I have been avoiding the next step in the Color Crystals quilt. I enjoyed piecing the half-square triangles and even joining the units into rows. However, I knew that sewing those rows together was going to be a challenge. There are points to match and that always requires special pinning to achieve an acceptable-to-me result.
Fortunately, almost six years ago now, I participated in the Connecting Threads Perfect Points Quilt-along and I learned how to use a positioning pin to help sew seams for accurate points. I shared the progress in a series of posts, starting with THIS ONE and I did end up finishing the quilt project (you can find it HERE). It wasn't a perfect job but it was done and that was good enough for me. That was many quilts ago at this point so I had to revisit the instructions and practice my points once again.
Here is the PDF instructions for using a positioning pin which was extremely helpful for refreshing my memory. I stitched the first set of rows using the pinning technique as I had recalled it with ok results. I thought I'd sew the next pair with no pinning to see how it compared (not great, not good enough for my liking), so then I read the instructions and switched how I pinned - adding the side pins in at a straight angle rather than at a diagonal - and had much better results.
This pinning will make the piecing a much longer process but I am trying to remind myself that I went into this project saying it was not a race and I wanted to keep it fun and not stressful. I may only get a couple rows sewn each day but that is still progress. I am satisfied with the points - far from perfect but not too bad. Once the quilt is finished they will hardly be noticeable. Angela Walters appears to sew her units together without any pinning at all so that is all the permission I need to keep things relaxed!
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