mpeters1200

So I have been stalking quiltville for a very long time. Analyzing the organizational process she has for scraps, downloading every mystery, looking at every pattern, book jacket, calendar posting and yada yada. I think her quilts are beautiful, but I don't know if I have the expertise to actually do one.

I started trimming scraps down to squares and bricks so I can start this leader and ender stuff she has on her site. I'll probably be putting some small HST together too.

My questions are these: I know she really, really likes the angle ruler and the companion ruler. I do want Tri-Recs cause I love those 54-40 or Fight blocks. She doesn't make any of her Geese or HST blocks the easy way. I use rectangles and draw lines and they are a smidgeon bigger than needed, but my points are just more accurate when I stitch squares and then flip. It's easier to not stretch the bias edge when it's not already cut.

Have you guys used these rulers? Is it really worth it to make all those thousands of triangles and then sew them together instead of sewing the squares together to get those multiple HST blocks? I like to make them 8 at a time or so. I have an easier time with Flying Geese using the sew and flip method.

Have any of you made any of her gorgeous patterns without using the rulers? I'm starting to put my Christmas/Anniversary wish lists together and would like to get these tools if they are necessary, but I'm honestly scared about what my points are going to look like. I've always thought of her quilts as expert piecing, but the more I look at them, the more they look like traditional pieces, squares, rectangles, HSTs, geese and I do know how to make all those pieces.

I've been quilting ten years and have about 15 projects completed. I know it's not a lot, but I quilt most of mine by hand so that eats up time as I tend to work on one project at a time. The pieces themselves look easy enough to make, there's just a TON of them and she makes them using a different method than I do, and her method scares me more than her patterns.

Suggestions? Should I just stick with my samplers and traditional beginner work? Am I biting off more than I can chew or can I really do this? I just don't know.

Thanks.

Melissa