Quilt As You Go

Have you heard of the Quilt As You Go technique?  It's really pretty neat, you quilt your block as you make it, so that in the end you just have to join the blocks together and your quilt is done... all except for the binding, but I've given you tutorials on how to do that already.  :)

The most common kind of QAYG block is the string block, as was used to make the quilt at the top of this post.  String blocks might seem somewhat boring, but there are many ways to liven them up.  One of my favorites is to arrange your strings in a color gradation, like so:

Even though the most common QAYG block is a string block, there are other ways to make QAYG blocks.  You can make machine applique blocks with the QAYG technique:

I even give you a technique by which you can do paper pieced QAYG blocks, like this one:

If you want to learn more, download my free eBook.  The file is 19MB so it may take some time to download, but please be patient.  I think you'll like what you see.  :)  The download link is on this page:

http://www.valeriecustomquilting.com/Patterns_Books.php

Have fun playing!  If you do use this technique, please share your photos with me.  It would be so much fun to see how you put your own personal spin on this idea.  :)

Binding By Machine

OK, I've already given you the tutorial on doing your binding the "traditional" way, where you sew the binding to the front of your quilt, wrap it around to the back, and hem in place by hand.  You can find that tutorial here:

http://valeriespatchwork.blogspot.com/2012/01/bginners-guide-to-binding.html

But what happens if you're in a hurry and need to do it by machine?  What if your backing is fleece or some other material that just doesn't lend itself well to hand stitching?  You can always do the entire job by machine.

This tutorial assumes that you have no experience at all with making quilt bindings, so it will take you through all the steps from cutting your strips to finishing with the machine.  You can download it here.

http://www.valeriecustomquilting.com/tutorials/VCQTutorial_BindingByMachine.pdf

Like the other tutorial, it is somewhat large and may take a while to download, so please be patient.  It is also full of photos and lots of good information so you can successfully bind your quilt.  Have fun!

A Beginner's Guide to Binding

Are you a new quilter?  Have you made your first quilt, even quilted it, and are stuck with those dauting instructions to "bind to finish"?  Do you even know what the binding is?  :)

This is a close-up view of the binding on the quilt at the top of this post.

If you have never bound a quilt before, or if you have experienced problems while working on your binding, then you should take a look at my tutorial.  (Please be patient, it's a large file with LOTS of photos, but well worth the wait.)

http://www.valeriecustomquilting.com/tutorials/VCQTutorial_MakeAndAttachBinding.pdf

In this tutorial, I go over all the steps of binding your quilt from making your own straight-grain binding, to sewing it on the quilt, to the final hand hemming for that beautiful finished look.

To be honest, binding is not hard.  It may take some time, but I love to do it in the evenings while watching my favorite TV shows or movies.  And in the end, you'll have the satisfaction of having beautifully finished your quilt.  What could be better than that?  :)

Glowing Polka Dot Jars

I was inspired to make these glow in the dark polka dot jars by this article I found on Pinterest:
http://www.curbly.com/users/chrisjob/posts/10546-how-to-make-glowing-firefly-jars

(Sorry, I just don't know how to get a photo of these things glowing. You'll just have to imagine that part in your head LOL.)

My daughter is going to have a sleepover birthday party soon, and I thought that these would be a fantastic and fun way to add to the atmosphere of her party.  She heartily agreed.  :)  However, I didn't like the idea of flicking paint... it's just too messy for me.  And then it hit me... polka dots!!  We had our idea, so now I was off to get my supplies!

You can use whatever jars you may have on hand.  I didn't have any on hand, so I bought some.  They must be very clean so the paint will stick, so be sure to wash them well and let them thoroughly dry.  I chose to get wide-mouth jars, so that I have more space to work with.

I got some glow in the dark paint and little round foam brush things to do the painting.  I quickly realized that the handles on the brushes were way too long, so I cut them to only about 1/2 inch long.  That worked much better.

Edit: Unfortunately, this paint really didn't glow at all.  I would recommend using a different brand of paint, and test it on a scrap piece of paper or something first before painting your jars to make SURE it glows the way you want it to.

Here you see the jars after the first color is done.  And you can see the stubby little foam paint brush after I chopped off the handle LOL.  After each color, you need to let the paint dry for a few hours before doing the next color, otherwise you WILL smear the paint all over.  Ask me how I know.  :)

Once you're done with your colors and all the paint has dried, screw the lids on and voila!

I did learn an important lesson while working on this project, however.  Test your paint before you dive into the project.  I'm sorry to say that of these three colors, the yellow glows brightest, the green next, but I have a hard time seeing any of the orange glowing.  Make sure you're getting the results you want before you get all your jars painted.  (Oops!)

Even though they might not glow quite the way I want them to, they do glow at least a little and my daughter is thrilled with them.  In the end, that's all that matters, right?  :)

Easy Sashing For Your Quilts

Sashings in quilt patterns always used to bother me.  Yes, they look lovely:

Yes, they can add a new dimension to your pattern, even creating a secondary pattern:

Yes, they can bring widely varied blocks together into a cohesive quilt:

But they can be a royal pain to deal with sometimes.  I don't know why they do this, but almost every quilt pattern I've seen has you sew a large strip of your sashing pieces and setting squares together, to be sewn to your rows of blocks during assembly.  But what happens if your blocks aren't QUITE the right dimensions?  You end up with a sashing/setting square strip that is longer than your row of blocks, and that can be a pain to work with... especially if you're wrestling with a King size quilt!

I've written a tutorial on how to make working with quilt sashing easy.  IMHO, it's just so much easier this way and it's how I do all my sashing these days.

http://www.valeriecustomquilting.com/tutorials/AddingSashing.html

I hope you find this tutorial useful!  Happy quilting!

Perfect Pinwheels

Well, at least "nearly perfect".  :)

Have you struggled with getting your pinwheel blocks to come out looking nice?  Are they off square?  Do the points get cut off in the middle?  Are they the wrong size when you add them in with other blocks, making you struggle to use them?  There are ways to make this a less stressful process and make your pinwheels turn out lovely.

I have written a tutorial on making pinwheels as perfectly as possible.  This will also help you with any half-square triangle units you use in your quilting projects.  Here is the link to the PDF:

http://www.valeriecustomquilting.com/tutorials/PerfectPinwheels.pdf

Happy reading!

Edited because I forgot to make the link clickable.  Sorry about that!  Thanks to Linda for pointing that out.  :)