“Measure twice, cut once,” said the old craftsman.
Only careful planning and patient skill make a dovetail.
Deng Ming~Dao
Well today’s post is not about making a dovetail joint, but it is about patient skill, which has never been my strong suit…..the patient part that is.
Remember back in this post where I thought I would give machine quilting a try….and failed? Well where I lack patience I tend to overcompensate with tenacity. (some Ken might call it stubbornness)
I ordered the Christmas Topper kit designed by Rachel Griffith that was on the Moda Bakeshop page awhile back.
I liked it enough to order 2 kits. One in this Fig Tree fabric line because I love Joanna’s fabrics so and one in the more Christmassy fabric, Crazy Eights that Moda featured.
So merrily I start piecing these fabulous little charm squares. Back in the day when I used to hand piece, the thing I hated most was cutting out all of those little pieces, so I am very excited to try patterns with pre-cut fabrics.
Ok….so back to the piecing. First block and my points are off again…arrrgghhh. This machine sewing is not as easy as it looks. You have a lot less control than you do when you are hand piecing.
Out comes my trusty quilting bible. I read the section on machine piecing and try again this time really being careful about pinning my seams.
Much better!! Look at those points….they are a thing of beauty I tell you! Scary how these little things excite me isn’t it?
After the nine patch squares are complete they are cut in half and then cut in half again, so that it ends up like this…..
which is called a disappearing nine patch. Isn’t it pretty?
Six of the eight blocks are finished and so far I don't feel like chucking it…..yay! This is how I spent my weekend in between harvesting the garden which I will tell you about soon….it’s all good~ ~
The Woolen Rabbit 
OH! I so feel your point pain. Makes me wonder why I love quilting so much, because I am not sure I find it relaxing sometimes. But you have been witness to that, haven’t you? I love your project and can’t wait to see it in the Christmasy fabric. I almost got some harvesty fabric to make the same table topper, but am making another one instead. Wait until you see the fabrics, they are so not like me and so autumnal. They are really more you. 😉
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I pin, pin and always pin… yep, much better. Love the fabrics your using ~ can’t wait to see all the blocks pieced together!
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Gorgeous! I’ve wanted to quilt for ages, and just haven’t had the time yet. Yours makes me want to try…
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Love the tutorial on the link- now I see how you got the disappearing 9 patch. Very cool! Can’t wait to see yours all done. 🙂
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amazing … and extremely inspirational, as usual!
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You’re a fabulous machine quilter. I’m an engergetic, excitable, not terribly accurate quilter! I love the colours!
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Yay! And yes, your corners/points look a whole lot better. Very crisp – great job!!
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I love the color mix of your squares.
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Those points are a beast, aren’t they? When I first started, back in the 70’s, it was all done by hand, with nice little pencil lines to follow, so not as speedy, but a lot more accurate! Yours are great! Do you use en even-feed (“walking”) foot? So, that’s the piecing…how are you going to QUILT it? Love the Moda Bake Shop, by the way, but didn’t realize you could order from them. Must. go. look.
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Lots of pins makes it much easier. If you get the ones with the plastic heads shaped like flowers you can even sew right over them and then pull them out afterwards.
The fabrics are beautiful together.
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Very nice! I am still planning to learn to sew someday. (On a machine, that is. I think making a machine go smoothly, not too fast, not too slow, is probably one of those muscle-memory things.)
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nice sharp corners!! good for you. next, triangles!
you can really tell when you chop off the point of a triangle.
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You are helping me understand how hard quilting is. I’m cured.
So pretty, the way you’ve done it.
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I just love it when the little points come together!
you are totally making me want to go and dig out my quilt pieces and get back to that…. hmmm… might it be a revival?
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Very pretty!!
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Kim- I find that if I take my time, I get a much better result- quilting isn’t for the impatient.
Are you dreaming of new fall yarn colors? I am!
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This is going to be so beautiful! I always have to slide the pieces together and pin in order to make my points match up.
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Don’t you just love the disappearing nine patch? And I love these little packages of blocks too. They didn’t have them when I was quilting twenty years ago! You get so many lovely fabrics for a relatively small investment – or at least that’s what I tell myself right before I end up paying for a bag full 🙂
It’s funny, when I pin my seams don’t match. I actually do it by feel, sort of smooshing the seams against each other and the ridge of the seam allowances just fall together.
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looks great!!!
🙂
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