Road to Ireland

[Oasis]

I think you are on the road to success. It looks wonderful to me.

[SueSwan]

I think this is a really good start. I really love the fabric choices you made. They look fine together.

Sometimes you just have to force those seams to match....and as HeyGirl mentioned a 1/4" foot can be your best friend. Keep it up, watch your seam allowance and as everyone says press press press ...... it will all fix in the quilting. The first teacher I had made me tear out my work so many times because I did not cut accurately or sew the seams correctly. I learned to do both....never perfect, but now things match most of the time. Press, press, press ....

This will be a beautiful quilt.

Sue

[CaroleJ]

TC, that is just beautiful! Can you please share where you got the pattern? Guess I could just look it up myself...duh...

Do you know the trick of pinning right on the seam? My mom taught me when I was learning to sew clothes; it's a good tip for quilting as well.

I agree with the others' advice first to press, press, press! Press your seams flat first (as they come off the sewing machine), then push both seam allowances to one side and press again. I press from both front and back, especially when matching up seams is critical (as with high contrast colors). *Generally*, you want to press seam allowances toward the darker color...but this doesn't always work out! Don't sweat it--once the quilt is done, no one will care!

When you put your pressed blocks together, line the seams up, nestling the seam allowances. You can sort of feel them fall into place and fit snugly together, once they are lined up correctly. Then, push a pin right through the stitching line of the block facing you; peek on the other side at the other block...and make sure the pin is coming through the stitches on that block as well. This should keep your blocks from shifting as you sew them together.

I am NOT big on pinning. That's one of the things I love about quilting as opposed to making garments. However, sometimes I am aiming for a certain look and will pin if it gets me the results I am after.

If all else fails, you can take Eleanor's advice and "Quilt the hell out of it!" and that will hide the little glitches...

Carole

[teacupdelights]

Love the fabrics. And Irish chain patterns. I'm sure you have all the info you need on the previous posts. Good luck.

[tcbeginner]

Carole,

THANK YOU! As you can tell by my name, I'm a beginner. The helpful hints you gave about interlocking the fabric has been wonderful! Thanks again!

[ranchlife4me]

Very pretty....had never seen that pattern before. I love the colors and don't worry about the quilt. We are our own worst critic!!! How big is it?
Gayle

[CaroleJ]

TC, always glad to help a fellow quilter! I am no expert, but I guess after four years of quilting I am not exactly a beginner now--lol The skills I learned as a kid when I was taught to sew clothes really helped me morph into a quilter. Quilting is SO much easier in so many ways, and I LOVE it--never felt this depth of passion when I was making clothes. To each their own, right?

Hang out with us here at El's Angels cyber-guild. Lots of good advice, fun, and support for anyone at any skill level.

Happy stitching!
Carole

[Lodad]

Your Quilt is Absolutly Wonderful. I'll Tell you. I just made a full size quilt with 1004 (I thught it was 996) pieces of fabric that I quilted with the same amount of pieces as your quilt. Enven though I made sure I measured my cutting and sewing as best as possible I was still OFF. BBBBrrrrrrJjjjgrodflix. It makes me soooooo upset. But as I have been told by an experienced quilter. "It doesn't matter, unless it is going to be juged in a State Fair or Country Fair contest, who cares". You did your best job and that is all that matters. It is wonderful. I Love it.

Lodad,

[tcbeginner]

Lodad,

Thanks for the nice remarks. I have the center finished...I'll take a picture a load it tomorrow. I'm a school teacher and we haven't had school for a day and half now...tomorrow no school again. I've been keeping myself busy!