the squares and do them in pairs to make up the whole block and then sew those pairs together and then sew into rows. It actually makes piecing pretty quick and reduces the amount of thread you waste.

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  10. great job!! and colors are just amazing!!! =))

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  11. Nothing of my quilt life is as perfect as yours,
    however
    We match... in that I too, bend over the floor!

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  12. Nice combination of colors and prints!

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  13. i do the same thing, if i don't it gets all messed up! beautiful quilt rita!

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  14. I LOVE this top, just beautiful. And I am thankful for my removable design wall (cotton batting) next to my sewing machine (when placed on the dining room table) that allows me to sit and do that repetitive sewing together of squares. You are amazing, Rita! Enjoy the quilting, too!

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  15. Beautiful quilt, and I love how the yellow stands pops out.

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  16. I've got to say, it is encouraging to hear that a quilter I highly admire does things the same way I do...

    My wife LOVES that I have a design floor... It means that her kitchen floor gets swept and mopped several times every week and she doesn't have to be the one to do it!!

    Paul
    www.OutnumberedQuilter.com

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  17. Pretty colors. You are so fast!

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  18. So pretty. Love all the colors together!

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  19. this is gorgeous. 5 hours? I hand sew and cannot comprehend having that much done in a short time!

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  20. You always choose the same color palettes when you buy fabric. It really is a sure fire way to have a quilt look good. No fuss, no muss - good every time. And squares are so easy. Every once in awhile I like to run up a squares only quilt - easy, fun and relaxing. Eye candy for the fabriholic in me. Cheers.

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  21. Your last few quilts remind me the joy of sewing lots of fun prints together! I've been using too many solids lately. My next quilt will have only prints on the front (I've been eying Amy Butler's Lark)! I just loves the ones you chose for this quilt :)

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  22. Love the blues and greens - so fresh and pretty!

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  23. Megan does much better than me. I always intend to take a picture of the layout 'just in case,' but generally don't remember until I get to that point where it really would of come in handy. I don't do random, I do overly thought out random.

    Love the fabric patterns and color choices on this!

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  24. What a bright colourful quilt...just *love* it!!

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  26. love the way you coordinate colors. I noticed the same designs in different colors in the last two blog quilts and I am in awe of how you can come up with such great (and different) color schemes using similar prints! Beautiful work. I love visiting your blog

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  27. I love those colors together! Wonderful fabric choices.

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