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Monday, March 2, 2015

Inked – block hop and giveaway!


Fiber artist Lynn Krawczyk of Smudged Textiles Studio has a wonderful new line of fabric by Red Rooster Fabrics called Inked. To celebrate, twelve quilters and fiber artists have worked with Lynn’s fabric line to create 12 fun 12"-blocks that you can make and stitch into a sampler quilt. All of the directions for all of the blocks will be on each quilter’s blog, and then will be available on Lynn’s website. Each blogger gets to give away a bundle of five fat quarters on her blog, thanks to Lynn’s generosity. (More on that at the end of this post!)


My block for Lynn’s block-hop is shown at the top of this post. The center of the block (which is actually nine smaller blocks) is based on a style of tiles that were popular in the early 1900s. I grew up with them in my bathroom as a child, and had the same style installed when we remodeled the bathrooms in our 1916 house. The center square in each section is black, and all the other tiles are white. But we can't have any of that black-and-white stuff here; Lynn’s line is beautifully saturated color. 


When I was a beginner quilter, I shied away from Y-seams (also known as inset or set-in seams), until I discovered a method that made them very easy. I promise you: It’s really not hard to do, and it will allow you to make all of those cool blocks with Y seams that you may have avoided in the past. (Bring on Tumbling Blocks!) There are nine Y seams in this block, one in each of the nine small blocks. If you make this block, practicing this method nine times, you will be an expert in making Y-seams by the time you are done! 

I really love this fabric line. The colors are vibrant, the patterns are funky, and the whole thing has a wonderfully surface-designed feel, like you’d spent hours stamping, stenciling, soy wax batiking, and painting them. These are the five fabrics I used:


CUT:
From purple, cut 9 squares 1.5" (for centers of nine small blocks)
AND 2 rectangles 9.5 x 2.5" (for top and bottom borders)
AND 2 rectangles 12.5 x 2.5" (for left and right borders)
From dark green, cut 9 rectangles 1.5 x 2.5"
From orange, cut 9 rectangles 1.5 x 2.5"
From aqua, cut 9 rectangles 1.5 x 2.5"
From brown, cut 9 rectangles 1.5 x 2.5"  

Note: For precision piecing, I always use a very lightweight but strong cotton thread, 50-weight Aurifil Cotton Mak0. This fine thread leaves almost no bulk in my seams. I know it may seem silly to some, but in my years of experience, I have discovered that it can make a big difference in accuracy.

MAKE NINE SMALL BLOCKS:
1. Each of the small blocks is made with one purple square, and rectangles of green, orange, aqua and brown:


2. With right sides together, align the purple square with the green rectangle as shown below.


3. Sew a quarter-inch seam from the top right edge, down to 1/4" before the end of the purple triangle, and backstitch to secure (this is important for later). 
  
4. Press the seam toward the green fabric as shown, making sure to press the green fabric down 1/4" all the way down.


This is how it should look from the front:

5. Stitch the orange rectangle onto the green/purple edge, and press out toward the orange.



6. Stitch the aqua rectangle onto the orange/purple side, and press out toward the aqua. The brown rectangle comes next.



7. Stitch the brown rectangle to the aqua/purple side, but stop stitching just where you come to the edge of the green rectangle. (If you slide a pin along the seam, you can slightly crease it, or feel the bump so that you can place a pin there to help you know exactly where to stop stitching.) Make sure to backstitch here to secure the seam.


8. Press out toward the brown rectangle. Here’s how it should look from the front. See the problem? You need to join the brown and green rectangles next, and you can’t sew a seam straight down because the green rectangle is already stitched to the purple.

9. Here’s how to do it: Crease the short edge of the brown rectangle up 1/4" so that it aligns with the edge of the green rectangle:


10. Flip it around so that the right sides of the fabric are together. Align the creased seams on the brown and green rectangles, as shown.
11. Then pinch the seam together,  and pin.



12. I flipped over to the green fabric side, where I could see my stitching best. Start at the top of the seam, and stitch down to exactly where the other seam (between the green rectangle and the purple square) starts:


13. Make sure to backstich at the end of this seam, too. The photo below shows me finishing up the backstitching on the seam between the brown and green rectangles. The backstitching at the bottom of the photo is the very first seam I sewed (in step 3) between the green rectangle and the purple square: 


14. Press seam away from the purple square. Here’s how it looks from the front, once it’s been pressed. Nice and clean.



Here’s how it looks on the back. (Note how all the seams are pressed away from the purple.) Each small block should measure 3.5" square.  


15. Follow steps 2-13 to make eight more small blocks like this one, for a total of nine. 

Sew the small blocks together
16. Create each of the three rows by stitching three small blocks together as shown: 

17. When you press these seams, press one row in toward the center block, and two rows out from the center blocks. This allows you to notch the seams together when you are sewing the rows together in the next step, so that the seams line up perfectly.

18. Sew the three rows together to form the center of the big block. Press these two long seams open. The block should now measure 9-1/2" square, and look like this on the front:

and this on the back:


Add the borders
19. Sew one 9-1/2" x 2" purple strip to the top, and one to the bottom. Press toward purple strips. 

20. Sew one 12.5" x 2" purple strip to the left side, and one to the right side. Press toward purple strips. Finished block should measure 12-1/2" square. Ta-da! Here’s the finished block:


Make sure to follow along on the block hop to get the directions for each of the 12 blocks in Lynn’s INKED quilt. There’s a chance to win some of Lynn’s Inked fabric at each stop! Here are links to the participants:

Monday, March 2: Susan Brubaker Knapp
http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/
 

Tuesday, March 3: Teri Lucas
https://terificreations.wordpress.com/
 

Wednesday, March 4: Jessica Darling
https://jessicakdarling.wordpress.com/


Thursday, March 5: Debbie Grifka
http://www.eschhousequilts.com/

Friday, March 6: Lynn Carson Harris
http://thelittleredhen.typepad.com/
 

Saturday, March 7: Jen Osborn
http://themessynest.com/
 

Sunday, March 8: Lynn Krawczyk
http://smudgedtextilesstudio.com/blog/

Monday, March 9: Flaun Cline
http://www.ipleadquilty.blogspot.com

Tuesday, March 10: Lynn Krawczyk

http://smudgedtextilesstudio.com/blog/

Wednesday, March 11: Cheryl Sleboda
http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/blog/
 

Thursday, March 12: Maddie Kertay
http://www.badassquilterssociety.com/
 

Friday, March 13: Lynn Krawczyk
http://smudgedtextilesstudio.com/blog/



GIVEAWAY!
Win a bundle of the five beautiful fat quarters (above) I used in this block! This giveaway is open to both U.S. and international readers (thanks to Lynn!). Leave me a comment after this post and tell me about the most challenging quilt – traditional, modern, contemporary, or art quilt – you’ve ever made. Tell me your horror story, share your angst. C’mon, it will be fun! I’ll pull one name at random on Sunday, March 14
and Lynn will mail your fat quarters. 

We have a winner! Sandra Cooper won the fat quarters. Thanks, everyone! 


97 comments:

  1. Thanks for a chance to win these beautiful fabrics. How to create mountains in an art quilt was a challenge. After trying many methods, dyed cheese cloth worked for me. I could manipulate it to give the illusion of rocks. The piece was a commission that now hangs in an inn Gros Morne National park, NL Canada

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  2. I made a traditional log cabin quilt out of flannel. I decided to use a solid backing of flannel too. The backing stretched during quilting and made it very difficult to quilt. To this day I still haven't bound it.
    kdavis1@centurytel.net

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  3. I'm fairly new to quilting so don't have many stories yet. I do have trouble with curved seams. Thank you the chance to win!

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  4. English paper piecing a bed sized quilt!

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  5. a scrappy bargello with 1.5" strips....squares finished at 1". once was enough! i call it cross-eyed because that's how i felt when i was done.

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  6. Impeccable, as always. Thanks, Susan.

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  7. Thanks so much for the excellent tutorial. I would love to try the technique on these fabulous fabrics.

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  8. I also lived in a house with a tile floor like that. My nightmare was weaving irregularly cut strips and then cutting into heart shapes and added to a background, This was before fusibles and it was difficult to keep the shapes together/.

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  9. Sewing strips of different sizes together and putting a neat binding on my quilts always adds difficulty to my quilts. I love to stick to whole-cloth art quilts without a binding because of this.

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  10. I am still working on a Hawaiian quilt. That has to be the hardest so far. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  11. Thanks for the opportunity to win. I look forward to following the block hop and hope to get back into quilting. I can't think of a particular challenge that stands out. Learning to paper piece was a lot of fun.

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  12. I am a newbie quilter, still getting to grips with my sewing machine and sewing in straight lines! However , loving every minute of it. Working on small projects eg mug mats etc. Would love some fabric for my newly acquired stash.

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  13. I attempted wedding ring quilt, it sits in my UFO pile now

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  14. A quilt of Drunkards Path - still unfinished and likely to remain so!! al those curves - ugh!!

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  15. i remember those floor tiles! We didn't have them but whenever I saw them, I marveled at the pattern and followed the lines around and around! As for the most challenging quilt? If it is too difficult, I scrap it... HA! It is usually the need to finish by a deadline that can end up being the most challenging for me!

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  16. Nice tutorial. The hardest so far way laying out scrappy fabric for a diamonds and stars queen size quilt, so the fabric was pleasing to the eye. It took a few months before a rainbow layout worked. 24Tangent@gmail.com

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  17. Thank you for your giveaway! My most challenging quilt yet is one with curved seams. Accurate measurements were essential, along with accurate piecing! In the end, it turned out fairly well.

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  18. Seems like there's some kind of logistical challenge involved in everything I've made. And a simple top is no guarantee that the rest will be easy! My daughter pieced a ginormous top for her best friend, probably larger than a king size. It took up the entire living room floor. Mom had to quilt it. To fleece, which had to be pieced because it was not big enough. In July, in a hot sewing room, while the heavy thing tried to slither to the floor, no matter what. Despite the basting spray, the fleece also stretched. I did as little quilting as possible to hold that monster together, and swore no more fleece (among other things I swore). Then, daughter pieced another ginormous top for herself....
    Now that she's out of school and married, she's making that t shirt quilt *herself*!

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  19. My first quilts were quilted on my domestic machine and it was a nightmare so I decided to buy a longarm since I had gotten into making so many quilts and the domestic machine wasn't going to cut it! LOL

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  20. It's a great block and I cannot wait to the fabric in real life. Indeed, practicing a y-seam nine times should help me "get" it!

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  21. WOW! Love all the brilliant color! The block or mini-quilt is fabulous! I really enjoy landscape quilting the most. As for mistakes, I've made many. How about quilting along madly only to discover you have another part of the quilt under what you are currently quilting? Lots of stitches to rip out! LOL! As for accidents, how about stitching your finger to a quilt while madly free motion stitching late at night? Yep, done it, but only ONE time! LOL! :)

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  22. I was going to say that I never had a difficult time with any quilt, but my huge pile of UFOs tells the tale. Sometimes I get stopped by an idea, other times by a little bit of extra fabric needed, and more often than not, that I have decided it's just plain ugly. Usually when I return to the quilt I find that it has redeeming qualities I had missed before. So I'm hanging in with NO bad quilt experiences, just PROBLEMATIC ones.

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  23. I'm a beginner so I haven't done anything too challenging yet! Trying to master HST's right now and the many ways to make them!

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  24. Lynn's new INKED line of fabrics is gorgeous! I am going back to her Easy shop now to pre-order some of her fabrics. Then I can start cutting them up to make this new quilt. Thank you for your wonderful instructions on this first block. And, thank you for the wonderful work you are doing as hosting Quilting Arts. Loving it!

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  25. Love the fabrics---I see a fun doll quilt with this pattern....Thanks so much for the chance to win...

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  26. Seems like every quilt where there are seams to match is hard for me, so I turned into an art quilter! Love your block but I will make it bigger so I would only have to make 4 blocks!

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  27. Some years ago I saw an applique pattern for a gorgeous owl wall hanging. Bought it on the spot! This was all needle turn applique which I really hadn't done but a couple times. I waited a long while to start because I found the whole thing intimidating. Finally I used the "how do you eat an elephant?" approach and just started stitching one piece at a time. It took a long time but I finally finished and felt I had done a reasonable job. I try to remember this whenever a quilt seems impossible!

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  28. My most challenging quilt was a star quilt that I made last year. I've been quilting for a long time but I learned so much from this quilt about matching points and colour theory.

    lin.web.28 at gmail dot com

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  29. Love the woven look of the block, Susan and how it lets these great fabrics sing. Quick question (from someone who tries really hard to avoid Y seams): why do you stop at the end of the first seam as you do the final stitching of the last two pieces? Does anything untoward happen if you stitch over the first line of stitching?

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  30. I am new to quilting and piecing triangles has been my biggest horror so far - I wish I could master perfect points.

    Would love to win this stash - thanks!
    merryorganic at gmail dot com

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  31. What beautiful fabric! Thanks for a wonderful giveaway. I made a simple nine patch for a Christmas gift one year, and started machine quilting it in the middle. I got carried away with dense quilting, which was fun at the beginning. But I eventually realized I was committed to this for the whole quilt (otherwise it would have looked funny). With two days to go, I put in a lot of late hours, and resolved never to do a quilting design on the fly again.

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  32. LOVED this block !*Exquisitely* pieced too I might add :D

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  33. Your photos are as beautiful as the fabrics!

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  34. I really like this block. I am seeing lots of possibilities for it. I am very exited about the inked fabric and already have some on preorder. Most challenging project is one I am wrestling with right now. It is the jacks chain pattern with Y seams

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  35. Hi, Susan,

    A perfect block for Lynn's brilliant fabrics! Your instructions and photos make it look easy. Thanks,

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  36. Those are such beautiful fabrics. My greatest challenge has been trying to piece eight-pointed stars. When I cut them out, I was thinking they were only six points. Do you see the problem? The fabric is printed, and the stars are supposed to be identical in the points. The problem is getting clearer, huh?!
    Thanks for the opportunity to win this fabric. Hope I'm the lucky girl.

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  37. A wonderfully lively and colorful block! Thanks so much for the great tutorial.

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  38. The most challenging quilt was a Lone Star, still not finished from the 1980's . It s almost vintage!

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  39. I don't abandon many projects, but a few have been languishing for a number of year. I have started some hand applique projects but it's not really my thing - I don't think I've finished any. And I have a wall hanging that was no problem to piece, but I started hand quilting it when it really should have been machine quilted - too many seams to cross! So even though it's about 75% done, its still a UFO!

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  40. missy mjmm773@yahoo.comMarch 2, 2015 at 9:47 PM

    The first quilt I ever did had an inset 6 point star, let's just say it didn't fit, had to be creative, and got appliqued offset, and learned exactly where 1/4" on my machine.

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  41. What a fun block you made. And the fabric is great too! i think the hardest thing for me to make was a challenge quilt that was a landscape. I think I need help with perspective!

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  42. OK, I ordered this adorable owl quilt online and loved it so much that I dug right in with my favorite fabrics and spent literally hours cutting pieces, using Heat&Bond Lite to back the applique parts, then layer and zig zag them down to the backing. It looked so cute, but all of those layers made the quilt top so stiff, it could almost stand straight up against the wall. I was so disgusted with the whole thing that I just pushed it to the back of the closet. That was 3 years ago and I'm still not ready to look at it again.

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  43. What a great tutorial. I remember being stumped by what you now define as a Y seam! Being self taught, I moved quickly from "piecing" to art quilts. Fusing solved many of my challenges. I love not having to match corners. May have to try this. I love Lynns new fabric line!

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  44. Lovely block and excellent tutorial. I enjoy watching the great job you are doing as Quilting Arts host.

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  45. My most challenging quilt so far has been making a butterfly quilt. I am using my grandmother's hankies for the appliqued butterflies. This quilt is for my daughter and is a tribute to her great grandmother!

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  46. Thanks for being the first stop in this adventure! My biggest challenge was accurately piecing a star layout. I wanted every single point to be perfect and it was frustrating!

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  47. Will try this and like the tutorial directions. Lynn's new line is so refreshing I look forward to using it.

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  48. Carol Doak's 50 paper pieced tars just about did me in years ago. They were a lot of work.

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  49. Great tutorial. I avoid all hand applique work!

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  50. Brilliant tutorial Susan and very easy to follow photos. Aren't Lynn's fabrics delightful. Appreciate that this giveaway is open to international followers.

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  51. I am new to quilting but very inspired to make something special for my mom.... She would be surprised to see me patiently finish something :) even a table mat.....

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  52. Great tutorial!!!!! Thanks for the giveaway. sonjasmith76@yahoo.com

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  53. I'm hoping that my most challenging project is yet to come! I want to continue to grow as an artist and personal challenges help with that!

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  54. Such lovely fabric -- can't wait till it's in the stores!. My most challenging was my first quilt -- a king sized French braid. It took me two years to finish and quilting it on a domestic machine about killed my back!!

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  55. You make y seams look easy. I'll have to give it a try. My most challenging quilt was hard in the cutting. I had to cut 10 yards into strips! It was a pain, but it came out nice in the end.

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  56. Spiral lone star. I was finally able to get those Y-seams done using Sharon Schamber's "paperless paper piecing" technique.

    P.S. I would love to win some Ink fabric! Thanks for the opportunity.

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  57. Love your block - very clear tutorial! My worst experience...triangle on the bias in a border for a round robin....the more I worked on it the more it stretched...finally got the message and redid them (have not made that mistake again!!) :)

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  58. Wow, I'm lovin' this block hop already. My most challenging quilt was a paper pieced "fantasy" quilt for my first grandchild, a beautiful girl. The quilt had castles, griffins, wizard, fairies, etc. Pegasus had something like 76 pieces, many very small. And did I mention this was my first paper-pieced quilt. But it was so 'cool.' She and I arranged the pieced blocks on the living room floor and then I had to do the math to link them to background fabric. Horror - I ran out of the pink for the background before I was half way through. Back to the shop - no more on the shelf. The owner had cut the remainder of the bolt into fat quarters. Needless to say, it was a challenge, but she still loves the quilt to this day and she is now a teenager! How did that happen??????

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  59. My most challenging quilt was actually a block. I was a new quilter. I started a 12" block that had 27 pieces. I was very sick with a cold. I took a cold tablet that knocked me silly. My mother gave me an old whiskey remedy which amounted to a shot of whiskey with honey and lemon. The block looked like a drunk monkey had sewn it. LOL

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  60. My first paper pieced project was a gift, a full sized quilt. The directions had you cut the pieces far too close to the finished size needed and many of seams were a very scant quarter inch. I have it as a wall hanging as I don't think it would hold up to repeated washings.

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  61. Hmmm...tough question! Not sure about a specific quilt, but one of the most challenging processes I've experienced is machine quilting a large piece on my standard machine! Serious wrestling!

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  62. This fabric line is terrific!! It would be fun to work with these fabrics. My biggest challenge was the first time I attempted improvisational piecing. It was hard to let go of trying to match seams, etc.

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  63. My most challenging quilt was a loon quilt I designed and and quilted from a picture my brother drew. sarah@forrussia.org

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  64. A design inspired by the headresses of Aztec dancers had me stumped. It involved ribbon spokes that had silk strips woven through part of the design. I tried to clarify the problem in my mind then go do something that wouldn't allow me to consciously think about it. Viola! Do it 'backwards - B to A rather than A to B.

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  65. My most challenging quilt was the very first one I ever made. Apparently my 1/4" seam was a scosch bigger than 1/4". After I made the blocks there was a small amount of fabric left over so I just cut it off. I didn't realize that then my blocks were slightly rectangular instead of square. oh well it all worked out in the end! Thanks for the detailed instructions on y piecing.

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  66. I'm "newish" to quilting so they are all a tricky project in one way or another! This y seam tutorial had me laughing because the 2nd quilt I did I fussy cut some center squares and then bordered them- without a clue what I was doing (who needs a pattern!?) I ended up with a larger version of your tiny blocks and yseams (although I didn't know that's what they were called)! You should have seen me puzzle that one out when I sewed the first one! I ended up developing the same method you showed and learned something new! Sarah: crjandsbj(at)netzero(dot)com

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  67. Love your block!
    The most challenging quilt I made was for a challenge in Germany. While I was deeply inspired by the subject to make a quilt, I also had to redecorate our sleeping room in less than a week. It was a surprise for my hubby who was away for work for a couple of days. I managed to do the redecorating in the morning and worked on the quilt in the afternoon. It was worth the effort, as you can read on my blog at http://lapis-lazuli-q.blogspot.nl/2009/10/african-equator-on-bloggers-quilt.html

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  68. My most challenging project was trying to fonish my grandmother's hexagon quilt. The quilt is a rectangle with a little knob" piece sticking out near one corner. Kinda amoeba shaped.

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  69. I fell in love with an appliqué quilt and simply had to make it for myself.... It only took about 3 years in between all the other quilts I made for others. You can see a bit of it in my profile photo!!

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  70. Thanks for the chance to win. I have a landscape quilt that I can't figure out how to finish it. Its been hanging my wall for years.

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  71. My most challenging quilt was a chevron quilt I made for my daughter last year. The challenging part was trying to make the most out of the backgroung fabric. I should've bought another yard or two, but had to do some serious calculating to determine the block size in order to have enough of this fabric. It turned out great, thank goodness. cknapp3626@sbcglobal.net

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  72. Hmm, my most challenging quilt...let me see. It would have to be the improv quilt I did as a tester for Sherri Lynn Wood's Improv project. I didn't use a ruler.

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  73. I used a tumbler template for the first time and made an American Flag quilt. Turned out great..until I washed it. The red bled to the white and ruined the quilt...and this is fabric that I had pre washed.. I ALWAYS pre wash EVERYTHING...but the red still ran. Broke my heart as the quilt was for my new step grand son!

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  74. Love this block! Honestly I just barely finished my first baby quilt but the color scheme alone took me 6 months to decide! I made everything harder than it needed to
    Be it seemed, but the end result is PERFECT, so I am completely happy with it!

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  75. Many years ago I took my first large quilt top to a longarmer. She talked me into using fatt batt. What a mistake! It's way too hot to sleep under and is way too bulky when folded. It ended up being used as a picnic and stadium quilt. -- soparkaveataoldotcom

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  76. I haven't made a full size quilt yet so no horror stories. I do have a layer cake and a pattern in line but need more fabric to make it, its been sitting idle in my fabric box for aaaaages!

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    Replies
    1. My most challenging quilt was a basket quilt set on point. I love it, but I struggled with all those angles.

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  77. The first quilt I made, circa 1990, almost didn't get finished because the magazine pattern had errors! The blocks wouldn't fit together correctly. But, with no fear I chopped n trimmed the offending pieces to fit the others and finished the quilt! I still have it, it is not a pretty thing but I'm so proud of it because it was my first!

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  78. After 47 log cabin blocks, I ran out of one of the fabrics on block 48 and had to piece several scraps together to get a strip 3 inches long. It's not really noticeable to anyone but me, but it is still annoying.

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  79. My most frustrating quilt has definitely been a pixel quilt. Over 4,500 1" squares and a whole lot of procastination. I should mention that it's still a WIP, lol. Great job on the tutorial for your block. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  80. The first quilt I planned was in 1976 when I was in high school. The center of each block was to be the white star with the red and blue stripes around the star....it was the bicentennial logo. I just couldn't figure out how to sew that logo so I never really got started. Since then, I've made 2 modern quilts that I thoroughly enjoyed putting together. Since high school, my skills have increased dramatically thanks to so many blogs with tutorials!

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  81. Any quilt I work on is challenging as far as getting the seams right so that all the measurements work out just right! I'm thinking esp of the quilt i'm working on now where each row is supposed to be 50 1/2"...and I'm off!

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  82. I have been quilting since 1998, but I don't consider myself a good quilter yet. My sister bought a kit and asked me to make it for her. I did everything wrong on that quilt that I could! I didn't like the way the plaid looked cut on grain, because it was crooked. I wasn't able to find any more of that older fabric, so I substituted something from my stash that I'm not thrilled with. I ended up cutting the large pieces incorrectly, so the finished top doesn't look as good as the pattern. I still haven't quilted it yet. I'm afraid to give it to her.

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  83. I would have to say the circle dance quilt with all the curved piecing has been the most challenging to me.

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  84. My most difficult quilt was made from approx. 700 - 2 1/2 inch half square triangles that were exchanged from around the world and 43 states. It was a King size with Amish black sashing.

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  85. My first quilt was Grandmother's Flower Garden sewn by hand. What a disaster. It remains a UFO to this day.

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  86. A trapunto quilt. It has been killing me. Thanks for the chance. Love your block.

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  87. Love your block!
    Thank you!
    I am so doing this!

    The most "difficult" quilt for me has been to finish a comfort quilt I was making for my cousin... Not finished before he died.
    Now, a few years later, it will be finished for my church prayer quilt group...
    Still a difficult finish.
    Pat T.

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  88. Wayyyyy Cool tutorial Susan, so many thanks. This is a technique many fear, but you make it look really easy - and it is! Thanks for sharing...
    Bethany

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  89. Thank you for the chance to win these beautiful fabrics. My most challenging quilt was a sampler of several blocks.. I never got into 'the groove' to be able to relax and enjoy it.

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  90. I think this is my favorite block. Always wondered how to do this. Most difficult quilt for me--a Paula Nadelstern Illuminations. Hadn't expected to need to piece the strips and hadn't thought about the fact that on 16 1" strips, an error of 1/16" ends up being off by 1". First effort at precision sewing. Still have a long way to go.

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  91. Thanks for this clear, easy to follow tutorial. Also, I enjoyed looking at how you used mylar in your quilts (I adore the bee wings). Can't wait to see these beautiful fabrics in person!

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  92. Love that you added purple. Thank you for the tutorial. My hardest quilt ever was a trapunto. Love it. Thank you for the chance.

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  93. I'm just a beginner quilter and a simple garment sewer. I've just branched into hst's! Y-seams next! Thanks for the clear tutorial!

    t_ktl at yahoo.com

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  94. The most challenging quilt I have ever made is the one I just finished - a miniature lone star quilt.

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