Thursday, August 23, 2012

Two at Once!



I have always loved the backs of my QAYG quilts, because they are usually a solid color/white, with just the quilting showing. Neat as a pin, with no distractions of pattern.
But it dawned on me, a little late, that if the back fabric was pieced, or even cleverly printed, I could have a two sided quilt. Obviously I am not the first one to think of this, but so what? I finally got it!
Mentioning this to my knitting friends, who got it immediately, that this means when the dog throws up on one side, it can be flipped over to the other side with no visible effects. Ha!
Recently one or two Anons people have commented that if I really wanted to learn to QAYG that I should get Sharon Pederson's books, because she invented this whole process.


OK, so I just now looked her up. Is there nothing new under the sun?
Longtime readers may recall, I learned everything I know about QAYG from Marianne over at The Quilting Edge. so for me, she is my mother of QAYG and have tremendous fealty to her, first and foremost. But I am not about to let one more lesson fly by without trying it out. Do I have to piece both sides? Eeeeoouw.
I'm thinking, in my laziest way, a large swath of fabric, one on each side, quilted together, and then borders added, log cabin style, with the batting stitched to the seam allowance, as each border is added.


For more on this process see this old post from last summer.
But first...there was a question in yesterday's post about sewing on the long borders onto the quilt:
Q:
I love QAYG too, except I struggle with putting the long quilted pieces together with the connector strips as they are difficult to sew them as the quilt gets larger. Any tips or tricks for sewing those long sections together?
A:
Recently I have been doing backwards...that is, sewing the two inch strip to the back and the narrower 1" strip to the front. I have a quarter inch foot and put the new piece on the bottom and then line up the piece with the sewn-on strips on the top. I only press the narrow strip forward, right sides together and carefully sew them together. Then I get the whole thing back to the ironing table (which in my case is 36x48") and press the backing strip (the folded one) into place and pin it FROM THE FRONT, getting the edge caught, and of course checking it carefully before taking it to the machine. The last two borders I had to sew on the latest quilt were 80" long.
...This isn't exactly the answer is it? I think that the only helpful hint I have is to securely pin everything in place before taking it to the machine, and then sew slow. I should also say that I am using a nice flat batt, 80%20% cotton/poly and it is light, and pressable. Pressing everything as I go helps too, no pleats or gathers.

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4 comments:

  1. Are the quilts pictured hand-quilted? It looks like it from the photos. I love your knits and your quilts.

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  2. Anonymous2:52 PM

    actually, Georgia bonesteel was the grandmother of QAYG, way back before a lot of us were quilting. But Sharon Pederson specialized and really refined the method in 2 excellent books.
    Nina in BC

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  3. Thanks for the book tip. Already added to my Christmas list!

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  4. Thanks...am I old enough to be your mother??? Just kidding. Some of these methods go back really far, I certainly can't take any credit for them. Nancy Zieman was teaching some of this stuff way back when and so were many others. I have several books and I mean several on the topic.

    I've just been playing with it for the last few years and seeing what I can do with it for my style of quilting.


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Hello,
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