the happiness of my fellow quilters is the best reward.

wow! You are one smart cookie--thank you for the tip
Charlie Ann

Brilliant idea!!!
Another is
Don't bother closing the pins until you've lifted the quilt off the floor. They stay in and you can sit comfortably on the sofa closing them all.

I have a question about the prarie point border that you mentioned. I'm at this moment working on a baby quilt with prarie point border. how do i do yhe corners when i', sewing the backing to the front over the P. points and is there a way to do it by machine instead of by hand?

there's a few ways to get prairie points into a quilt.

for me the easiest way to add prairie points is to baste a continuous prairie point strip to the front of the quilt with a 0.125 seam. i use 1 strip on each side.

the i sew the bias binding to the front of the quilt with a 0.25 seam which covers the 0.125 seam that holds the prairie points in place.

then i fold the binding over to the back and and i press the prairie points out and pin them in place over the binding and i do a decorative stitch to hold the prairie points in place and this stitch also sews down the bias binding to the back of the quilt.

since this quilt is all swirls i'll use the decorative swirl stitch.

can you do something like this for your quilt?

if not we can brain storm another way.

klue, i got the part about how to get the points on. i sewed them to the front pointing in.then i trimmed the batting and then the backing leaving the backing i/2 inch bigger. flipped the points out and folded the backing to cover the seam on the points. i'm having trouble with the corners-trying to get it to lay flat. maybe there is too much fabric there. This quilt is for a baby shower tomorrow afternoon. i have to run into town to fax something and i think i'll go in to the LQS and see if i can talk to someone, but if you have anymore tips, i'll be back in a couple hours.
sewmom

have you tried folding in the corners first and then fold in the sides - thats the way i know how to fold the backing to use as binding on the front.

Klue, I did try everything that i could think of and thenended up hand stitching the little ears of the points down and then hand stitching the corners to keep them in place. Then i machine stitched around the whole quilt to sew the backing down.I don't hand stitch anything if i can machine it. When i was finishing up the quilting on it, i discovered that i had pieced 3 yes, 3 blocks in the wrong position! i was just sick as the shower is today. i debated whether to even give it to her and make another one to give to her later, but other quilters said not to that it's creative license and not a mistake. But i tell you if there was time i would've made another one. As soon as i learn how i will post it.
Thanks again for your help and BTW i liked your basting tips at the beginning of this thread.
sewmom

sewmom

i'm sure she won't even notice that a few blocks are in the wrong position. we're quilters and we don't even notice these things how can people who don't quilt ever pick it up.

i'm sure she'll just think its supposed to be there.

and if your friends are anything like mine they will love the quilt just because you took the time to make it for them - nothing needs to be perfect in their eyes.

i remember my first play quilt i made of our friends son - it had tons of puckers on the back and nothing lined up correctly on the front. their son still loves that quilt to this day and whenever he's sick he makes mom pull it out for him to sleep with.

Klue I love that quilt and that stencil!!!


Ninnie