My first mystery quilt saved by Prep Tool
 

I just read here this morning about someone having trouble with crooked piecing, and thought I would show the quilt top I just finished with the help of a few tools that I used for this quilt. It is the “Just Takes 2” online mystery quilt that I just completed. I was not an experienced quilter when I decided to take part in this quilt, and my first 4 blocks or so came out awful and did not come out the right size and I thought I would not get through this project and just quit. I was piecing by hand and trying to mark my seam allowance with a ruler and just not getting the ¼ inch seam right on any of the pieces, causing the blocks to be all different sizes than they were supposed to be. Then I went to a local quilt show and picked up something called the Prep Tool made by Guidelines4quilting and started marking my seam allowances with that tool, and from then on everything fit together and I was amazed how the final assembly went together perfectly. The tool is made so the edge catches the fabric and when you press down, there is another edge that holds the fabric in place and your pencil marks at exactly the ¼ inch. It is a small tool and just slides along if you need to mark a bigger piece or the edge of a block. It’s so much faster and easier to mark a seam allowance without having to check the measurements on a ruler. It’s good for hand or machine piecing too. I also used Marti Michell templates whenever I could match them to blocks so I didn’t have to make templates, and they really make it easy to cut perfect pieces for your blocks. The quilt is so big I didn’t know how to take a picture, so put it on the floor and ran upstairs and hung over the bannister with my camera only to look down and see my dog sitting on the quilt looking up at me. Now I have to choose a border and I am going to attempt to hand quilt it.

WOW!!! Gorgeous!!!

Beautiful! Love the colors!

Wow, that is one beautiful quilt!!! Cute dog too!

You pieced that whole quilt by hand???? You are a much braver soul than me and you did a fabulous job! It is absolutely lovely and your quilt inspector thinks so too!

Lovely! You did a good job on that one.

Great job on the quilt.

Here's a link to the tool:
http://www.guidelines4quilting.com/PT.html

And a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyaFASDd1_0

That is beautiful, the little dog just adds to the whole look! Great, I am jealous.

love your quilt and don't the little ones seem to come out of no where when you lay a quilt for pics lol he too cute and quilt is beautiful

Beautiful quilt. You are very talented.

Don't we love our pets! I like the dog and the quilt.

Your quilt is amazing! Bravo on a quilt well done!

Absolutely gorgeous! Well done!

Wow, I'll bet you learned a lot making that quilt. It's beautiful.

This is a beautiful quilt and I can't believe it is hand pieced! You did a wonderful job! The dog is a sweetie!! I hope you show the quilt again when it is quilted!

Beautiful quilt, darling fur baby!!!!

Fabulous job! So glad you found a tool to help. Unless I hang a quilt on a wall or clothesline, there will be a cat on it before I can get the camera picked up! Your quilt inspector seems to approve.

I burst out laughing as I pictured you running up the stairs and hanging over the bannister only to find your quilt inspector sitting on the quilt wondering what the heck you were doing. It's a beautiful quilt and I love the soft colors you used.

omg that is beautiful. A quilt is not done until you get the stamp of approval from the pets.

WOW and welcome to the QB - from the SHO-ME state - Missouri! Fabulous quilt - please show it to us when you have it quilted.

It looks fantastic!! I had started that BOM but gave up after a while because so many of the block patterns had mistakes on them. I wish I had continued to download the patterns though.

Your quilt is very-very pretty. I like the patterns used, the colors and the dog.
I would be proud to say I had made it.

Very pretty...and thoughtful of you to provide a solution which helped you achieve a great result....very cute friend you have there too:)

Very pretty! What an accomplishment! :) Cute inspector too!

STUNNING quilt and gorgeous quilt inspector!

really pretty quilt pattern and love the colors. Sue

I'll ditto the WOW!!! Hand quilted??? You're much braver than me. Outstanding job.

Jane

WOW! You have alot of experience now! Beautiful quilt!

for not such an experienced quilter you did amazing work on this quilt. Beautiful!

Lovely quilt and I love that you took the photo leaning over your bannister...sigh...wish I had a bannister...sigh! I wonder what your little pooch was thinking whilst he was looking up at you...if only we could read their minds eh?

That is a beautiful quilt:thumbup:

Gorgeous - what a project. How long did it take to do?

Ditto! I wouldn't get through the first block by hand :)

Thanks for the info

Oh my goodness. This quilt is wonderful...the colors really make this extraordinary.

That is one beautiful quilt. I am so impressed.

What an ambitious project, and it turned out beautifully! It's going to be a lovely quilt, and I'm sure you will do a beautiful job quilting it. Your dog is adorable!

What a beautiful quilt, and your inspector is kinda cute, too. Hard to believe you did this all by hand. What a treasure this will be when it's finished.

Absolutely beautiful, you should be patting yourself on the back ... great job!!

Very pretty quilt, really like the colors and your helper is cute too!