Perkins Dry Goods

When I begin a new project, there is usually a draft of the quilt that I use for guidance.  I like to use Electric Quilt 6 to get an idea of layout, size, value, etc.  The quilt that I end up writing instructions for is often nothing like what I started with!

Right now, I’m working on a project using the Twelve Oaks line by Judy Rothermel from Marcus Fabrics.

I love to make scrappy quilts and you know one of my favorite things are Civil War era fabrics.  Although I try hard not to plan toooo much, I have to plan just a little.

A secret to making quilts that look scrappy without losing your mind is to choose  “sets” of fabric and use them to make repeats of blocks. You don’t have to make every single block different.

Another tip to keep scrappy things organized is to set all the pieces for one block on a paper plate.  You can easily stack the plates and work through them at the sewing machine without getting things mixed up!

I guess this is turning into a tips and tricks blog today!  An extremely useful tool that I discovered while blog surfing one day is this triangle trimmer by Quilt in a Day.  The horizontal and vertical lines that help you align the seams on the triangle (or hourglass) block before you cut.

And that tape that you see, that’s Nexcare first aid tape, it keeps the ruler from slipping.  A tip from Carrie Nelson over at La Vie en Rosie.

Even when you think you are pretty accurate with your stitching you can come up with a good pile of trimmings!

I hope to be able to show you the finished product soon…  now I better get back to work!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 1:30 PM and is filed under Cool Tools, Ideas, Musings, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.