From Chaos to Cornerstones!

I had to shovel out yesterday…things have been getting progressively worse over the summer. This is what happens when you are home for 4 day... thumbnail 1 summary

11 years ago

I had to shovel out yesterday…things have been getting progressively worse over the summer.

This is what happens when you are home for 4 days in between big trips – one to Texas, and one to Oregon.

Piles EVERYWHERE!

I have enough fabric for a 3rd world country.

Or maybe even first world!

I have been on a fat-quarter binge, picking up fabrics in Pennsylvania, in Alaska, in Victoria, BC ---EVERYTHING was still in bags and piles and….

WHERE DO I PUT THIS STUFF?!

Let me tell you, when you can’t hardly shut the drawer any more….it’s time to say “Woah, Baby!!!” and spend more time sewing and less time shopping.

AUUGHHH!!

This is the piles of stuff that gathered on top of my longarm table. I have a quilt that needs to be quilted, and before I can do so, this table needed to be cleaned off!

Piles of strips, piles of blocks, a machine I’d been working on….you know how it goes ---give a girl a 14 foot long table and she will fill it to capacity and still run out of room!

Ta-Da!!

It didn’t take that long….and it looks and feels so much better. Do you feel more productive when you can see your flat surfaces? I know I do!

We had a great time on Quilt-Cam last night, and I got a ton done. LOOK:

Not quite half a kazillion, but I’m getting there.

Here I am using my favorite Easy Square Junior ruler --- placing the 1/4” line that goes all the way around the outside of the ruler directly on the seam line on the paper foundation side, and trimming my seam 1/4” away from that line. LOVE this ruler!

I have been getting questions and quests for the foundation pattern I am using for my Square-in-a-square Cornerstones for my Cheddar Sampler quilt.

I have uploaded the PDF for you HERE.

You must RIGHT CLICK on the pattern on the screen, and click SAVE AS.

It will save as a pdf file on your computer, so save it somewhere you can get to it. Your desktop is good.

Then you must open Adobe and then open the file from within adobe to print it in the size it is supposed to be. You can’t just print it from the monitor view because the printer will print out whatever your screen resolution is. When printing PDF patterns, always choose “NONE” as the scaling so that the page will print out the size it was meant to.

The cornerstones measure 2” and it will print out that way if you save it first and print it out correctly.

((Note..the 2" measurement is AFTER they are sewn into the quilt. The cut measurement is 2-1/2" due to the seam allowance added))

I’ve also added the cornerstone pattern to the free patterns tab above!

Remember when paper piecing to set your stitch length REALLY small…1.5 on a digital machine, about 18 stitches per inch on a mechanical machine. Use a size 14 denim needle to poke bigger holes in the paper, and it will be really easy to remove. If your paper falls off too quickly, lengthen your stitch just a bit. If the paper is hard to remove, chances are it is because your stitches are still too large. Shorten them a bit. It makes a difference!

Busy morning here ---I’ve got a chiropractor appointment at 10am, a massage at 11:30 and an office full of desk work that needs to be handled today so I can head up to Quilt Villa tomorrow morning!

It’s my first SOLO visit to the cabin ---and I’m looking forward to some good and concentrated sewing time, just me and the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains!

Have a great Wednesday, Everyone!