Caley, a needle should last through more than one bobbin, the "rule of thumb" is after every quilt or something like 8 hours of sewing. I'll be honest, the only time I change my needle is when it starts "popping" or when I need a different size, then I'll change and then put the old needle back in after I'm done with the different sized needle I switched too, or on the occasion when I have the single hole needle plate on and do a zig zag, thus the needle breaks.

I'm assuming you don't have a 1/4" foot yet, but you can make a "hill" out of painter's tape and line up your fabric next to that.

pocoellie, I've tried everything from a popsicle stick held down with carpet tape, to painters tape, and I do have a 1/4 inch foot. Nothing seems to work for me. I think I need that lower table to help me see things better. Right now I am using my kitchen table which is a tall, tavern type table. And the lighting is not very good.. So, I think having that new sewing table in front of the window and getting a bright lamp will possibly help.

Of course, it might just be I don't have an aptitude for sewing. But I tend to be stubborn, and will just keep grinding away.. Like I said earlier, maybe something will dawn on me, as to what I need to do to do things correctly.. Sure wish I could take a sewing class to learn how to feed fabric through a machine. But there isn't anything, even when there isn't a Flue problem.

Adjusting the squareness and size of the blocks to uniformity was the only thing I could come up with, short of taking everything apart.

Will make another dozen blocks tomorrow, and then hope I have enough good ones for the 42 I think I will need. Then all I have to do is wait until I have money to purchase a neutral colour for the fabric that goes between the blocks, and surrounds everything.

My index cards are lines at 1/4 inch intervals. I use them to check to see where the needle hits/penetrates in conjunction with where the edge of my presser foot is.

Way back when, when a 5/8 inch seam allowance was "standard" - and the presser foot had a wide side (away from the edge of the fabric) and a skinny side - the edge of the presser foot was usually over 3/8 inch away from the edge of the fabric. At first, I think I drew lines on the fabric for where I was supposed to stitch - and sometimes I still do that - using something that will be easily removable or not show later - to see how I was supposed to "line up" with the edge of the fabric.

To a certain extent, sewing a seam is a bit like driving a car in the proper lane. After a while, one just knows where one should be.

bearisgray, I just tried that, and it helped a little. I've adjusted the stitch speed way down so that I feel I am in control, instead of the machine.

Unfortunately, when I used the index card to check how the foot and material line up, I must have snagged the little auto threader point. That no longer works now. So I am having to do it the old fashioned way, thread the needle by eye.

Regardless of some improvement, I am still having to trim the blocks I create down, so they are both square and the same size.

I promised a photo of my quilt blocks. There are 48 of them here in this photo. But they aren't arranged in any manner; just placed down on the carpet as they came off the stack. Like I've said earlier, they need something between each block.

Would a white trim around each work? I think I have some white on the way from "Connecting Threads" I also purchased five yards of a colour Walmart listed as Pansy Purple. Right now I don't have money to purchase any more fabric.

The hard part is going to be figuring out just how to arrange things before I finally get down to sewing things together.

The blocks look pretty together "as is" - I do not think they need anything more between them.
They look like you did a nice job on the blocks.

If the size is as big as you want it, if it were mine, I would skip the border and just put a binding on it.

If you are able to take pictures of an arrangement you like - it helps in a couple of ways -

1) It helps to remember how to put it back together

2) It helps to spot something that looks "off" -

I love it just the way it is! It's very pretty!
Question - are you wanting to add white to it for aesthetic reasons, or because you want the quilt to be larger? Or some other reason?

I have no experience with quilting. So I have watched a lot of videos, and a lot of them have the blocks surrounded by a neutral colour, or something that compliments the chosen colours.

This is just a bunch of those botched squares I purchased off of Amazon that I recycled, and surrounded with jelly roll strips. I've not a clue why I came up with this pattern. I just sat down and puzzled out the strip lengths, one of 3.5 inches, two of 5.5 inches, and the last of 7.5 inches. Seems to have worked out fairly well. I tried to match the center block colours as well as I could, but the jelly roll I have didn't give a whole lot of variety that matched the center block colours.

So, the view from two of you is that I don't need to use a 1 inch border to separate all the blocks. As for increasing the size, I can always create some more blocks, if the piece doesn't need those borders. I guess some kind of border around the whole bunch of blocks is probably needed, or is it?

Still trying to learn. BTW, I never mentioned I'm partially colour blind, did I? I tend to see basic colours, but it's very difficult to separate similar shades of the same colour, unless there is a significant difference. So bear with me if I mess up the colour combinations.

Caley, I agree with bearisgray. The blocks look great just the way they are. Sometimes, blocks need sashing and sometimes they don't. Just like sometimes a top needs a border and sometimes not. On another subject, are there any thrift stores near you? It's truly amazing what you can find there. I found a 12"x18" June Tailor Shape Cut ruler one time for $3.00, a Omnigrid 6"x24" ruler, still had the wrapping around it, for $.50., along with many other things, fabric also.

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I don't know what kind of auto threader you have but I have found that if my needle is not in the "up" position (totally up) then my little needle threader will not catch into the eye of the needle. This sometimes happens if I turn the wheel by hand to move my needle up or down. You might try your threader again by making sure your needle is in the totally "up" position.

As for your blocks, I think they are perfect just like you have them. If it were my quilt, I would not put at sashing between them & probably would not use a border on the outside of the quilt. I would just add as many blocks as I needed to make it the size I want & then finish it off with the binding. I can't wait to see what you do with it & see your first, finished quilt! You are doing great!!!