Tiffany

Yes, always start with a practice piece to get you into the groove and able to move smoothly and evenly. It also helps the mind get back into the habit of quilting. I will often make extra blocks from the quilt to use as practice pieces for quilting. It works great and I find I can quickly see if the quilting design I chose for the quilt is going to work or not. If it doesn't, then thankfully I learned that with the practice block instead of on the actual quilt. And I can always use the extra, now quilted block in a pillow or something similar if I like it. If not, it goes into a pile that I keep. I look at it occasionally and remind myself of what I tried that didn't work so I don't keep repeating the same mistakes. ;)

A trend I have really begun noticing with machine quilting and longarm quilting, instead of clipping the threads close to the surface of the quilt, many national instructors and those winning ribbons (money) in the big shows are all burying their threads like you would if you were hand quilting. Even the judges are noticing a difference and they prefer the threads buried instead of clipped off, saying it gives the top a more uniform appearance. I would poo-poo what they're saying except that I find my eye does stop along a quilt top at the point where the threads have been clipped, especially if it isn't clipped super close to the top. With all that said, I just wanted to point out that there seems to be a new trend out there that provides another option to simply clipping the threads close to the quilt top.

Whew! Did that seem long winded to anyone else? Wait, don't answer that! :lol:
~Tiffany

huggyface

your blogk iw beautiful.. whats the name and where can we find it, or is it your own design and not for the asking. the work is very nice, I bet it will make a beautiful qilt or wall hanging

ripstitch

Hi all, for some reason I haven't been getting the emails about the posts. Huggyface, if you look at the top of the page, I have provided the link to the pattern again.

To all, thanks for posting comments. :-) The block is pretty big without being finished to a square and I'm searching for some other blocks to go with it.

Helen

Lois-nounoe

Hey, Ripstitch! I know all about the e-mail thing! Everyone is so busy with new posts here that my server told me I had to trash some of my old saved up stuff or I wouldn't be able to get anymore e-mails! I don't know what I would do if I can't get all the new news, pics, comments, ect! Might have to get off the puter and go to bed before the chickens wake up! :lol:
Everyone's work is so great that they are all great inspirations for new projects.

QuiltinLee

STUNNING!!!

QuiltinLee

STUNNING!!!

QuiltinLee

OOPS! Double posting. :oops: Guess that means it's double stunning ( well, it is)

Lee

rhueluna

That is sooo pretty