Here's my latest quilting project, the Arbor Roses Quilt top. While it looks like the trellis is linked and woven, it's actually the placement of two different quilt blocks which produces the effect. One block has a small square bordered with strips and one has a large square with corner triangles.
The blocks were pretty simple to put together and I handled my first 'partial' piecing (one strip of the first block cannot be sewn all the way down until it is joined with the other strips). I was determined to be as accurate as possible with this quilt and sewed very, very carefully. While I still struggled to get the 1/4" seam perfect, it is probably the neatest job I've done yet.
There is a test to get the 1/4" seam as accurate as possible: sew strips together and measure the end product. It should be the total width minus the seam allowances. So, for example, if you stitched 4 - 2" strips together the result should be 8" minus 1.5" for the 3 seams, equaling 6-1/2" across. Try as I might, adjusting my needle position each time, I could NOT get my blocks to equal what they should, even though my test strips DID equal the 6-1/2". Confusing and confounding! I gave up measuring the finished blocks and just kept going as well as I could.
I picked out all the fabric for this quilt by myself and also got to use my Rotating Cutting Mat (which I showed you yesterday) to cut the corners of the 2nd blocks - very helpful! The pattern calls for 'bagging out' the quilt (sewing it all around and turning it right-side out like a bag) and finishing by using ties in the blocks. Neither of these methods appeal to me so I'm still thinking about how I'm going to quilt it. I just know I will finish it the traditional way with quilting and binding...
If you'd like to see how to test for accurate 1/4" seams, head over to this post at Because I Say Sew...she's got a great video explaining the technique.
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