oksewglad

You may be late, but these are first rate. Great basket fabric surrounded by that blue to go with the other blocks!

QuiltE

Nice blocks Cookie ... Great Grands should be a priority over blocks!
I really like the contrast in Betty's block!

dublb

These are so pretty! Your colors go together so well! I like how the gold in your Betty picks up the little gold flowers! And such a lovely basket!

Termi

You all did such beautiful, creative blocks for the flower basket. I have a question for those of you doing the paper piecing.
Do you find it better to make the shapes a little larger?, like when you pull the paper over and cut the 1/4" seam allowance, should the seam allowance go a little beyond the dotted line? Also, when you sew on the paper, do you stay exactly on the line or sew a little to one side? I hope this makes sense. Thank you!!

QuiltE

Hi Termi ... While I have only done the one block for the PC, I'll soon be back as I'm almost done my FWS blocks. For the FWS blocks, I've been sewing right on the line and they are coming out perfectly sized!

For the sewing .. my pieces are larger, and yes I sew past that normal 1/4" spot, then before the next piece goes on, I flip back the fabric and the extra paper and trim each seam to 1/4" and all the extra fabric and stitching are gone.

My fabric at the outside edge extends past the normal 1/4" and then once the block is totally finished and paper removed. A final good pressing of all ... and then I trim that outside edge.

At least ... that's how I do it!

Termi

Thank you QuiltE, that sounds like the way I do it too. I put a thin guide on the line, flip back the paper against the guide and then use an "add a quarter" ruler to trim. Not sure what you mean in your paragraph that starts with "for the sewing". Could you clarify? Thanks so much!

QuiltE

I don't use any guide to flip back the paper ... just fold back on the stitching. I use one of my regular rulers, so that I can hold the whole block in place with my hand on it. Besides, I hate those teeny-tiny rulers as too easy to get your fingers in the way!

RE the for the sewing paragraph ... I was trying to answer your questions in your first post. When I'm adding a piece of fabric, I don't do any precutting, I just work with the whole piece of fabric, sew it on, and then rough cut off what I need with excess. That's why the more than 1/4" across doesn't matter, as the excess will get cut in place. I find it much easier to iron it too, as that's holding it all in place nice and straight and steady. It may not get cut off with that step, but will with a later piece being added.

I keep my stitch length way down low ... 1.0 on a Janome!

I press at every step of the way. And the only pieces of paper I remove before the very end, are the backsides of pressed seams ... and if there's a bulky place that's going to have layers of fabric and paper that'll become too difficult to remove later (not often though).

Clear as mud, Termi? or muddier waters now?

dublb

QuiltE - I've never PP but your instructions make it clearer & now I might try it some day!

QuiltE

Hey there DublB ... I'm no authority ... it's been totally learn to do by doing (anyone a 4-H'er?). A year ago I TOTALLY detested the thought of PPing!

I started with the very simple directions on QuiltersCache.com and made a few (like about 3) sample blocks ... and then jumped right in, and then just picked up bits and pieces as I went. Now I laugh at myself, for avoiding it for so long.

Would I pass the muster of REAL PP'ers? ... not likely! but it's working ... and if you want pointy points, square squares, and blocks to size, you can't go wrong with PPing!
Just think of it as dot-to-dot meets paint-by-numbers. Last night as I was doing the final block from the FWS book, I kept thinking ... OMG, if I'd stopped and measured and cut, I know I wouldn't have done so .... way too late at night, but I just wanted to do it!!

So gallop on over to QuiltersCache and you'll be off to the races!

JeanieG

This the video that I found that taught me to paper piece. Maybe it will be helpful to those who are going to try it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2gK...eature=related