How does Jenny do it.
 

I have watched gobs of Jenny's tutorials and have learned a lot from her. One thing I don't understand is how she does things so fast. She cuts fast, she sews very fast and most of all she irons not presses her blocks. How do you think she keeps things accurate?

A very good question.

I didn't think she did much cutting. I thought she focused mostly on using precut fabrics for her patterns. That saves time, as long as the cutting was accurate (which I think it usually isn't!).

Jenny does this for a living and has a whole lot of experience and excellent tools. Plus we don't know how many times she has to do it to get it right for the video. You know the old saying, "Practice makes perfect" don't you? Plus as JustAbitCrazy said, she used a lot of precuts.

People use to say that about Eleanor Burns. I have seen her quilts and she is not always that accurate and I think it is probably the same with Jenny. Speed and accuracy just don't mix. I have never gone to u-tube and seen her videos but I have been quilting for over 25 year so I have been there and done that. I saw her for the first time on F&P episode and really couldn't follow her. But she sure does have a huge amount of energy which I would love to tap into !! If she made an energy drink, I would BUY IT!!! :)

I do think she's of the mind set that quilting should be fun and let's try to be as accurate as possible without stressing over everything. I'm thinking she is giving us the gist of the pattern and it's up to us to do with it what we want. I wouldn't watch as much if it looked stressful and not fun! Her attitude is something I would love to emulate in everything I do! Would love to go to the shop and meet her someday!

If you watch her sew on the videos, her stitching is far from straight ... actually quite wicked at times.
I have heard her mention it, with just a comment like, oh it won;t really show when it is done.

I was watching a video recently where she was doing some quilting for bags .... and sorry, yes it did show and would show as crooked on top of charm squares is only emphasized more and more.

Perhaps her whole thought pattern is to be less intimidating to the beginners, by not being a total fuss pot in what she does?

I bet she's more careful when she's making quilts that aren't part of a tutorial. She probably goes quicker than usual on the videos so she can show everything and keep it interesting, and not get bogged down with slow stitching and fussing around with perfect cuts.

And personally...I'm a little bit sloppy too, so her style totally works for me. My quilting time is limited (for some reason my employer demands I actually WORK several hours every week day for my wages, it's crazy) and I have a million and one quilts I want to make, so when I do get time I'm very excited and tend to work fast so as to get the most done possible. For some quilts that does work for (nice square-and-rectangle type patterns) but for others, not so much! Which is part of the reason I work on many things at once. Some projects are good for quick 15-20 minute sessions, others need a slower pace...those are weekend projects. :)

I think she is stressing the pattern/precut combo first and I think she just sews together to show us how the cuts should look. My thought is she figures if you are watching her demo you know that the seam should be straight...and I often think if I had to sew a seam standing up( as in the earlier shows) my seams would be a heck of a lot worse...I see that since she now has a BL she sits and sews. Whichever, I still enjoy watching her demos......I have done a few of her ideas....not with precuts ..just using what I have on hand...