I love to sew, mainly quilts and bags. I am 66, married to Fred and have one son, Matthew, who is 27. I enjoy embroidery and applique and prefer to machine piece and quilt my projects. I love my vintage Singer sewing machines especially my Featherweight 222K. I’m enjoying treadling on my 201K Singer and I collect Miniature Sewing Machines and currently have three Essex , one Singer 20, one Singer 40, two Vulcan Miniatures and my latest, a Grain. My love of sewing I believe comes from my Grandmother - I still have the drawings she made for me to embroider on tea towels many many years ago!

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

I HAVE A NEW RULER....... AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT !

LESSON 5 - AFA QUILT-ALONG
not the best photo!  it's all straight..... REALLY!

I am one happy quilter today!   The June Tailor Perfect Half Square and Quarter Square Triangles ruler arrived yesterday and today I finally got to play with it!  and......... I L.O.V.E. it!  This ruler does everything it claims to do.  I made my quarter square triangles first - perfect!  then I made my half square triangles (lots of them) and again.... perfect!  and so easy to use too.  You can trim the units so accurately and when it comes to join them into rows and make the block, everything just goes together so well.

My Lesson 5 block came out okay but I am disappointed in the light blue fabric (with the brown circles and squares).  It did not play nicely with my iron and when I was sewing the units together, it would pucker!  I've never had this happen before and none of the other fabrics have done this.  I'm not sure of the manufacturer or even the name of this fabric.  Online it is only called 'blue fabric with brown circles and squares'.  (my piece did not have the Selvedge print)   I bought all of these fabrics together so it's a shame one of them is not the same quality as the others.  Having said that, it does look okay in the block and I can live with it.  

My virtual quilt is shaping up now!  Lesson 5 (top left corner) seems to balance everything out.  Now we have to wait until Friday/Saturday for the next block.

I'm just choosing the Batik fabrics for my batik version of Lesson 5, should get some sewing done tomorrow.

My Aussie Log Cabin quilt is just waiting for the borders to be added.  I have four fabrics to choose from and I hope to sew that tomorrow also.  Yes, Thursday had better be a long day!

Quilty question.......  how do you purchase and cut your border fabrics?   do you cut WOF or LOF ?  If you buy one metre or a little more, do you still cut WOF ?   OR  do you fold over LOF and cut your strips that way ?   I have always joined my border fabrics if needed but I've still cut WOF.  To be honest, it never occurred to me to fold over LOF and cut my strips that way.  I do understand that the strength of fibre is better LOF but like I said, it just never occurred to me to actually cut that way and then join my pieces.  Some quilters buy enough LOF to not have to join but I feel that is a lot of fabric to purchase just to do away with joins.  Plus I don't think I would like to handle that much fabric and cut it straight!  Imagine making a king size quilt!  I posed this question on  Facebook and received a lot of feedback.  Most quilters agree that LOF is stronger but  $$$ wise it is more economical to cut WOF.  What do you do?  I should say, I do not enter my quilts in shows, I make my quilts mostly for children or myself.

Happy Sewing!!
Helen

 FABRICS USED IN THIS BLOCK:-

 YELLOW -   PEBBLES YELLOW, BROOK BY CP DESIGNS FOR STUDIOFABRICS.COM
BROWN CONTRAST FABRIC -  "MONOCHROMATIX" BY PATRICK LOSE FOR ROBERT KAUFMAN
GREEN OUTER TRIANGLES -  "FUNKY FLOWERS" BY LINDA LUM DEBONO FOR HENRY GLASS FABRICS
BLUE SPOKES - UNKNOWN MANUFACTURER.  JUST CALLED BLUE WITH BROWN CIRCLES AND SQUARES
GREEN SWIRL PINWHEEL TRIANGLES - WINDHAM FABRICS, MAMBO BY ROSEMARIE LAVIN
A1 - BLUE TRIANGLES -  RAINBOO ZOO BY AMY BLAY FOR RED ROOSTER FABRICS
A1 - ORANGE TRIANGLES - RAINFOREST COLLECTION BY  CORAL TREE FABRICS "SUMMER RAIN"

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13 comments :

  1. Unknown31 July 2013 at 21:35

    You lesson 5 looks great! It's first on my list for today.

    LOVE that ruler! I'm on my second one now -- wore out the first:)

    Sounds like there could be some polyester (do you call that viscose down under?) in it. It looks fine though in the end. Still you'd would expect it to be like the others it was bought with:)

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    1. Helen McNaught @ AuntyHennys31 July 2013 at 22:12

      Unknown? No, the fabric is 100% cotton but it does seem to be a lot thinner than all of the other fabrics I purchased at the same time. Anyway, it's done now!

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  2. Tiffany31 July 2013 at 22:35

    I hate borders - it's my least favorite part of making a quilt!!! This week I did both - LOF and WOF - but I only did LOF because I had extra from another project. But I can't justify spending the money, especially on quilt store quality fabric (that's expensive) to do LOF. I also make quilts mostly just for friends or family, and so if there are seams in the border, I feel like it doesn't devalue the quilt any.
    So, in the end, it looks like I agree with what you said ;)

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  3. Joyofquilting31 July 2013 at 22:41

    We are going to a big quilt show next week, so I'll have a look out for that June Taylor ruler.
    As for border cutting I always cut across the width of the fabric. I have read that the length is better/stronger/doesn't stretch. But I don't want my edges to be too 'solid'. And anyway is there an perhaps argument that stitching the solid length to our patch blocks which are slightly stretchy might cause other problems....who knows.
    I just know I'm happy cutting width wise, some of my quilts are years old with no problems.
    Well that's my feeling on cutting borders.

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  4. krisgray31 July 2013 at 23:39

    Love your block! -- too bad about the fabric quality. I've had surprises like that in the past.

    Marti Michel's patterns usually give LOF for borders. You don't have to cut, you can knick the fabric and then tear away due to the strength of grain. It is liberating to tear and I have a quilty friend who never cuts her borders. I had one kit whose instructions were written for LOF borders - tearing is very fast, too! However, I am a cheapy and cutting WOF is one way to decrease costs.

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  5. Needled Mom1 August 2013 at 00:18

    Your blocks are really wonderful too!

    I like to cut mine LOF to keep things squared up nicely, but I do use WOF if I don't have enough fabric.

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  6. Mary1 August 2013 at 01:31

    Length of fabric. I keep part of binding, and then use it for the back of the quilt. Great job on the blocks.

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  7. Maria1 August 2013 at 02:12

    Love you Lesson 5 block.

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  8. Mrs Flying Blind...1 August 2013 at 05:30

    Perfect blocks!
    I have been a wof-er and a lof-er - I prefer the look of LOF, especially if the join would be obvious or the border is wider than 4"; cutting is fine, as lining up the selvedges and folding carefully means you can cut all 4 really quickly xxx

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    1. Mrs Flying Blind...1 August 2013 at 05:31

      Tickled that it is still July here and I have posted a reply in next month already!

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  9. Unknown1 August 2013 at 09:15

    LOF or WOF really depends on the print for me ... solids I do width for ease of cutting (unless I'm making a long quilt and don't want a join), prints it depends on if the print is directional or not.
    I'll have to look out for that ruler too.

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  10. Raewyn1 August 2013 at 20:49

    Your blocks look great Helen - and they look square to me!! That ruler sounds very handy!! I always buy and use WOF, never thought of doing it LOF, I guess because of the cost..although I do love to have lots of scraps around so maybe...!!!

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  11. Tatkis2 August 2013 at 08:09

    Wonderful blocks, congratulations with your new ruler!
    I've so little experience with quilts and borders - sorry can't help you :)

    Hugs,
    Tatyana

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