Those Paper Plates!!

I have invited Allison to do a guest post on the paper plate method that so many of you have asked me about.  Please welcome her and I have a note at the end for you to check out -

Okay, here goes . . . Allison Bayer here, guest poster at Deb's urging.  Those paper plates you see pop up in her posts?  That's me happily slogging through a mega-tiny-many-pieces-block that I need a bunch of to make a fantastically scrappy quilt.  This is the Tri-Rec unit from En Provence. I did two units per plate (because that is what fit -- no spill over or you can have a disaster).

Cleaning Up -- Instant Dog Bed

The days are flying by and I leave for retreat shortly with grands quick on the heels of that.  I am trying to get my house under control just a wee bit and as I'm cleaning up today, I come across a piece of fabric that I ordered for a round robin and it turned out to be canvas.  It's just sitting here -- ONE YARD of it.  I also have FOUR sack jammed full of the bits and pieces of fabric that are even too small for me to sew with.  You know, the ones we trim off when squaring fabric or the tiny bits left on strip sets, etc.  Today all four bags are going to be part of my cleaning up process.

My sister-in-law just told us that she got a new puppy.  Well, how about a quick dog bed?  I take just a few minutes (absolutely NO time spent squaring the yardage) and sew up three sides of the fabric (keeping the fold in place) and leaving a small opening to shove all the bits into.

It takes a bit of time to get all four bags emptied, but I do it.  Oh my gosh - this is dang heavy but I lug it up onto the table so I can stitch the opening closed with a machined.  This IS a dog bed, remember.  No fancy hand-closing required.

With less than an hour of my time, I have not only found a place for this piece of fabric but have removed four decent sized sacks from my studio, giving me valuable floor space.  YES!!!  It's a win, win.

It's pretty dang good sized too --- look at my shoe for size reference.  Woohoo.  Now, what else can I clean up today?

Let's Rip a Seam!

After discovering that I have to "unstitch" 46 nine-patches, I decide to actually take the time to learn how to use the seam ripper properly.  I'm sitting in an airplane en route to Salt Lake City at 10:00 p.m.  Doesn't that sound like an appropriate time to learn something new?

After practicing the whole flight --- I think I have it down.  This is soooooo much faster than picking out seams or even snipping every 5th one and pulling threads.  AND the tiny threads to pick out are minimal as well.  Here's a quick video my daughter shot after arriving at her house.  Hope it helps.

My Trick to Pinning

Last night when I was attaching my pieced borders to my quilts, I realized that the way I pin may not have been thought of by others.  No one showed me to do it this way, but I am sure that it is not original by any means.  Just a light bulb moment for me about a year ago.  By pinning this way, you can remove the pins with your left hand and my seam guide is not an issue.  Win-win.

Those Pesky 1/4" Seams

My tip of the day show how I handle 1/4" seams.  While I know that there are oh so many ways out there -- this works for me.  If finding that perfect 1/4" seam is a challenge for you as well, give this a try.  It is shown here on Barbara - my lovely featherweight - but works the same on most machines.

I use a combination of a seam guide from Bonnie Hunter and the seam guide that came with the machine.  Using the green guide, lower your needle into the 1/4" hole and lower the presser foot to keep it in place.  Then slide the other guide right up next to it and tighten into place.  Remove the green guide.  Voila --- this will give you a scant 1/4", thus enabling you to have an accurate size square after pressing.  (I should have cleaned the machine before this picture -- ah well, live and learn.