Keeping it on the "Q.T." Quilting Tip # 4

It's time for another Keeping It on the "QT" Tip.  Tip # 4. 

 Painter's Tape is a quilter's Best Friend.

Stitch-and-Flip is a popular quilting technique for attaching corner patches to units.  Instructions usually include something like this "Mark a diagonal line on the patch from corner to corner and sew on the marked line."

For my second Scrap Squad quilt, the pattern called for 192 Stitch-and-Flip units.  That's a lot of diagonal lines!  So I decided to use Painter's Tape to mark my machine instead of marking all those lines.

Why Painter's Tape?  It doesn't leave any sticky mess when you remove it from your machine.  Below you can see the tape on machine.  The tape is placed from just in front of the needle (not over the feed dogs).  Tape should be aligned with the needle.  Most machines will have marking you can use as a guide.

 

Place your patch on the corner of the unit with right sides together.  Place top corner under presser foot aligned with needle and bottom corner lined up on Painter's Tape.

 

 

Stitch across the diagonal.

 

 

This method works perfectly and you don't have to mark anything.  A real time saver when you are making 192 of these little corners.

 

You would then trim seam allowance to 1/4".  Flip the patch open and press.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  My next Scrap Squad quilt will be featured on Quilty Pleasures Blog on Friday.

 

Happy Scrappy Quilting!!!

 

Keeping it on the "Q.T." Quilting Tip # 1

Recently I was selected as a member of Quiltmaker's Scrap Squad.  Monday, we received our first quilt assignment.   I decided to Google the word SCRAPPY -

 Scrappy -  consisting of disorganized, untidy, or incomplete parts:

No one wants a quilt that is disorganized, untidy or incomplete.  So how do you use scraps in a quilt and keep it organized, tidy, and complete.  Well here is Q. T. # 1.

"Choose an inspiration fabric and let it be  your guide."

I began by looking through my stash of fabric.  The fabric below had been in my stash for a few years waiting for the perfect quilt.  I decided to use it as my inspiration fabric.

It is a hand dyed fabric.  Not sure how I will use it in the quilt but it will serve as my guide for selecting scraps of fabric.  After looking at the inspiration fabric, I remembered that I had recently purchased a small amount of various colors of hand dyed ombre fabrics.  I placed then on the inspiration. 

I eliminated the gray and red fabrics. The gray was completely wrong and the red was a little too red.  (not pinkish enough)

I decide to go with these six colors.  Again I'm not sure how I will use them but I added them to my stack.

 

Now comes the fun part, gathering together my scraps.  Since this is the Scrap Squad the scraps will be the focal part of the quilt.

I began by going through my scraps and selecting fabrics that were similar in color to the six colors above.

 

 

I auditioned each fabric and some were eliminated as was the yellow fabric shown below.  It has similar colors but was too yellow.

 

I have a maybe "pile" of scraps. You can see them at the top of the photo below.  I can always go back and add then to the mix if I choose.

 

If you are having trouble deciding whether or not to use a certain fabric, sometimes it helps to take a photo and look at the photo.  It can give you another point of view.  Here I used my IPad and took a photo. I eliminated a few fabrics after viewing the photo.

 

Below is my final selection of scraps.  You will notice that I eliminated the orange ombre and one of the blues.  I also eliminated the orange scraps and combined all the blues into one stack.  Now I have my inspiration fabric, 4 ombre hand dyes, and my scraps in four piles.

 

All of these selections were based on my one inspiration fabric.   I have found this to be a simple and effective means of selecting a variety of scraps for my quilts. 

 

 

My final stack of scraps

And I didn't add in any of my "maybe" fabric this time but often I do go back and revisit those fabrics.  This time I had enough variety without them. 

 

Hope you enjoyed my Keeping it on the "Q.T." Quilting Tip # 1.

 

"Let an inspiration fabric be your guide."

Oh yes! Leave your fabric out on your table for a few hours or days.  Walk by and see if you are concerned about any of the fabrics or if something is missing.  After doing this, I decided I needed a POP of COLOR.  Referring back to my inspiration fabric, I decided to add yellow as my POP.

 

 

Remember, I still don't know how I will use these fabrics but my quilt design is beginning to come into focus.  I'm pleased with the fabrics I selected and know that they "fit together".  Now the quilt  design will begin to take shape.   I won't be able to share the quilt pattern until my quilt is revealed in March but I will share more later as I make design decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

Quiltmaker Scrap Squad 2015

I've been selected as a member of Quiltmaker Magazine's 2015 Scrap Squad.  I'm so excited.  I received my first assignment today and I'm already planning the quilt.  I plan to do a "Keeping It on the Q.T." (Quilting Tips) here on my blog.  I'll probably do a couple of "Q.T." tips each month.  I'm busy planning my first post for late this week. 

We were to submit a few pictures for use on the Quiltmaker blog.  I'm not sure which photo they will select but I've chosen this one for my post here.

 

Check back often as I blog about my experiences as a member of the Scrap Squad.