To all of you who piece blocks
 

I really have never made a 'traditional' pieced quilt that I can recall. I am making one now out of my reds and whites.
Each block I finish I am in awe of all of you and all of the quilts you have made just a little bit more! For crying out loud there are so many pieces and how in the world do you remember how to put them together.

You are all incredible, really I mean that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) There are so many pieces!

laughing....I'm laughing because in the Underground RailRoad quilt, my geese in the flying geese block end up flying out of the block.

I'm sitting here right now cause I just put a block from the Farmer's Wife sampler in Time Out. Little tiny Half Square Triangles. Teeny tiny ones. Time out.

rofl im glad im not the only one that did that it was one of the first quilts i ever made in a class at our lqs we all decided if a slave needed directions my quilt wasnt going to clear anything up for him )))))
carla

What kind of quilts have you done?

I just finished the top for a lap quilt....2,295 pieces.

OMG

Annie

i've started my Dear Jane journey... but doing 3 at the same time. 5000+ pieces each! and each block is only 4.5" finished... so tiny. it was only a few years ago that i would never dream of attempting such a thing :)

Star quilts - I can make star quilts in my sleep - they are so easy and so few pieces! I do art stuff as well - this stuff makes me want to cry usually, but I am having fun.

I second that OMG!

I certainly third that!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I have done anything other then piece. It gets sometime irratating when points don't match, but, I just stop and take a time out

I remember the first time I started on a quilt by myself. Well, I had 15 minutes of instructions at the guild meeting and then we went home and made our own. Sometimes she showed us 3 blocks in the 15 minutes. The 1st block I made, I did it twice and still cut off the points each time. The second one I did it 2x and the third was done 3 times and it still looked sick. I look at that quilt now and I can see how I progressed to the very end and those blocks were perfect. It is just sewing and sewing before you feel comfortable. And ripping and ripping, I can't forget that. I am working on several quilts right now. Almost done with the hand applique on vintage Dresdan Plates, Courthouse steps, a pinwheel for my DGD, two patterns I made up for batiks and putting a binding on a quilt for a stepsister. I love quilting and plan on new quilts when I am sitting down and taking it easy. Just keep on quilting.

rofl!! I have LOTS of ufos in "time out"!!!!

Organization is the key, keeping everything in groups. I have used a lot of zip lock bags and labels. Post its for block layouts.

Ditto for me! :shock:

Design Wall - Design Wall - Design Wall!!!!! Away from kids and pets...

I am challenging myself by doing the Civil War Tribute. I think it finishes 110 X 120 or something. It is all pieced and full of triangles and the pattern does them all the traditional way so that is what I am doing. The first block did not go well but so far I am on Month 4 and being successful at getting the blocks to measure the correct size.

I have hand pieced as well but my thumb joints will no longer allow me to do so much hand stitching.

I love this thread!! So reminds me of my first experience....good and bad!!

I have taken more than a few quilting classes, and the best by far was an all day workshop with Sally Collins. She does miniature quilts, and in the workshop, we made miniature blocks. :shock: I have adoped only a few of her techniques, and my piecing life is so much improved. I recommend her book to everyone. It is called The Art of Machine Piecing. (No affiliation...)

I like to go one block at a time so as not to get too confused. Of course, it depends on what I am making and how many blocks, but it works better for me.

Have fun!

I love pp and tradional blocks, working on red/whites too. Would love to see what you are working on. I am not a ripper, I just sew on!

Read twice cut once; measure twice cut once; and label, label label - everything you cut out! Oh the mistakes I've made... but getting better ...or is that smarter?! Hahaha

I am doing my first pieced quilt. But I am doing each block different, but still a lot of work, and still haven,t figured how I am going to put it together. I am hoping I find a square that I like enough to make tons of. lol mine is red, black and white.
good luck with your quilt

How is this for crazy....now I do art quilts and hand dye my own fabrics, but I learned to quilt in 1992 with hand piecing and without a rotary cutter. Every piece was traced around a template and cut out with scissors. I will say though, I love hand work, and it goes quicker than you think because you can take the pieces with you to places you cannot take a sewing machine.

I don't really think of how many pieces are in the quilt or block. I just plug along one step at a time and magically a quilt appears! LOL

A Dear Jane quilt is next on my bucket list.....I am totally in awe at you doing 3 at a time, but maybe that would be easier.....I am headed to LQS tomorrow (I have coupons!) to find the book as well as batting and thread for another project....any helpful hints for me? LOL

Best way don't think of the pieces just look at one block at a time soon a beautiful quilt will appear

Ok, I'm confused. Why isn't doing a star block traditional piecing? I thought piecing is when you sew pieces together to make a block. Applique is when you apply decoration to a piece of fabric, but it's not piecing, correct? The piecing is when you sew the fabrics together before/after you apply the applique.
Have I missed something basic here? I consider all my quilts traditional piecing but not traditional patterns, necessarily. Well traditional so far as the piecing is concerned. I definitely do it on machine rather than by hand. Or is it only hand work that is considered traditional piecing?
lol I'm so confused now.

Add a picture to that. The design wall - small for blocks and larger for the quilt top is great. I also keep a picture or drawing near my sewing machine to help me orient the different pieces. If need be I set up my 24" x 18" adjustable table and work one block at a time.

ali

The same way you eat an elephant........one piece at a time. Sorry for the pun.

I have been piecing for a very long time and not once have I counted the number of pieces in a top. For one thing, I rarely cut 'pieces.' Most of the time I cut strips, sew and then cut. Speed piecing works for me. Using templates to cut small pieces one at a time? I'd never finish the cutting, never mind the piecing.

I ditto with the cutting here. I have only made 1 quilt, double irish chain, while I was taking a class; but it was so long ago; now it's only table toppers & I can't even keep track of the few pieces :(

I would like to see that quilt with 2,295 pieces if I did that I would have to stop quilting ... lol

OMG, That is incredible. When do we get to see it?

I'm with wildyard....Isn't a star block a pieced block? Are we missing something? Regardless of the kind of block, I am amazed when I'm chain sewing each step of the blocks, inspecting after each step and I'm on step 4 of putting the blocks together and find I lost a point in step 2 - usually in more than one block. How do you miss these when you inspect after each step? Makes you really feel blind and dumb sometimes.

I am in awe of all the talent on this board. I am a novice quilter and I am inspired to become a better quilter by all of the photos of beautiful quilts that are posted.

Five of my friends and I decided to get together once a month to work on quilts. A couple of weeks ago while I was working at the Food Pantry at our church and one of the other ladies was out of town the other three got together and chose a pattern for our next quilt. They decided that we would each make the same quilt using different colors and then put them in our quilt club's show next year. It is a beautiful pattern---with 7000 little pieces!! I am still in shock. I told them I will be lucky if I finish mine in time for our 2020 show. LOL.

I think that this would be more than I could deal with on a time schedule! loL