Design Wall Tuesday – Tips for Sewing Strips

Hi! Welcome to Design Wall Tuesday! It was a rainy weekend in Colorado—perfect weather for staying in and doing some sewing. Here’s what the editors of McCall’s Quilting and Quiltmaker magazines have been up to.

From Content Director, Carolyn Beam:

I had hoped to get my Jelly Roll quilt top, Vintner’s Bouquet from Quick Quilts Oct/Nov ’17 issue, that I started on Naional Sew a Jelly Roll Day finished, but I ended up getting only about 2/3 of it sewn. I love the way it’s coming together (right)!

I wanted to share a tip that’s been really helpful for me when I’m sewing these strips together. Because of the way the patches in each vertical row are cut, there are no seams to match when sewing the rows together. When I’m pressing each row after it’s sewn, I find the centers of some of the patches and press lightly. Then when I’m sewing the rows together, I can match the folds. The folds sometimes line up with a seam as well.

I also played around with another Charm Square pattern and got a few blocks sewn. This one is easy and really fast.

From Acquisitions Editor, Lori Baker:

I spent a while this weekend practicing pebbles – my all-time least favorite free-motion quilting design. I tend to get compulsive and instead of pebbles, I quilt grains of sand. These didn’t come out too bad. Most of them are pea-size and that works.

From Associate Editor, Mary Kate Karr-Petras:

I decided to keep working on the Log Cabin quilt I started on National Sew a Jelly Roll Day using two Project Red jelly rolls from Moda since I had all the fabric out. All of my patches are cut and organized and I’m chain piecing the blocks. I figure I’m about 3 hours away from a completed 60″ x 60″ quilt top at this point–not too shabby!

From Associate Editor, Anissa Arnold:

This past weekend I made some progress on my Urban Owls quilt, pattern by Wendy Williams. I started this quilt last year and then stalled out on it when I began some BOMs. However, this weekend I started making the next blocks – 2 house blocks. Houses are now pieced but each one has a little hand appliquéd animal on its roof that still needs to be sewn. I still have hopes of finishing the top of the quilt by the end of this year.

See you next week when we share more weekend sewing.