Things I've learned in Quilting so far.....

Some things I already knew, but with this new field of stitchery, I've learned a few things that will carry over to other projects. 

- Purchase all of your materials at once.

This is also important in knitting and sewing but more so in quilting.  You can find coordinating colors down the road but it's easier to just have it all at the start.  Ideally, if you can pick most of your colors with the bolts together, especially if you have many different fabrics in the mix, it can take the anxiety out of the fabric selection. Dye lots, color ways, will all be a bit different with different production runs.  Also, patterns and fabrics are retired in the quilting world.  Stores lose color cards.... and I'm being nice here.  This has happened to me three times now, could just be they are misidentified.... yes, that's it.

Apparently Tabacco and Chartruese are interchangeable, as are Mustard and Tobacco

- Don't forget backing fabrics (see above)

- Keep all of your pieces organized and together

This is self evident, but when you have many fabrics in your quilts, it's nice to be able to see all of the colors and patterns in one go.  If you are trying to achieve scrappy, you need a wider lens.  When you start to layout your blocks, you can nip those less desirable combinations in the bud as you are assembling them.

Yuk

Pretty....

This is the fun part for me....

- Do test blocks

This will get you comfortable with the pattern you've chosen, and the assembly, and where your blocks end up in terms of size, so you can tweak your seam allowances, or folding practices. It might also reveal directions that can be improved upon.

Book suggested layout....

My layout ;), this means I don't have to buy more fabric... except the backing, which I forgot to buy.

- Forgive yourself for not getting it perfect 

Don't let imperfection defeat you, every project is a process, and striped fabrics are not forgiving.  Celebrate, the times you got it right.

Not perfect, but well ironed .... lol.

A girl can be too focused, I joined two fabrics to one.... why?

I had to unsew this one twice before getting it right...

- Try to finish each step completely

What do I mean by this?  Finish all of your blocks in one go.  Not in one day, although there are quilts like that, but try and finish them in a timely manner, so that you don't lose your groove.  As you work on blocks, you are training your eyes and hands to respond to your end result.  It's a magical thing!  Not working on the blocks for a few weeks and picking them up again, means a training period again.  So try and get all of your blocks done, and if you have to walk away, do it.  This segment will be done, so your next process will be joining the blocks.  Try to do that consistently until you are finished. 

87 completed, 33 to go, before the next step..

Did I say step, I meant challenge.....

Look, that little square just goes right there..... they're funny.... it looks more like a gusset don't you think?

This will slow me down a bit.... I should have just added a strip at the beginning, and lived with the seam.