Thursday, September 2, 2010

BACK SIDE BEAUTY

This quilt was put together by me but my sister Margaret did the blocks.




I was so impressed by the back of her blocks....I know you thought I was going to talk about my backside beauty (ha!!...don't want to gross anyone out there)... Trust me no one but my husband watches me walk away....and I guess after 31 years of marriage and he still watches me walk away...not too bad.

Okay...I know, it always ends up about me...lets get back to the back side of this block. Look at what great care she took in ironing it...just amazes me....my back side never looks like that...trust me.



Which brings me to this Samoan goodness.... But...gotta be honest...it looks pretty but the fabric is not the best.



I changed needles twice to try and get the right fitting for the material. My thread would break.... I am pretty sure this is not 100% cotton like the gal said, it has some rayon in it...

My tip on doing this drunkard's path is

you already have your "L" sewn to your pie.



I decide which "L" color I want on the bottom.... I usually go for the light, the red "L" or dark is on top. I will always flip my light seam down, which makes the red seam up...so they butt up against each other to make your line intersect just right.



See how one seam goes up and one down...you want every one of your seams to point the same way. So for me, light seams down, dark seams up. Takes all the worry out of it....



If you just remember this one tip, your block will look like this on the back side. Everything laying smooth and flat. If I have confused you...sorry....just remember...light down, dark up....

17 comments:

Mystica said...

Thanks for the tips! I havent done any curved sewing for ages. Am too nervous to even try.

cottonreel said...

I find it just as quick ,perhaps quicker to do drunkards path by hand--cottonreel

Janet said...

I'm very impressed by the pressing and I'm not sure mine would look that neat either. That's a pretty nifty tip for the drunkards path blocks too.

JustCindy said...

I have a friend who's backside looks like your sister's. I'm just glad I always catch both pieces of fabric. lol The quilt is beautiful!

Crispy said...

Oooo your sisters quilts is beautiful!! As a hand piecer, I always love seeing nice swirlies in the center :o)

Crispy

Gene Black said...

Good tip on matching the blogs. Light up, dark down. Wipe on, wipe off----are you going to teach us karate next?

Betsy said...

your back is lovely. ( I am sure you knew that already) LOL

Yvette said...

My backside never looks like that either! She did a great job.

Chartreuse Moose said...

Oh, wouldn't life be grand to be able to press the back of quilt blocks that well! Shoot...I can't even get the fronts right...! ;-)

Joanne said...

Your pix of your sister's quilt backside looks great .... kind of like a kaleidescope (?spelling)... very pretty. Want to see the right side now !!

Needled Mom said...

Now....those are good lookin' backsides.

Pat said...

You and your sister did a great job on the quilt. Love the info. on the drunkard's path. Thank you for sharing.
Happy Quilting!

SewCalGal said...

I did hear that Alex Anderson recommends pressing open any seam where 8 or more seams come together. I had never thought of that before, but it is fun to see on your sisters quilt. Excellent. And thanks for the tip. This is an area I really need to work on.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Micki said...

Good tips...I kept on laughting each time you mentioned the backside.What a gorgeous quilt!
micki

Michelle May-The Raspberry Rabbits said...

Gorgeous! I haven't done any curved work in years.

sewfunquilts said...

Sister's work is precise & wonderful..great quilt. I can hardly wait to get my new Drunkard's path die. I've had the fabrics picked out for quite a while..

Anonymous said...

The back of the block is fantastic! Your Drunkard's path tips are great. I am going to tackle that die next!