The Present quilt block

Ah, the best laid plans....It's been a while since I last posted here, but I am still an avid fan of Jenny Doan and her quilting tutorials. My goal is to make her quilt blocks each week and show you. The fun will be seeing her blocks in my fabric interpretation, as I love to see how others make theirs!

I LOVE Jenny's version of the Present quilt block. It will make a beautiful pillow cover (which I am making), a quilt, or a table runner.

This block has two important piecing lessons which I will show you.

       1. Jenny loves doing "snowballing" of corners. This is definitely a skill to do well, as Jenny uses this technique in many of her quilt block designs. You have to have perfect 1/4 inch seams, or things will be wonky. Learning this shortcut will make your piecing go fast and fabulous!

2. Another skill is matching up thin strips of fabric - in this case the "ribbon" of the present. This is a very difficult technique that just HAS to be mastered because if your seams are off your piece will look shabby and amateurish. I'm trying to sell the things I make and I would never TRY to sell them if they weren't almost perfect(preferably perfect)!

So, I took four squares and sewed them together with two strips of the darker fabric for the ribbon. I sewed the two blocks horizontally - left to right. I combined the top and bottom. The challenge was to match the two ribbon strips, so take the bottom block and lay the top block over it, matching the ribbons. Pin them together and then the rest of the seam on each side. Do it until it matches perfectly, hopefully just the one time!

The top bow strip is three rectangles. The middle one is snowballed with two pieces of ribbon material. Here is where the problems began! When I sewed the bow strip to the present block, I saw the bow was not centered exactly in the middle of the ribbon. Then I saw the top edges of the bow strip were very uneven. So, out goes the trusty "picker" and off comes the strip. I first trimmed up the top edges of the strip, then re-centered it on the block and it looked better - until I eyeballed the top right bow. I cut off the 1/4  inch seam allowance! Arghhh!

Out comes the picker - again. I had to re-do the whole strip. Is this the stuff that drives you crazy when piecing? Me too. But I did it.

I added the borders and was happy with it!

I get so very frustrated doing piecing, and I wonder how many of us give up completely because it is an exacting art. I know the secret to success is practice, practice, practice - and pay attention to the details!

I love piecing because I view it as an art: The beautiful fabrics are my canvas and I need to hone the techniques like a painter to make them the best they can be. 

I hope you'll join me here at Jenny and Annie and I'd love to hear about your experiences and tips to successful piecing! That will be the most fun!

Happy piecing, my friends!

~Ann Bailey