The directions to this quilt tell you to sew all the verticle strips together for the bottom half, then do the top half, then place each quilt section on pressing mat wrong side up with center across top and press seams to the left) then connect top half and bottom half together.

My question is, isn't it better to press as each horizontal strip is added?? So, when I connect the far left horizontal strip with strip #2 next to it, I would press the seam to the left and then add strip #3, press, etc.. I am doing it according to the directions (not pressing as I go) and am up to having 7 strips connected (not even 1/3 done) and it seems like this will be hard to press all the seams nicely from the back side without "trapping" fabric in the seam (since you have to press it from the back side and not the front like you would traditionally). Am I over-thinking this??

Any other tips you wish you knew when you did this quilt??

I haven't made one by those directions, but I'd press as I went along. It's much easier to match up the seams that way. Do what makes you feel comfortable!

Another thing that is bothering me about her method is that as you add one horizontal row after another, the connected section gets larger and it is more difficult to feed through the machine (my machine isn't set into the desk top so I don't have a nice flat area). I would prefer to match up pieces 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 4 and 6 ect. first, then connect the sets of two together to get sets of 4 and then sets of 8 and so on.

No problem doing that. But when you join the pairs, sew them from the opposite direction - it prevents the strip set from bowing.

As for your first question (if I'm understanding it correctly), when you're pressing all to the left, the centers are both at the top, right?

So when you go to sew the two sections together, the seams will actually be pressed in opposite directions, and will/should nest nicely.

If they were all going in the same direction, you'd have a lot of bulk at each seam join.

As long as your were pressing in opposite directions for the bottom and the top sections, you could do it as you joined the strips.

I followed the instructions exactly as written and had no problems. I think there's a video on her website that might help. I originally saw it on RFDTV, then bought the book.

My advice too.

I did one, one square at a time...2" scraps ...and it took me forever, but it is one of the prettiest scrap quilts I have done. I just kept using up scraps, and it took about a year to get the whole queen size top done.

:oops: :roll:

Okay, I just learned why it is not a good idea to join the strips in sets then join them together as a whole. I did the first 9 stips one at a time. Then, I did the next 10 stips together one at a time. When I joined the two pieces together, I tried really hard to match the seams correctly (the seam on the open edge has to match the seam that is one row in so you can't just match two open seams together). I pinned then looked and it didn't seem like a good match so I repositioned the fabric and pinned again. After sewing it and removing the pins, I am off by about 1/8 or a little more. You basically have to use a ruler to to tell but it is still very frustrating.

I will follow the original directions for the top half of the quilt and just keep adding one more vertical strip at a time. I did not press as I went on the bottom half so I will not press as I go for the top half to keep them consistent. I think doing the pressing is going to be hard on such a large item with so many seams to press at one time and so close together. I am worried fabric will get trapped in the seams since you have to press from the back side. I guess I'll see tomorrow when I get to that point.