Gale in SF

Went to a quilt show in No. CA on Saturday and met a vendor who sells these rag quilt kits. She has a machine that cuts out the squares AND CUTS THE FRINGE AT THE SAME TIME! My instant thought was, does she need a new friend? giggle, giggle...

Ok, just finished cutting out alot of 9" blocks and now I need to gather up batting and cut out half as many. Am I not allowed to ask how to quickly center the 8" blocks on the 9" blocks and just relax and just sew the the x thru the block? I have a long history of ripping out so I am asking beforehand! It's just that the first one is difficult and rest a breeze.

ShellyQ

Maybe a little dab of water soluble glue stick to hold things tog before you sew may be just the ticket :P

lin

Hi Gale! I wish I had her gadget for cutting the fringe at the same time. What a lifesaver that would be.

I'm not sure what you're asking here. By "eight inch blocks" are you referring to your batting squares, or did you cut the back squares a different size than your front squares? I usually cut my batting the size that the block will finish at once I sew them together. (for instance if I'm making 9" blocks and taking a 1" seam, they will finish at 7", so I cut my batting squares out at 7") I just layer the three together, and I'm not all that careful about getting the batting exactly in the middle because it's not really going to show if it's smaller than the raw cut squares once you get them sewn together. Once I've layered them I just sew an X on the block and voila`! Block is ready to sew to the next one. :)

Hope that helps. If not, I'm sorry I didn't understand what you were asking.

ccbear66

I use 7 inch sqs of all three layers (cotton, flannel, and cotton) and I don't even sew the x thru the center. I've made 4 and they have all turned out great without the x.

lin

I probably wouldn't bother with the X either if I made my blocks smaller than 7" finished. Do you start with a raw cut 7" and end with 5" or 6" ccbear? I don't think they need anything if they're that small. :)

ccbear66

I start with a 7 inch and then do a half inch seam so I end up with a 6 inch finished block.

Gale in SF

Lin, thanks...

I cut the front and back the same size (9") and then I cut the batting an inch smaller so 8". Tomorrow I'll sew the x and then sew with a half inch seam. Should be away to the races since I was extra careful in cutting exact squares because...
I bought a kit at JoAnne's last year (Hello Kitty in pink and blue) for a brand new granddaughter. The squares weren't cut the same size and I thought I could just whiz sew them together anyway, centering as I went. Nope, got the seam ripper out. Finally did put it together and it was lovely but thought, no, not again. Until I remembered I had this lovely flannel Christmas fabric (after I had read your comments on rag quilts) and brought the fabric from my stash.

Great idea, a dab of glue. Am using iron on batting and find it's sticky enough to hold both sides, tho, since I had left overs.

Will show when done.

Ladies, thank you very much

Gale

lin

Can't wait to see it Gale :)