Gosh I always square my material and yet there are some fabrics that no matter what I do they will fray like there is no tomorrow anyway. Very frustrating!

Maybe1day

I found out that no matter hoe careful you are when sewing a scrappy quilt the edges never line up and when you come to squaring the quilt you end up cutting a lot of fabric off that you could have had for something else--a waste of time sewing them on.
Also when trying to sew sashing on and stippling up to it the sashing has a bad habit of wrinkling up as if I stretched it when sewing.

I learned to shut the rotary cutter guard when finished cutting. OUCH.

I have really enjoyed this topic, reading all of the comments and advice. I am a real newbie - I swore that quilting was one of the things I would never do - and here I am all wrapped up in it! I did have a question - what kind of starch are you all using? I went to Hancock's and looked for a product called Best Press, and I guess it goes out the door about as quickly as it comes in. So my next step is to go to the grocery store and try to find something until the Best Press product is back on the shelves. I saw "Magic Sizing" in Target - would that work for starch? Or do you folks have something you like better? Thanks for any suggestions you might have!

ShirlR: I read recently on a different topic that Magic Sizing was better than starch because it won't attract bugs. Also, have read on this board that Wal-Mart has a product called Mary Ellen's (spray starch, I think) that many give the stamp of approval. Hope this helps. :-)

LOL!! My DM wanted to use up the 'scraps' she had left after making 5 quilts for all the women in my DS' family. Each quilt had bits of the same fabric w/different extras added (if you know what I mean) She just finished her 4th quilt w/the 'scraps'!! And we're not talking scrap yardage here, but truly SCRAPS. What a hoot she is! Talk about mulitples - any quilt she makes becomes multiple!!

Best Press is really called Mary Ellen's Best Press. Mary Ellen is the same one that use to (maybe still does) have the HGTV show with all the household tips.....I can't remember the name of the show. I don't remember seeing a starch @ WM with Best Press or Mary Ellen on it. I buy the concentrated STA FLO and dilute it to my desired strength. Best Press is expensive and doesn't go very far.

Thank you so much for saying that.

:wink:

I've learned that sometimes the slower you go when making a quilt/wallhanging the quicker you will finish it. For me, speed seems to equal mistakes which mean a lot of seam ripping.

:-D Thank you so much, Brenda! Not attracting bugs is really important when we think of quilt preservation! Wow, I hadn't heard that yet. Again, thanks loads! Shirley