Jennigma

I would love to have a quilting mentor.

I don't know where I am, exactly, on the newb to expert scale. I've been sewing for over 40 years and occasionally made my living with a sewing machine, so I'm certainly not a beginner. That said, I only made one quilt before this year-- a bargello strip pieced quilt that I made almost 20 years ago to be a cover for an electric piano. I still don't see myself as a quilter, but I've gotten very interested in quilts as art, and would like to explore carrying quilting techniques to other sewing.

I am enjoying the heck out of free motion quilting, though I still have a lot to learn there. I feel like I understand it and just need practice to become more confident and fluid with it. I've made some pieces I'm proud of, and am working on some samplers as skill builders.

I guess what I most would like support on is piecing. Quilting requires a different level of precision both in cutting and in sewing than garments and home dec. I'm trying to figure it out with web tutorials and the like, but I don't know what a good progression of projects would be. I'm not afraid of Y seams or curved piecing, except that my uneven seams keep me from having properly sized and shaped blocks.

I just completed a section of a top using One Block Wonder techniques with interstitial triangles (pic below) that took several tries to get sewn up. I ended up measuring and marking seam lines on every piece and pinning to get them to overlap. It was kind of nightmare-ish. It's together, the points mostly match and it's pretty flat, so I'm calling it a win. But ugh, there has to be an easier way.

I would love advice and support, particularly from folks who are Seattle area locals. :-)