Huish Herd

First a disclaimer:  I am not an expert on quilting.  I have learned a lot of why they do, what they do, on quilting shows.  Since I have not been able to manage much in the way of quilting classes, I am truly flying by the seat of my pants in making this quilt and by learning things the hard way, I am learning to do it the easy way.

I'll be doing a post on my blog and adding to it as I go along on this second side to share and perhaps make it easier for others.

I must admit though, I think the first thing is to take some good quilting classes!!  Some day, soon, it will happen.

As I go along, I will just add to this post to keep everything in the correct order the easy way.

First let me share the first side of the quilt.  It is made with a Thomas Kincaid panel which was a lot smaller than normal.  So I put the smaller ones in the corners.  The ones at the top will get covered with pillows, so I wish I had thought of that before I did the design.  Live and learn.

I was constantly adjusting.  Should have squared up all of them before I started sewing.  Would have eliminated many headaches and save many hours.  I expect this second side to lay together better since the first thing I did was to square up the one panel that will center the quilt.

I was not as far sided as I had hoped.  The two small panels at the top will be covered by pillows eventually.  Now I wish I had thought to have the smaller panels off the corners of the main one in the middle.  It would have made it easier to tie through all the layers at this stage as well when it came time, without having them ending up in strange places.

As I sew each border, I will square it up before measuring or cutting the next border.  It should lay better and have no pulling that has to compensated for.  Pictures coming in a couple of hours.  I also iron, iron and iron.  this is such an important step to any kind of sewing that gets skipped so often.  As each strip is added, I press the seam over, using steam, to make sure it is set.

1:39 p.m.

I can not believe how much easier this first border is going in.  It is the same as the pink shiny border in the first side.  You can tell what problems I had with it.  Some of the shading is from not laying flat, some is from having trouble keeping the two pieces together.  I have had to square  the strips a couple of times, but it is paying off!

10:25 p.m.

I am just amazed at how much better this sides is going together.  I have realized that either, I still can not measure straight or  I can't count right or something.  It is turning out too big and I still have one more border to put in to get the Bippity Boppity Boo fabric incorporated into the Cinderella side.  So once again, I need to re-figure and be flexible to get it done.  Sigh.

I love watching the quilt/sewing shows on PBS.  I have even been recording them so that I can refer back to them.  Last Saturday the show that has the mother/daughter team on it, was discussing how techniques and methods have changed since rotary cutters have come along.  They have made it so much easier to make accurate cuts which can result in much more complicated designs.  So true!!  The correct equipment has been a life saver, no doubt about it!