Emma S

Debbie: So sorry to hear. You and your family will certainly be in my thoughts.

Jabba: As usual, your color sense is amazing, do you ever turn out any but gorgeous quilts?
M-fay: Your strips are really working as a backing. I only piece all backs now, only amazing part is my scraps never seem to diminish.
Dody: That different outer border really adds so much to the quilt. Wished I'd thought of that. No not going to add another border, mine is already an elephant.

Pam H

Beautiful quilts, ladies!! Love them all!!
I have a question about your pieced backings. How do you make sure they are straight when you make your quilt sandwich? I made a pieced backing for my DGD's quilt. It was just 2 1/2" strips sewn together. I could not get them to line up straight with the quilt for the life of me. I pretend that the wonky strips are a design feature but I really wanted it to be straight.

Emma S

Pam: Not perfect but this is how I do it. I measure both top and back so I know what the total overlap should be, then as I sandwich it, I maker sure that stays constant down the length of the sandwich.

whitepine

m-fay, Wow. Now that is a true scrappy....with as much thread as fabric, I'll bet. I'm going to try that sometime.

Vicki, I'm with you, wondering why it's taking me so long to do the sashing. I'll finish the main part today then the border tomorrow.

Beachbound, Beautiful. Your stars really sparkle with those two-toned yellows.

Dear1953, Thinking of you.

paintmejudy

You might want to try this way -- I do my QAYG in long strips. (I sew together one row if the blocks are 12" or two rows if they are 6" or 8".) Layout the blocks, sew together one row, then I cut a piece of batting and backing about 30 inches wide and 4 inches longer than your top, layer it, and quilt the row with a meander, leaving some un-quilted spaces at the edges so you can do some overlapping quilting so it doesn't look like it is just a row of meander instead of integrated. Sew together another row of blocks, put it right side s togerther on top of what you quilted, sew donw the length of the blocks, then fold the new row over to the back/batt and quilt it. Then you sew on another piece of backing, lay a piece on batt on this, and add another row of blocks. When you are quilting, all the extra batt and back can stay at your left side so there is only a little under the machine, then roll the quilted portion up as you progress along the quilting. You may not like this, but I find it much easier than putting the quilted blocks together with strips.

SunlitenSmiles

now I know exactly what I am going to learn/do with the other 6 blocks...Judy, this actually makes sense to me... more so than the quilting each block which feels like making potholders to me......silly, right, I have heard that civil war era quilts were sometimes joined potholders! Also it will be scrappy because I have batting scraps just about the correct size!

lynnie

Beachbound, your quilt is stunning! love the stars

lawsonmugs

My block for Jo. Hope to send tomorrow or Monday. The colors are not as washed out as it looks in this picture. I went with the turquoise/green theme as most of the others did. Hope you like it. The flying geese has sewing themed items on it. mary

VickiM

More great finishes! Finished the main part today...will work on finishing the stars & border this weekend. I hope I have enough scraps to do it the way I want...

dee1245

I couldn't get on this train, but have been watching goings on. Beautiful quilts have been made with this pattern. I may be able to do this one at later time. Hopefully I will be able to catch the next train.

Judy, that is how I did my last two QAYG quilts. The first one I did 12" blocks 5 wide into a panel and 6 rows, adding each panel to the previous one. I didn't do free motion quilting. I stitched around my blocks pattern and left about two inches unquilted then picked up the stitching with the next panel and finished it in the same fashion. I added 3 borders in the same way. Onced the borders were on, the quilt was finished except for binding. For me, it is much easier to do it this way rather than trying to wrestle with it on my DSM. I also cuts the expense of sending it out to a longarmer; and since I am on fixed income, I then have the money to start another quilt.