MOVING FORWARD PREP WORK

Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a super enjoyable day. It’s already the last day of October!!! The end of year is approaching far too quickly.

So, I’m back today with a little more info about how I approached the task of piecing my Moving Forward quilt blocks ….. Once you have tacked your fabric shapes to the Freezer Paper and you have done a really job pressing the shapes let them cool. Once the shapes are cool you can remove the tacking stitching and remove the paper gently. If you have done a really good job pressing you will find that your fabric has good sharp creases in the shape of the Freezer Paper shapes. Now we’re ready to layout the shapes and tack them to the background fabric. Do you remember how I pressed guidelines diagonally from corner to corner? Well now is when those guidelines become very useful …..

I use proper appliqué pins for this job. Appliqué pins are shorter than normal patchwork or dressmaking pins and so when it comes to tacking the patches in place my pins don’t interfere with the thread while you sewing your running stitch around the patches.

Now some of you may be thinking that this seems like a lot of work, however, I think that prepping can make all the difference to the final result of your project. Tip: prepare loads of patches and spend an afternoon sitting quietly pinning and tacking a whole lot of blocks in one go. When I spend an afternoon prepping, I catch up on some of the TV shows that I tape for just such occasions. In life, the journey is every bit as much fun as reaching your destination. So, the prep work for a quilt is just as satisfying as the hand finishing the binding.

Something that I don’t think I have mentioned yet ….. you can re-use your Freezer Paper shapes a couple of times. So, if you’re making a big quilt like the one I produced cut a dozen Freezer Paper shapes and re-use them. Once they don’t stick anymore cut a few more fresh ones and start again. I’ll be back later in the week with some more info about how I made my Moving Forward One Stitch at a Time quilt. It really was made one stitch at a time.

I had a super weekend. I did lots of chores and relaxed in equal amounts. I did a wee bit of knitting instead of sewing. A change of pace is really good for the soul. This week I’m going to concentrate on hexies, two different kinds of hexie projects in fact.

So, for this evening, this very happy and super ambitious quilt maker will be working on hexies. I hope you have a super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy. Until you read me again,

Happy stitching ♥ ♥