One key to OBW quilts is to starch the heck out of the fabric so that you are esssentially sewing paper together. It prevents a lot of the stretching you describe.

My daughter used LOTS of Magic Sizing on her blocks, and that worked, too. (We are kinda addicted to that great smell!) She sized the fabric heavily before it was cut and then again at each stage of the sewing process. Those suckers were like parchment when she was done. But they fit together like a charm.

Try it. You'll like it.

BethMI

S-T-A-R-C-H. Do it again. again.....piece your "cardboard". Press, don't "iron" - up and down action as you press. Don't drag iron across fabric. Keep checking measurements as you add pieces. Bottom line, take CARE. It's do-able.

Hi, Ladies! My friend bought Sara Nephew's book today -- Big Book of Building Block Quilts. The hollow cubes are in there! It's really cool how she does them. You sew strips together and then cut triangles. Very interesting!

I know Margo already posted this info, but I just wanted to say that I saw it with my own eyes, too!

I have been fretting about my OBW, because I kinda wanted to do the setting triangles, but was leary of all of the Y seams. It JUST dawned on me that if I had sewed one to the end of each row before joining them, I wouldn't have had Y seams. DUH!!!!

Chelley

Hi Chelly,

I still have the quilt on my design wall. I had ordered some of the Superior thread, and was waiting for that to arrive, and it should be here tomorrow. I have most of the blocks done for my second one, and that will go on the design wall as soon as I get this one sewn together.

I will probably just cut the edges off even for my first one, however, that could change since I haven't picked out my border fabric yet. I wanted to see which color stood out the most, or the color I wanted to bring out the most in my border before I bought the fabric for that.

I also got kind of side tracked learning a new software program, PaintShopPro, and have been taking some online lessons for that, so I haven't done a lot of quilting lately. LOL Too many hobbies.

Diane

Hi, Diane! How are your OBW's coming? I'm sewing my rows together tonight. I'm hoping to finish the top before I go to bed.

Are you doing the seperate setting triangles for the end of your rows? I think I'm just going to cut off my edges and add a straight border. I haven't quite decided yet.

Talk to you soon,
Chelley

I actually got some fabric, with a small repeat to make a table runner and placemats out of using the OBW layout. Figured I could work on that as practice if I keep having problems with my larger quilts. I like to work on something smaller when I'm learning or trying to figure out something new, rather than start on a big project. But I hate just "practicing" and not having something useful to show for it when I'm done. If it doesn't turn out, I didn't waste much, and if it does turn out, I have something I can use.
I had told my boyfriend that I thought the quilt was too long and not wide enough so he was working on the lay out of it this morning, and made it one row wider, and took a row away from the length, and when he did that, all the blocks were used, except for one. I didn't have tiime before leaving for work this morning to give it a good look, but will do that when I get home tonight. I like the way you can keep moving blocks around and get a different feel and look to it. Just have to make a decision at some point to start sewing the rows togehter. LOL

Diane in Colorado Springs

Good ideas! I have been thinking of making some place mats.

Pat in Rockport, TX

I have 10-12 blocks that didn't fit into mine. I'm going to put them together into a baby quilt to donate to a friend who is going on a medical mission. I hope I have time to get it done before she has to send them off!

Chelley

Pat,

Thank you for that tip, however, the 6 blocks that didn't make it into the quilt really don't go with the rest of the blocks, even though they were all from the same fabric. And as I said, I would have liked the quilt being a bit deeper and not any wider, and there is no where to add those 6 blocks to get the quilt to come out even. What I may end up doing, is taking some of the blocks out of the quilt so it isn't as wide. And if I should do that, I could make a small wall hanging out of the blocks that didn't make it into the quilt. There is a suggetion in the book about making potholders or table runners out of any blocks that don't make it into quilt, so I may do that also. Would be a quick and easy gift to have on hand.

There are just so many ways to work with these blocks, it's some times hard to make a decision.

Diane

Diane, if you really are bothered by the pink, just color over it with a fabric ink pen. They come in lots of colors. Or, make 2 or 3 more blocks with the pink in them.

Pat in Rockport, TX

Chelley,

We used all but 5 or 6 blocks. There was one block that had a PINK flower in it, and we couldn't find ANY PINK any where else in the quilt. So I got out my left over fabric, and looked for that flower. There is only ONE of those in the entire width of the fabric, and that is why it didn't show up in any of the other blocks.

I would have liked for it to be one more row deep, but they colors flowed better with it this way, so will leave it at that. I will have to look at getting a reducing glass, and see how that helps also.

Diane

Diane, you and your boyfriend did a great job! I love the way it's turning out. I am going to go look for a reducer tonight. I took pictures of mine and that helped, but the reducer REALLY helps to see just the colors of the blocks without the interference of the pattern. I was amazed at how it worked. I could look through it and immediately tell what I needed to move around.

I made quite a few changes last night and want to look at it one more time before I start sewing strips together. Did you use all of your blocks? I had about 10 left over that I didn't like and that just didn't fit in.

Can't wait to see more!

Chelley

Okay, I have posted the picture of my first OBW quilt, in my profile. It is still on the design wall, and Chelley, you were right about looking at a picture of it. It is much easier to see how the blocks look in the picture than it is on the wall. My picture is a little fuzzy, but since this is still a work in progress, I wasn't concerned about getting a GREAT picture.. will do that once it's complete.

I did have help in laying out the blocks, my boyfriend, was the one that did the lay out, and I don't think I'm going to be changing much of it. It will stay on my design wall until I have the time to start sewing all the rows together.

Diane, who is also sewing the blocks for the next OBW.... too many quilts.. too little time. LOL

Hi Chelley and Florence,

I haven't tried looking at it with any sort of reducing glass, I will have to get out my digital camera and take a look at it through that. I wanted to take a pic of it before I started sewing it anyway, so will see what it looks like through the camera. (Of course that means I will have to put my short lens on... LOL I usually keep my telephoto or macro lens on my camera and rarely use my short lens... but I may have found a way to get some use out of my short lens now. LOL).

Diane