More of my challenge teasers, get to know your foot and two apologies!

It is a cool, overcast day today. If you are going to sit outside it would be nice to take a lap quilt and share it with some friends!

So today let me start with the apologies! First, I posted Blockof The Month patterns as well as some Tutorials and Tips …. or so I thought. Apparently the fingers work faster than the brain; almost none of the links worked. I think I’ve fixed the problem so you should be able to access everything now! If not please let me know. Second, I blogged about my homemade spray starch recipe and posted a tutorial. The recipe calls for vodka. Apparently I don’t know the difference between gin and vodka because the photos show a bottle of gin! I’ll get out the vodka and reshoot the pictures! Apologies are complete so lets move on to getting to know your foot!

Sometimes instructions will ask you to start or stop sewing ¼” from the edge. There are a number of ways to handle this. You can just eyeball the ¼” mark, or you can mark the ¼” before you start sewing OR you can use your ¼” foot. Let’s take a closer look at a ¼” foot from the top and from the side.

You’ll notice that there are three notches on the foot. If the notch toward the back of the foot (at the ¾” mark on the ruler) is lined up with the edge of the fabric your needle will drop at the notch at the mid-point (at the ½” mark on the ruler) which is exactly ¼” in from the edge. You will also notice a notch at the front of the foot (at the ¼” mark on the ruler). When the edge of the fabric is line up with this notch the needle will be ¼” in from the edge of the fabric. Use of these little notches will allow you to start or stop sewing exactly ¼” from the edge and it will make precision sewing a breeze!

 

And now for some teasers! Once you see these I think you'll know where I got my inspiration! You might even have an idea of what the quilt looks like! Here's the first teaser, the name of the quilt.... A Challenging Year!

 

 

 

So tell me, what do you think the quilt will look like?

And here's a little teaser of what's in store for you....another challenge quilt. This one is titled Flying Fish School!

Flying Fish School, Close-up

 

And lastly yesterday I recommended a book that is great for learning how to machine quilt, Harriet Hargrave's Heirloom Machine Quilting. There is one other book that I recommend and it is Diane Gaudynski's Guide to Machine Quilting. If you are a beginner or have some experience machine quilting, these books are a good investment!

 

Well that's it for Wednesday, April 24th! Until I post again, happy sewing!