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!

Three seams rotate in the same direction, one goes against the flow!

Most Four Patch blocks are pressed with the two-patch units going to the same fabric, in this case, they are pressed to the dark.  The long seam is usually pressed to one side. See Above.

Flip the seam back, the one that is going "against the flow". The stitches should pop apart allowing the center to lay flat.

If the stitches in the seam don’t want to pop, help them along a bit with your seam ripper. See Above.

Play around with it on Nine Patch blocks and Pinwheels.  Note that Pinwheel blocks are little more challenging because of all the extra fabric – but really neat and tidy when it’s all done!

Don’t forget to comment – I will be drawing 2 winners for Perkins Dry Goods patterns this week!

Thanks for stopping by….Celine

First of all, welcome to day 1 of the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop!  There are nearly 90 brick and mortar shops participating through out the state.  The shop hop runs from today, July 31 through August 16.  Click here for a complete listing of participating shops and their web pages.

I thought I would try to share a few of my favorite tips, tricks and tools with you during this huge state-wide shop hop.  Plus there will be random drawings for Perkins Dry Goods patterns!  Just leave a comment on each post during the shop hop.

So now, let’s go Fly A Kite!
This is a tip for speeding up your piecing and pressing:

When I am sewing lots of pieces together, I like to chain piece. That means I feed one set of fabric units after another through the sewing machine without cutting the thread in between.  Did you know that you can save a whole spool of thread on one queen size quilt by chain piecing?

What you get when you have sewn all of you units together is a Kite Tail.  Take it to the ironing board and lay it out flat. If the tail is really long, do it a few units at a time. Place the side you are pressing TOWARD on TOP.

Next, I like to set the seams by simply pressing flat with a hot iron.

Then, I open the units up one at a time and press – they are still attached by the thread between each one.

Now, the moment of truth.  Take a scissor a snip the thread between each unit.  I like to use a blunt nosed scissor so I don’t cut my ironing board cover.

You will be pleasantly surprised at how much time you save (and thread!) by using the Kite Tail Pressing Method.

Don’t forget to comment so you can be entered in the random pattern drawing!