Dawn, you're helping me see the humor in this situation! I remember some tears shed over the quilt in my photo, too.

It just seems so easy....... just cut and sew together 1 inch strips! What could be more simple? What could bring me humility more quickly?
There's lots of time to finish this, I say to myself.

You all are a constant source of encouragement. Thank you
Kathy

I'm supposed to be putting the final border on a quilt, but I had lots of time to think while sewing on these borders and had an idea that I had to try. This isn't the way I did my blocks, but might have if I thought of it yesterday. For those of you who are having a hard time sewing a straight seam or getting accurate measurements give this a try. Cut scant 1/2" strips of freezer paper and iron to your first fabric. You will have to practice to get the size strips needed. I placed the 1/2" line of the ruler off the paper which was close, but a thread width past that might be closer. I would probably use strips of fabric no longer than 12" which will cut 3 reels with a couple inches at the ends for squaring up. Iron the freezer paper strip to the wrong side of the first fabric and add the next strip by sewing next to the freezer paper using an open toe foot. Press the seam open with a dry iron. Sew another strip on the other side. Press the seam open and measure to see if the middle strip measures 1/2". If it does you're good to go. Move the freezer paper over to the next strip, lining it up with the seam. How careful you line it up will make a difference. Add the next strip. Remember to sew every other strip in the opposite direction. I would add the next strip to the opposite side, and continue in this manner until there are 8 strips sewn together. Be sure and cut your end strips a little wider so you can trim to size. Hope this helps. Let me know if you try this and it works for you. The suggestions for not using steam until all of the strips are sewn together is good.

kathyst2 wrote:
Good attitude Kathy! If it helps, anyone who missed my photo tutorials for doing these reels can review them here:
[url]forum/friendship-triangle-exchange/5159-wot-rott-exchange[/url]
(just scroll down to the photos)

I'm sitting here really laughing about this whole "accurate spool" exchange! I can laugh, because I have previously admitted I stuggled, too! We are all great quilters, we do BOMs, win awards, give our best work to grandchildren and friends, and yet when asked to sew a few strips together, we have stuggled. Some of us even made 600 or more HSTs for the big exchange, without even batting an eyelash. So, the simplicity of this exchange and the ripping and recutting we have done, you have to admit, is comical. I mean, just look at that quilt Kathy is holding up in her profile photo and tell me she doesn't know how to measure, cut and sew accurately! Too funny!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

Postscript: And, you can be sure also that if I ever do any strip piecing like this again, I will have learned what to do!
Kathy

It seems like many of us are struggling with trying to sew these strips together! I hadn't thought that pressing seams open would make such a difference in the finished width, but it does make sense. If I started over (argh) I would definitely cut the strips wider and trim down.
Or at least the outside ones! Right now I am faced with yet another pair of strips that comes up way more than 2.5 inches. I will take it apart and re-sew with a wider seam allowance. I've been home sick for several days with bronchitis so perhaps that is a factor in my dismay at seam ripping! At least I'm not the only one. I said it earlier today, that I will appreciate every block I get, and won't get out the ruler to measure either . Thanks all for the support and cheering up.
Kathy

I was happy to see I wasn't the only one who had trouble with the seams and finished blocks. My blocks may be a thread or two narrower than the 3.5 inches. Still plenty of room for a seam allowance. Hope they are ok. My problem was I used different length strips and tried sewing them together that way. I did alot of ripping! The next set will be from fat quarters and I think it will work better. If I decide the first set is not good enough, I will make a third set.

Thanks Rosemary & thank you Margo;

I have already cut all my fat quarters 1” strips so I don’t have any fabric left. For anyone else out there fat quarters (according to my calculations-old correct anyone if they are wrong) I found if you cut 1” stripes WOF when you sew the eight fabrics together you can cut six blocks from them. So do some test blocks before you cut all you fat quarters into 1” (big mistake) ; see Margo’s post! Anyway ;I will try again tomorrow and see if I am unable to figure out the seam issue (I did a scant 1/4” seam already ) I may have to get new fabrics and change my color. I am open to any colors that haven’t been claimed yet & someone wants in their quilt

Like Rita, I gently pressed the seams OPEN with a hot dry iron, then used a generous amount of steam to make sure the sewn strata was straight and flat and I let it cool in place. Then it was an easy job to trim the entire strata to 4/5" wide and cross cut to 3.5". It did help to have the extra width on the outside strips and trim them down to the right size after the strata was complete.

If anyone needs help with seam allowances, you might want to check out my tutorials here: [url]daily-blog/103-good-advice/14745-margos-test-for-14-seam-accuracy[/url]
or here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569415726bHNKHF

PosyP wrote:

Yes I did leave the country for the last week, but not because of the UK weather. Seems to me the winter has been a lot more mild than I was expecting... I am not complaining about that though. I was able to make it home to San Diego for my dad's 80th birthday. I went a few days early to help my mom and brothers finish up on the preps for the party. There were lots family and friends and it was a wonderful tribute to his 80 years. Also he and my mom just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in September. So it was all and all a joyous occasion. I flew out from San Diego late last night and arrived home (UK) this evening. Back to work tomorrow!

I was so excited when Rosemary started talking about a new exchange. I volunteered to help with the sort and I thought I might make shipping to and from the states easier with my APO box since we can use US postage instead of international. (I use US first class postage on all my mail to and from the states) Then once I receive all of your packages I will head up to Rosemary's for the sorting party. Sounds like if there is time we may even be able to make it to the quilt museum in York ...but we'll see how that goes. That may be another trip.

So now that the holidays and parties are over I need to do my part with this and get my reels sewn together.

Lorna

RiverOwl wrote: Don't Panic!
By turning the block 90 degrees, it is easier to see that the problem seams are the ones inside the white square I have drawn. I would suggest that you start with the left hand seam of the two and re-stitch starting about 2 threads nearer the cut edge and finish near the centre of the white flower. Remove the previous line of stitching, press, then put it under your cutting ruler and see if that has straightened things out enough, if not move on to the next seam (again, take the taper lower than the box is drawn).

By placing your clear 6"x12" (or whatever size it is) ruler over the block, it is quite easy to analyse which strips are the culprits and where abouts along the seam it starts to go squint.

I have been working my way through all of my blocks double checking them and after a bit my eyeballs become calibrated enough to look at a set and know whether they will need restitching without using the ruler, I do however use the ruler to make sure that I adjust the correct seam, and to work out how much by, but mostly it is either 1 or 2 threads max.

Hope this helps

I had to do several practice runs to get the width right. Yes pressing the seams open does make everything just that little bit bigger and Kathy that's why your 1/4" guide is probably not accurate for this project. I had the same problem. I had to move my needle to the left by one notch. I also made my outside strips 1 1/4" to give me wiggle room. Barbara, if you put a ruler under the foot of your machine, make sure it is lined up with the line marks on the bed of your machine and then put some masking tape along the line of the ruler (and even double it), the ridge the masking tape makes should help you sew straighter seams. I think that is your problem. I sewed my strips in approx 22" strip widths as some of my fabric was fat quarters and I found this easier. I pressed the seams open with a dry hot iron because this seemed to cause less distortion. When I had the strip finished I lined it up on my pressing mat which has a grid on it and steam pressed it to fit the grid. I then left it to get cold before moving it to the cutting mat. This seemed to straighten it out so that I was able to cut my spools as accurately as possible. Once you get into the swing of it these are actually fun to make. Hope this is of help. Rita.

Here is another block from the same first batch...

Not to confuse anyone Rosemary, but taking in my seams on my first unit would have been over 150" of seams to rip out! :shock: That is why I said it was not an option! I am not a masochist! I like fun happy things! It was much easier to just start afresh. (Remember, I was not working in small 3 1/2' units like you did, but the larger units, like Margo's, except I was using fat quarters.)

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana