Laura Nownes

[Renata]

Very pretty scrappy blocks, Marianne! Love the fact that you are experimenting with all sorts of ways of handling fabric and assembling blocks. It's a great time to do this. As for the skipped stitches, my experience has been that stitches start skipping when my needle gets dull. In my case, I hear a light popping sound as the needle penetrates the fabric. Then I know for sure that I need to change the needle. Not sure what else can cause stitches to skip but I cannot imagine it being the starch, it's never happened to me. I'm sure you'll hear from others with a better answer than mine and I look forward to reading those posts too!

[Renata]

As Renata says, skipped stitches is most likely to be a blunt needle & it is time to change it. If it is still skipping I would suggest totally rethreading the machine top & bottom. I doubt it is the starch (unless it is thick enough to stand up by itself :wink: )

The most usual time I have trouble with skipped stitches is when hemming jeans and I am going over the really thick side seams, so that the pressure foot isn't on a level amount of cloth.

By the way, if you haven't looked before, over at Superior Threads website I am pretty sure that there are lots of useful tips about threads & needles and what might be causing problems to what.

[rehak]

Marianne - I love your blocks! The colors are so bright and cheerful. And I adore scrappy quilts! I just think they sparkle so much and are so interesting! I love seeing where everyone is going with this.

Nancy

[Marianne-is-sewing]

Thank you, Nancy! Scrappy quilts have become my favourites after I watched the show with the lady who inspired the HST exchange.

Rosemary and Renata, thank you for your tips. The reason I asked was that I didn't get skipped stitches on the blocks that contained non-starched fabric. I did some chain piecing and I had to frog stitch quite a few blocks afterwards several of which were the starched ones (and a few of the others too :wink: ) which is why I noticed the difference between the fabrics. I went back and checked the 9 patch blocks I made and they were the same. I just didn't notice it last week.
I will try a larger needle for the next blocks and see if the same is the case. For all of these I have used a # 60 Universal needle. I will try a 70 for the QSTs.
Marianne

[twiglet]

I like them but you made me panic and go back and check how many we needed to make :lol:

[Marianne-is-sewing]

I like them but you made me panic and go back and check how many we needed to make :lol:

Sorry Wendy! I tend to get carried away when I start projects like this. I am a very nosey person and just have to try one more thing :wink:

[twiglet]

It's not nosey it's how we develop

[Reetzbobeetz]

Curiosity quilted the cat! Ha! :lol:

[Reetzbobeetz]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Reetzbobeetz]

Well, here is my first weeks blocks, which I finished last night, so I was only one week behind for all of 12 hours :P
I've gone for the full size quilt, and only have the orange centres because I was running out of the yellow - but I would have had problems of running out which ever colour I had used - kept thinking about fried eggs whist I was making them :lol:

[loise98]

Rosemary, Love your colors. Fried eggs, indeed. They look yummy!

[rehak]

Rosemary - I think the orange centers add to the interest and make the quilt your own. (I'm not a fan of fried eggs so I have to see them more like flowers or the sun to enjoy them.) I can't wait to see the colors of your pinwheels.

Nancy

[Renata]

Very pretty colors, Rosemary. Your hand-dyed fabric is going to make the quilting stand out very nicely.

[Renata]

I do hope that ideas of how to quilt this sampler are going to be included, because that is quite often where these things fall down - or so I have heard - 'quilt as desired' is not much help for the beginner.

Worked on my pinwheels today/this evening, they have come out pretty spiffing, but my maths/reading could do with some work ops: I managed to get twice as many hst's than needed :roll: (picture will come in daylight)

[Renata]

This week (Lesson 3: Quarter-Square Triangles) there seems to be a bit of a disconnect and I, for one, need a little more guidance. In the handout, under the heading “Sewing”, #2., Laura says to press the seams open. In the video, she presses them to the side. In #3., she does not say which way to press the sides at all and does not show it in the video either when assembling the four sets together to make the final block. I don't know whether to press seams toward the dark or open, and when! :? Am I just interpreting the instructions wrong?

I've sent an email to Laura asking for clarification, but, not knowing what her schedule is, I might not get a timely reply and I am so close to finished, I really don't want to delay, even though I still hope to hear from her.

Can anyone who is participating in this classroom clarify the direction of pressing in each step for me? I'd be most appreciative. Oh Margo!!! Help!!! Are you out there?... :?