The Quilting Connection

As a little girl, one of my hated daily chores after school was stitching a straight line into a Rag Quilt. My mother sewed our clothes and every winter she would make a Rag Quilt from left over fabrics. The top, cotton batting and backing layers, stretched across, and tacked to a make-shift wooden quilt frame, supported by chairs would occupy the entire room until fully quilted. There were six daughters and we all had to contribute so many lines of quilting, every day after school.

Later in life, about mid 1970s I developed an interest in Hand Quilting and never stopped. Mostly I am drawn to Hand Quilting, and this kept me connected to my mother. Finally, now, I am learning to navigate Sewing Machine Quilting.

I have found so much enjoyment in all things quilting and hope to share the things that I have learned over the years about quilting.


Comments

  1. Testing. Love the picture. can it be enlarged?
    So excited to see this.



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  2. I must add a few items to my supply list. Love your color scheme.

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  3. I have a few items from your list that I need to add.
    Love the color scheme that you used for the mug at.

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  4. Quilting can get so expensive. There are some good products.
    Thank you.

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  5. Is it true that quilters are supposed to use white sewing thread. I used all colors on my lates piecing projects because it has so may colors.

    The maple leaf quilt is a beautiful vintage pattern.

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  6. It was a mistake for me to use off white with the Maple Leaf. I decided that I could live with it! There are many colors now, compared to when I first started quilting. The long stitches are done in pink Hand Quilting thread.
    Thanks Mid!

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  7. So excited to see your vintage quilt fabrics. They are making a comeback. Hand stitched quilting can never be replaced.

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  8. I made the Navaho block and it was truly a test of patience. My first block measured 12 1/2 inches at the top and 12 3/4 at the bottom. I think that probably is a cutting issue. On 2 of the sides notice that there is a little more than 1/4 inch at the triangle points. I think that may be because all seams may not be stitched in 1/4 inch. Anyway , I will make adjustments and post what I discover. The second block : the blue print came together a bit easier and matched up better. Constructing this block is a great challenge and certainly requires much focus.

    On to my next sampler block next week.

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    1. This truly is a challenging block and I had a similar experience with mine. It may correct itself when it is squared up, but likely the wise thing to do is adjust it.
      The Navajo is such a nice design and you did a beautiful job on both of these blocks!

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  9. Hello.

    What is your method for making HTS?

    It can be difficult for the points to come to 1/4 in the corners when joining them to the next block.

    I find it a little more successful to cut them on the diagonal first and join the two triangles instead of drawing the center line and sewing the 1/4 inch seam on each side of the center line. Thanks. Mid

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  10. Happy New Year! So great to see your work displayed and you have a great writing style!

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    1. Thank you Ryan. I have enjoyed working on the Blog. Thanks for checking it out. It is a work in progress.
      Happy New Year.

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  11. Since I am a hand quilter, I have done both methods. This is easy for sure. Everyone finds what works for them. I am always learning.

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  12. There are several ways to make Half Square Triangles and some real time savers when quilting with a sewing machine as opposed to hand quilting.
    Thank you for the tips.

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  13. Hello sister.
    So I made the Ohio Star quilt block today. I ran into some problems when I got ready to stitch the 3 rows together. The center block did not match at the seams; also for the other 2 rows , I had to cut the light squares at 5 inch instead of 4 1/2. Turns out that the center square ended up being 4 3/4 ". My finished block is 13 " finished. I do think it should be 13 1/2 finished.

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    1. That is strange and I think something is wrong. The finished block should be 12 inches so as it is now, it should measure 12 1/2. It is beautiful and could stand alone for sure but in a project, I am not sure how that would work.
      I am going to duplicate it tomorrow and see what happens.

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  14. I plan to make another one and see what happens and make a more specific note about it.

    On to the next sampler block.

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    1. I will cut this one tomorrow and see what happens. My Ohio Star blocks were cut with templates and hand pieced. Perhaps the measurements are incorrect in the instructions.

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    2. The block sizes can be confusing. The Large block, 5 1/4 inch, is used to make the Triangle Squares. You will ultimately make 4 of these by bisecting the blocks. These become the hourglass shaped blocks. The center block and corner squares blocks are Small and are cut at 4 1/2 inches. Hope this makes sense.

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