Points and Fabric.....

Accomplish your visions.
Persevere in your ambitions.
Only then can you negate
Visions and ambitions.
Deng Ming~Dao

Last fall I took a class at our local quilting store on piecing "flying geese" blocks using Eleanor Burns template.  I fell in love with a quilt that had these little flying geese in a puzzle block formation that was on display in the shop and knew I had to make one too.  The name of the quilt is Whist from this book.

I started quilting 25 years ago when it was pretty much all done by hand, so machine piecing has been a challenge for me.  Now to be honest with you, I am not usually a very particular person, but when it comes to quilting and points.....well, let's just say that bad points make me crazy.  Kind of like a squeak in a spinning wheel
(my spinning friends will all get this analogy.)

If you look at the above picture you will see all kinds of bad points....and this was the 4th one in a row that came out like this....aggghhh!  I love this Bliss line of fabric designed by Camille and her mother Bonnie , so I didn't want to continue with it until I figured out what I was doing wrong, because it is really hard to find more now.

I thought that perhaps I was not using the template correctly, so I watched a bunch of Eleanor's videos and that was not the problem.  I was just about ready to bring my blocks and fabric over to the quilt shop for some help, when Terry mentioned she had heard good reviews about this tool.  It not only is good for stitching triangles, but for also maintaining a good scant quarter inch stitch.  Hmmm....I was pretty sure that I had purchased one of those a number of years ago but never used it.

Sure enough, there it was nestled in one of my sewing boxes.....and viola!  What a difference it made.  I guess my eyesight is more challenged than I thought on many levels..LOL.  I had been stitching a quarter inch instead of a scant quarter inch and that little bit made all of the difference.

 

 
Now that I am back on track with these little blocks I am having fun.  Not all of them are perfect, but they are now acceptable...and when one does come out perfectly it makes me smile.  18 blocks finished and 30 more to go. :-)

Comments

[Car Insurance Washington]

GORGEOUS!
Hope you are healed yup and moving well now! Points are tricky but that tool is a good one and makes them much easier to do well. I love your blocks!

[Angelia Batson]

Blocks look beautiful! I am glad to know I am not the only one that can't stand bad points.

[Liz in Missouri (with Lucy)]

I'm not a quilter myself, but I LOVE pretty fabrics and I think this quilt you are making is going to be GORGEOUS!!!!
Hope you are healed yup and moving well now!

[jody]

Thanks, Kim! This tool might be just what I am needing! I am also working on a piece in the same color arrangements that you show! There's something so magical about the blues and reds together.
I made some cavalier 'snoods' - you can see them modeled on my sister's dogs - her blog is Jayneonweedstreet (I think it's wordpress) Her girls will make you smile!

[margene]

I have enough trouble with knitting and spinning! Your squares are beautiful, the fabrics fun. Can't wait to see the end product.

[Kristi aka FiberFool]

I'm loving your fabric choices and can't wait to see the final top. Points are one of the reasons I haven't clicked with quilting too much, that looks like a wonderfully handy tool!

[TeresaC]

I just bought an Angler 2 yesterday! And re: Aunt Marti's comment, I had an interesting conversation with a national quilt judge about the modern quilt movement. As a judge they are finding it hard to judge those quilts, what do they judge? It isn't that they (or I for sure) don't like them and they can see that the fabric matching can be fun, but it is hard to determine what is being done as art and what is an excuse for lazy quilting. That's how I feel when reading blogs and I think I can guess which is which. I love the look of some of them, though.

Your squares are GORGEOUS! Don't you love to have them all stacked up like that? I love that. I've got to finish some things, no more fabric buying for me....

For at least a day or two.

[Carole]

Points are tricky but that tool is a good one and makes them much easier to do well. I love your blocks!

[Aunt Marti]

Kim, I SO hear you about points -- the hardest thing for me about the "modern quilt movement" is the idea that "points don't matter." I don't mind a few lopped-off points in other people's quilts, but they drive me nuts in my own! Can't wait to see your completed top!