Originally Posted by Ruth Camp
This is part of my first 12 inch square I want to add a little more to it. I'm not happy with it. Next I will try one color.
At 12 inches will make a nice crazy purse :roll:
I am not really a "quilter" as most people describe them, but I have made a few and my mother made many in her lifetime. I remember one crazy quilt she made that seemed to follow the old fashioned method of stitching blocks to a piece of newspaper to be sure they were on the square. :? I watched, but never did one myself, but this seems to be something that would fit that.
The lady who did it folded a sheet of newspaper into a triangle (once) and measured both sides to be sure they were 12 and 1/2 inches each. The extra 1/2 inch was the seam allowance. and then she cut the piece on the other two sides to make her square. She said that newspaper was alwyas on the square and there was no fear of "warped" pieces that way.
The next step was to lay a piece of fabric on the corner and add another random piece to it. She called it strip piecing, but it was a far cry from what the books call strip piecing. Her pieces eventually made a few strips, but mostly they were like the ones you show in your photograph.
The advantage I saw to her method was that the piecing went faster and the seams were very secure. She put each new piece onto the next one by laying it upside down where she wanted them to join. She stitched across to make a seam and then flipped the new piece down over the seam and pressed it. Then she was ready for another new strip or piece. She did not do the hand embroidery, but she did lap quilt each square before she put the whole quilt together. It really did look nice.
BTW, this is my first time posting, so forgive my mistakes on what/how to do it. I am a grandmother (GramMER) to 15 and need to get the show on the road if I am to make each of them a quilt before my time comes. :roll:
GramMER