Putting borders on without a measuring tape

It's been a while again since I posted last time.  Life got in the way which I would not like to explain right now, maybe in a while after everything is settled. I promised to post a tutorial about how I'm measuring and attaching the border on my quilt top without using a measuring tape.I use this method every time I have to put a border on a large quilt.

First, press the top, and lay it out on a hard surface. Then measure the sides of your quilt to determine how long of the border strip you need to make. You take 2x the length, + 2x the width of your top. Add about 10 inches to be on the safe side. Take your continuous border strips to the top, and lay it down in the middle lining up the edges.

The next step is to fold the border strip back, and cut with scissors, matching up the fold with the edge of the quilt top.

Then holding up the strip that was just cut, line up the ends with the rest of the uncut border strips carefully.

Cut the end the same way, folding back the longer strips, matching the fold with the end of the border strip.

Pin the borders in place, and sew it on. After pressing, repeat all the steps with the other 2 sides.

Easy peasy :)

I'm working on my Lucky Star quilt top, putting the borders on, this time mitered. That'll be my next post.

'Til we blog again! :)

Shaded 4 patch tutorial for Easy Street Part3

So  this week we have to make shaded 4 patch units for Easy Street Part 3. I don't have the Easy Angle ruler so I tried to find some different methods to make the units without the special ruler. I was searching and found this fantastic video by Billie Lauder  on Youtube.

She's making her blocks larger so I had to do a little bit of math to figure out what size strips to cut for this step.

To make 2 units you'll need to cut:

• 2- 2" squares from purple fabric

• 2- 2" x 3" rectangles from black&white background fabric
• 1- 3.5" x 4.5" rectangle from aqua fabric (I'll use pink/yellow)

1. Sew the squares and the 2"x 3" rectangles right sides together, press. I pressed the   seams open.

2. Sew them together with the squares in opposite ends, press. I pressed the seams open again.

3. Put the 3.5" x 4.5" rectangle right side down possibly on a piece of fine sandpaper and draw a 45 degree line starting in the right bottom corner going up to the left by placing the 45 degree angle on your ruler on the bottom edge of the rectangle.

4. Sew on the drawn lines. Check to make sure the corner of the squares are not cut off. If something is off, rip the stitches and repeat the folding until you get the corners lined up. You can see I had to do some un-sewing too.

5. When everything looks good, cut apart between the 2 sewing lines.

6. Press and trim to a 3.5" square making sure you have the 45 degree line on your ruler lined up with the half square triangle. I pressed to the pink fabric because there was too much bulk to press open.

Ta-daaa! 2 blocks are done! Only 62 to go :))) (I forgot to trim mine before I took the picture so the dog ears are sticking out on the right)

'Til  we blog again! :)

Let's get Acquainted! blog hop

Wonderful Beth at Plum and June organized the Let's Get Acquainted! blog hop for bloggers like me to get some more new readers, hats off to you, Beth! I'm not sure if I would be capable of organizing an event like this one :)

Today it's my turn to  introduce myself and post a project tutorial.

Hi, I'm Kati :) Nice to meet  you all! :) I just turned 40 in January and live 45 minutes north of New York City with my Fiance and 2 kitties. I only started blogging in the end of January after listening to someone's podcast (I can't remember who it was) on insisting to catalog your work. I have a little quilting journal, but it's missing some photos so I figured it would be better to store my quilts digitally anyways :) After Rhonda from  the Quilter in the Gap podcast kept talking about the blogs She was reading I started to read blogs and decided that I wanted to start my own. 

So first I'll answer some questions Beth suggested so you get to know me a little better :)

How long have you been quilting? 
I started quilting in 2002 after watching Simply Quilts on TV for about 6 months.

Favorite blogging tip?
Don't just sit down and try to  write a  blogpost without thinking about it before  because it doesn't work. Ask me  how I know :)

Favorite  style of fabric?
I prefer the look of modern fabrics  a lot, but also crazy about batiks  and I love the look of the 30-s repro fabrics.

Technique you'd like to learn?
Needle turn applique

Favorite craft book?
I just recommended it on my blog, my new very favorite is Angela Walters: Free  Motion Quilting with Angela Walters

Favorite book?
Lord of The Rings and Cobbled Court Novels

Favorite children't book?
Grimm Fairy Tales, Winnie the Pooh

Favorite quilting tool?
My Olfa frosted rulers. They don't move.

Favorite music to listen to while quilting?
It varies what I'm in the mood for... Lifescapes (from Target) are my favorites, but like to listen to country music too.

Favorite TV show while hand stitching?
Downton Abbey

Binding - by hand or machine?
When I have enough time, definitely by hand. When it's crunch time  I do it by  machine.

I was inspired to make some Dresden plates by my fellow blogger,  Marion @My Quilt Diet blog. She made a very cute table runner that I loved and I was in a need of making a baby quilt and thought it would be a cute pattern.

I have the Marti Mitchell Dresden ruler and I was using that for this tutorial.  I needed 16 petals as oppose to the EZ Dresden Ruler's 20. You'll need to use your ruler accordingly. My block is 12" finished. I made my block scrappy looking so I used 12 different fabrics. The tutorial is for making 1 block. Please read the instructions before you  start your project!

To start the petals I cut scan 4 3/8 strips  of the pink fabrics.

I'd put the ruler with the 10.5" strip width top and 10.5" strip width bottom lines on the edge of the strip.

After cutting the first shape you'll need to turn the ruler upside down to make the next cut and keep alternating. You'll have a stack of petal shapes like this:

Yes, He was helping again... Box cat :)

I arranged the different fabrics:

To make the petals you'll need to fold each "tumbler" in half right sides together, crease with your nails carefully and sew across the wider end with a 1/4 seam allowance.

I chain pieced mines:

When all is sewn I'd cut the thread with scissors:

Cut a small slit up to the sewing line, but not through the stitches:

I put my left  index finger inside and finger pressed with my right thumb (I'm right handed) holding the end with my left.

All the petals stacked by fabrics:

Turn them inside out, pushing the corners with a blunt end tool (it could be knitting needle, or in this case that purple thang).

When this step is done, you'll need to press each of them making sure you line up the stitching line with the crease in the middle to make sure the seam is in the middle and the petal is not wonky.

Next step is sewing the petals right sides together. Make sure you start from the top finished edge and go toward the bottom. If the bottom doesn't line up, no worries, it will be covered by the center circle.

Press and starch, then pin the petal circle on the background fabric trying to keep it in the middle. To achieve that fold the background square in 4 and press with your fingers. When you unfold it you can line up the lines with the seam lines of the petals. Sew  them on the background fabric with the stitch of your choice. I'd cut the background 1/2" larger than necessary to 13". I did the applique by hand with a matching pink thread using blind stitches and trimmed the block to 12.5" at the end.

For  the middle circle I made a 4" circle template out of a cereal box. No, I don't have any template plastic in stock since I hardly do applique. That will change in the  near future:) I cut the circle fabric about 3/8 inches bigger than the template.

 

Run some gathering stitches around about 1/8 inch from the edge . Leave about a 4-5 inch tail of the thread.

Carefully holding the end of the thread, gather the stitches around the cardboard template, trying to position it in the middle.

Spray with starch.That's right, mine is swimming :)

To not scorch your pressing surface and avoid flaking, put the circle in the middle of a scrap fabric (I prefer white for no color transfer, thank you!) Press. I used no steam. Make sure to press until the starch is all dry.

Carefully peel the fabric off the template.

Gather the stitches back to a circle by pulling the thread very gently. Press from both sides.

And voila! You have the perfect circle! Applique it on the middle of the block with the method of your choice. I again used hand applique with blind stitches.

Your block should look like this:

Okay... minus the kitty paws! Aren't they adorable? I call them bunny paws :)

Yes, I had a helper with pressing. One of them always volunteers when I stand up from my chair to do some cutting or pressing.

In case you missed the  last posts, on July 12 they were:

Rebecca from Sew Festive Handmade  made an awesome tutorial for travel Bingo!

Marti from 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks wrote a tutorial for "Take four" place mat. I really love her color choices :)

Today's fellow bloggers with me are:
Claire from Sewing Over Pins and
Caroline from Quilting in the Cold.
Please don't forget to hop on over and check out their blog posts and what they have to say and show. Also we all love to get comments! :)

Next bloggers on July 19 are the following:
Jamie from Sweet Baby Jamie
Janine from Rainbow Hare Quilts

Thank you for bearing with me all the way to the end! I know it's a marathon blogpost, but by the time I realized that I should've made something easier, like the 3-D pinwheels I invested too much work in the Dresdens. Oh well, I can write that one later. Let me know if you're interested!

'Til we blog again! :)

Making hexies tutorial

After finishing my Spider Web block last night I started my hexies for the April blocks. The video has suggestions for the English paper piecing method, but I kind of don't want to take the extra step to remove all the basting so decided to make them my way. Surprised? :)

I've collected round plastic things (e.g. sour cream and cream cheese tops, Chinese takeout tops, etc.)  and traced the template on them. After cutting them out I punched a hole in each with my hole punch. I took the fabrics I wanted to use (needed 13 of them) and pinned the templates on the wrong side, trimming the fabric down leaving about a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

They looked like this when I was done:

Next step was to tuck 2 sides in and pinch it with my thumb getting ready to baste.

I took a threaded needle  and stitched 2-3 stitches to secure it.

I was going around the whole shape  doing the same thing.

And finally back to where I started, it's all done.

All 13 of them together:

My helpers for the day were:

Kormi helped me keeping me on my toes, making sure I can't sit down to baste.

He even volunteered to find my thimble in my sewing box. 

Szundi made sure I'm burning extra calories with standing. His favorite place is wherever I need to be sitting/sewing/or whatever.

'Til we blog again! :)